Kingu (magazine)

Kingu (キング, from English King) was a Japanese monthly general interest and entertainment magazine published in Tokyo, Japan. The magazine existed between December 1924 and January 1957. It was the first popular best-selling Japanese magazine.[1] It was also one of two most significant magazines in mid-twentieth century Japan, the other one being Ie no Hikari.[2]

Kingu
1943 edition of the magazine
CategoriesGeneral interest
FrequencyMonthly
FounderSeiji Noma
Year foundedDecember 1924
First issueJanuary 1925
Final issue1957
CompanyKodansha
CountryJapan
Based inTokyo
LanguageJapanese
OCLC835840343

History and profile

Kingu was established in December 1924.[3] The first issue appeared in January 1925.[4][5] It was the eighth magazine launched by Seiji Noma (1878-1938), the founder of the publishing company Kodansha.[6][7] It was modeled on Saturday Evening Post.[8] The magazine was published by Kodansha[9] on a monthly basis.[6][7]

Kingu covered moralistic stories[6] and featured articles about samurai heroics, sentimental romance and melodramatic events.[10] The magazine was read by urban and rural men and women.[4] Major contributors included Yoshikawa Eiji, Kikuchi Kan, Maki Itsuma, Funabashi Seiichi, Tateno Nobuyuki, and Tsunoda Kikuo.[5] It ended publication in 1957.[4]

Circulation

Both Kingu and Ie no Hikari were the first Japanese million-seller magazines.[11] Kingu sold one million copies in its first year, 1925.[4] In 1928 the monthly circulation of the magazine was nearly 300,000 copies.[12] The same year its total circulation was 1.4 million copies.[13]

Legacy

In 2019 Amy Bliss Marshall published a book named Magazines and the Making of Mass Culture in Japan in which she analysed Kingu and Ie no Hikari to demonstrate the birth of mass culture in Japan.[14] The author argues that these two magazines were instrumental in the establishment of mass culture and in the socialization in Japan.[14]

References
  1. Barbara Sato (16 April 2003). The New Japanese Woman: Modernity, Media, and Women in Interwar Japan. Duke University Press. p. 190. ISBN 0-8223-3044-X.
  2. "Mass Culture in Interwar Japan". Dissertation Reviews. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  3. Kazumi Ishii (August 2005). "Josei: A Magazine for the 'New Woman'". Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context (11).
  4. Gender and Modernity in Colonial Korea. ProQuest. 2005. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-549-71329-6.
  5. "A Guide to Japanese References and Research Materials". University of Michigan. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  6. "History of Kodansha Ltd". Funding Universe. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  7. Richard J. Jensen (1987). In Search of Justice: The Indiana Tradition in Speech Communication. Rodopi. p. 38. ISBN 90-6203-968-5.
  8. "Timeline of Modern Japan (1868-1945)". About Japan. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  9. Louise Young (1999). Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism. University of California Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-520-21934-2.
  10. Mary L. Hanneman (14 November 2013). Japan faces the World, 1925-1952. Taylor & Francis. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-317-87895-7.
  11. Amy Bliss Marshall (October 2013). "Devouring Japan: Proposal" (PDF). University of Texas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  12. Elise K. Tipton; John Clark (2000). Being Modern in Japan: Culture and Society from the 1910s to the 1930s. University of Hawaii Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-8248-2360-3.
  13. Sandra Wilson (Summer 2011). "Enthroning Hirohito: Culture and Nation in 1920s Japan". The Journal of Japanese Studies. 37 (2). JSTOR 41337678.
  14. "Magazines and the Making of Mass Culture in Japan". University of Toronto Library. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
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