Children’s Fiction

Gal le r y of Ch ild re n’s
Li te ra tureI. The Beginnings of Children’s
Fiction in Japan
Japan’s first children’s magazine Shōnen en (Child’sGarden) launched in 1888, followed by Shōkokumin(Young National), Shōnen sekai (Child’s World), Nihon
shōnen (Japanese Boy), Yōnen no tomo (Young Child’sCompanion), and other magazines. Shōnen sekai, editedby Sazanami Iwaya, came to represent these Meiji-period
publications, and Iwaya’s story Koganemaru (“A DogNamed Kogane,” 1891) became an early example ofcreative fiction for chi ld ren. Mimei Og awa’s firstcollection of children’s stories, Akai fune (Red Boat,1910), a lso represents a sta rting point for modern
children’s fiction. While Sazanami’s otogibanashi (fairytales) were in the tradition of setsuwa (legends of old),
Mimei’s dōwa (children’s stories) featured poetic andfigurative language and a märchen, or fairy tale, world.

II. Launch of Akai tori through thePrewar Period: Age of Dōwa

The Gallery of Children’s Literature
is a permanent exhibition room forJapanese children’s books publishedsince the Meiji era.
Around 1,500 items are exhibited inthis room. All are available foranyone to read.

In the 1918 inaugural issue of the magazine Akai tori(Red Bird), the following declaration appears: “Akait o r i . . . i s i n t he v a n g u a rd of a n e p o c h-m a k i n g
movement to pre ser ve a nd de velop t he pu r it y ofchildren by gathering together the sincere efforts of thebest artists of today and encouraging the creative workof young writers for children.” The phrase “purity ofchildren” reflects a Taishō-period view of children (onelater criticized by proletarian children’s author andcritic Kusuro Makimoto, who branded it “pure heart ofchild ren-ism,” or d ōshin shugi). A f ter Akai tori, anu mber of ot her ch i ld ren’s stor y ma g a zine s were
founded, including Kin no fune (The Golden Boat),
later renamed Kin no hoshi (The Golden Star), as well as
Dōwa (Children’s Stories) a nd Otogi no sekai (TheWorld of Fa i r y Ta le s), a l l of w h ic h f o s tere d t hefl o w e r i n g of d ō s h i n — l it e r a l l y “c h i l d ’s he a r t ”—
literature. Stories and songs in this vein came to bewritten in great quantity.

III. Postwar Period through the 1970s:
The Birth of Contemporary
Children’s Fiction

After World War II ended, authors searched for ways toportray themes appropriate to the realities of postwar
life. They struggled at first. The contemporary children’s
fiction of Japan is thought to have been established in1959, with the publication of Satoru Sato’s Dare moshiranai chīsa na kuni (A Little Country No One Knows)
and Tomiko Inui’s Kokage no ie no kobito tachi (publishedin English as The Secret of the Blue Glass). While dōwa
were shor t work s t hat fe at u red poet r y, fig u rat ive
language, and imagined worlds, contemporary children’s
fi c t i o n u s e d l o n g - f o r m p r o s e t o d e s c r i b e r e a lcircumstances affecting children. Children’s fiction hadto g rapple w it h bot h t he wa r t hat re aders had
experienced, and the society that had started the war.

Special Reading RoomIV. The 1980s and 1990s: Currents inChildren’s Fiction
While still in its infancy, contemporary children’s fiction
was written with the idealistic view that children canovercome their problems with their own power, and theircircumstances can improve. Later, the idea that problems
can always be solved was questioned. One book thatquestioned idealism was Masamoto Nasu’s Bokura wa
umi e (We’ll Go Out to the Sea), a novel in which young
people leave a hard reality behind, and go out to sea on atiny raft. After this novel, children’s fiction left behind
the idealism that led to formulaic stories, and developedin diverse ways leading into the 2000s.

V. The 21st Century
Since the 1970s, Japanese children’s fiction has taken up
themes once kept at a distance, such as sex, death, andfamily breakdown, from the perspective that such issues
elucidate human nature. In fact, purely in terms oftheme, children’s literature has become indistinguishable
from adult literature. The range of people who readcontemporary children’s fiction has also expanded, toinclude middle and high school students and adults. This
has led to development of the young adult (YA) category
in Japan. YA literature can be seen as a rich harvest fromthe cultivation of contemporary children’s literature; atthe same time, if one considers readers of children’s
literature to be grade school children, YA can represent ahollowing out. Where will Japanese children’s books
head next?
（Supervised by Takeo Miyakawa）

Gallery of Children s Literature

The Brick Building of the Internationa l Librar y ofChildren’s Literature is Japan’s former Imperial Library,which dates from 1906. The Ga ller y of Children’sLiterature is housed in what wa s once t he Specia lReading Room, a room which researchers needed special
permission from the Librarian to use. The walls andceilings of the room have been preserved and restored
exactly as they were. The four decorative plaster orders
are the grand centerpiece of this room.

International Library of Children’s Literature,
National Diet Library
12-49 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007
TEL +81-3-3827-2053
https://www.kodomo.go.jp/english/index.html

2019.3

Picture BooksI. Meiji and Taishō Periods: Picture
Books as a New Era Dawns
From the early to middle Meiji period, Japan’s kusazōshi,or popular woodblock-printed books, included folktale
books for children such as akahon (books with redcovers) and chirimen bon (crepe-paper books with text inEuropean languages). The contemporary concept of thepicture book had not yet ta ken hold. Government
policies of “rich nation, strong army” and “encourageindustry” led to the development of printing technology
and changes in book distribution. In addition, theestablishment of ea rly child hood education led toexperiments in creating books that were enjoyable andeasy for children to understand. Finally, twenty years
after Japan opened to the world, translated picture books
appeared that combined European culture with Japaneseart. In the early 1900s, color printing increased rapidly,
and picture books in the form of gajō (picture albums)
and ebanashi (illustrated stories) appeared.

II. Taishō and Prewar Periods: Age ofArt for Children
The Taishō period (1912-1926) saw an emphasis on
child-centered education, founded on respect of thechild’s self and individuality. Belief in the “purity ofchildren’s hearts” spread, leading to the pursuit of artistic
quality in children’s books. As children’s magazines suchas Akai tori (Red Bird) appeared, picture magazines that
could be enjoyed even by infants were also printed one
after another, featuring high-quality artwork. Artists
who had studied Western art or Japanese painting
competed with one another and excelled, creating not
merely illustrations but art for children that stood on itsown. The picture magazines declined during wartime,
but art for children would be taken up again after thewar.

III. Postwar Period and the 1950s: Birthof the Contemporary Picture Book
Shortly after the surrender in 1945, Japan’s meager
resources were marshalled to publish numerous picture
books and children’s magazines, in hopes of fillingchildren’s hearts. The Japanese publishing industry

Leading Authors and Illustrators

Digital Exhibition“Japanese Children’s Literature: A History fromPresent

Present

ChairsHistory ofPicture Books

History ofChildren’s Fiction

Research on Children s Books
Japanese Textbooks andChildren s Books

underwent reorganization beginning in about 1950.
Editors, researchers, and translators combined forces,
searching for ways to create a new kind of Japanesepicture book. The Iwanami no kodomo no hon (IwanamiChildren’s Books) series, launched in 1953 with emphasison translated picture books, greatly influenced thepicture books to follow. The Kodomo no tomo (Child’sCompanion) series, launched in 1956 with one picturebook issued per month for the very young, proved anera-defining experiment.

IV. The 1960s and 1970s: Golden Age ofPicture Books
Of the picture books currently known as million-sellers
in Japan, most come from the 1960s, represented by
Guri to Gura (Guri and Gura, 1963) and Inai inai bā!
(Peek-a-Boo, 1967). The decade with the next mostmillion-sellers is the 1970s, represented by 100 Man-kaiikita neko (The Cat That Lived a Million Times, 1977).
The 1960s and 1970s have been called the Golden Age ofPicture Books. It is possible to see the fruits of postwar
study of Western picture books, in the Japanese picturebook s of this time. A ga inst the backdrop of rapid
ec onom ic g row t h a nd f ueled by a rise in re ad ing
promotion, vibrant picture books with a revolutionary

Section introducing work s by leading
authors and illustrators of children’s books.
The works on display are changed dependingon the theme.

Collections”

Section introducing academic work s onchildren’s books
Meiji eraCounterthe International Library of Children's Literature◆Research on Children’s Books

PCs for viewing
Digital Exhibitions

Meiji era

◆Leading Authors and Illustrators◆Japanese Textbooks andChildren’s Books

Section introducing the stories included inelementary school textbooks, along with thetextbooks

energy infused the culture. In the 1970s, the number ofpicture book tit les published per yea r topped one
thousand, and Japan had a Picture Book Boom. The
specialist magazine Gekkan ehon (Picture Book Monthly)
launched, and bookstores specializing in children’s books
opened nationwide. In addition, beginning with theBologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrators’ Exhibition,collections of picture book art began to be displayed inart museums.

V. The 1980s and 1990s: Pursuit ofIndividuality and Expression
In the 1980s, the environment surrounding children
began to evolve. In addition to a lower birth rate, thisdecade brought the spread of video games, and explosive
popularity for anime, videos, and manga. Children
reading less became a hot topic. The Picture Book Boomof the 1970s ended, and the thinking about picture
books began to change. Authors grew less beholden tot r a d it ion a nd pu r sue d ne w, i nd iv idu a l me a n s ofexpression. On the other hand, picture book researchthat had been in progress since the postwar era began tobea r f r u it. Japa nese picture book s ga ined a ninternationa l reputation, with the Hans ChristianAndersen Award going to Suekichi Akaba (1980), andhttps://www.kodomo.go.jp/jcl/e/index.html
This online exhibition presents around 450
works of the leading authors and illustrators ineach period since the Meiji era.

Mitsumasa Anno (1984). In the 1990s, picture bookcreators, editors, and researchers worked to enliven
further the world of the picture book. The concept of thepicture book as art also gained influence.

VI. The 21st Century: New Forms ofHope
In the early 2000s, t wo sma ll picture book booms
occurred. One of them, foretold by the million-seller
trends of the late twentieth century, was a boom in
picture book appreciation by adults. The other was aread-aloud boom, which emphasized reading picture
books not only in households but also to groups. In thebackground was the National Year of Reading in 2000,
which brought an increase in reading promotion. Even as
such developments widened the age range of picturebook readers, they also influenced publishing trends.
Picture books are, after all, a form of culture that reflects
the times and society. Classic titles with establishedreputations, which have been read a nd reread for
decades, retain clear appeal. But let us also examinebooks that the adults of today provide for the children oftoday, complete with twenty-first century messages andtrends.
（Supervised by Yukiko Hiromatsu）