Hakubunkan


Hakubunkan is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1887 amidst the wealth and military prosperity of the Meiji era. Hakubunkan entered the publishing arena by printing a nationalist magazine as well as expanding into printing, advertising, paper manufacturing, and related businesses, becoming one of Japan's largest publishing companies in the process.
Hakubunkan Shinsha's primary business is now publication of various diaries, journals, and day planners, especially those from the era of the original Hakubunkan company.
Hakubunkan is not related to the Osaka school teaching materials company Hakubun.

History

In 1887, Ōhashi Sahei founded the company in Yumi, Hongō, Tokyo. The company was named after Itō Hirobumi, based on an alternate pronunciation of his given name. Hakubunkan began publishing the magazine Nihon Taika Ronshū in 1887 as well. One of the most famous stories to appear in the magazine was The Usurer by Ozaki Kōyō, who based two of the characters in the play on Ōhashi Shintarō and Tomiyama Tadatsugu.
Hakubunkan then established Tōkyōdō in 1891. The following year, Tōkyōdō moved to Hongoku, a neighborhood of Nihonbashi in Tokyo. In 1893, Tōkyōdō became a domestic and foreign news agency. At the beginning of 1895, Hakubunkan began publishing the general interest magazine Taiyō. The Hakubunkan Printing Office was then established in 1896.
To celebrate its fifteenth anniversary, Hakubunkan opened the free private Ōhashi Library on June 15, 1902. The library is located in the Shiba Park neighborhood of Minato Ward in Tokyo.
Due to the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, the building which housed the headquarters of Hakubunkan was destroyed by fire, and the company relocated to the Tozaki area of Koishikawa, Tokyo. After the magazine Taiyō'' ceased publication in 1927, Hakubunkan continued to operate in the red, finally splitting into three companies in 1948: Hakuyūsha, Kōyūsha, and Kōbunkan. Hakuyūsha began using the Hakubunkan name again in 1949 before changing it again to Hakubunkan Shinsha in 1950.

Magazines

Hakubunkan has published many magazines, including the following:
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