Noma Seiji

Noma Seiji

Noma Seiji ( Japanese 野 間 清 治 ; born December 17, 1878 in Shinshuku (新宿 村), Yamada District (山田 郡), Gumma Prefecture ; died October 16, 1938 ) was a Japanese publisher and founder of Kōdansha Publishing .

Live and act

Noma passed his teaching exams in March 1904 and accepted a position as a middle school teacher in Okinawa in 1905 , where he remained until 1906. During this time he got to know Okinawa karate . In 1909, while he was employed at Tokyo University , he helped found a law school speaking club under the name "Midori Kai Benron Bu" (緑 会 弁 論 部). He also helped publicize the speeches given at the opening ceremony. In 1910 he published the magazine “Yūben” (雄 弁) - “Eloquence”.

In 1911 Noma founded a publishing house, which he called Kōdansha (講 談 社), about publishing house for "storytelling", and published the magazine "Kōdansha Club" (講 談 社 ク ラ ブ). The magazines followed

• Shōnen Club (少年 ク ラ ブ) 1914,
• Omoshiro Club (面 白 ク ラ ブ) 1916,
• Gendai (現代) 1920,
• Fujin Club (婦人 ク ラ ブ) 1920,
• Shōjo Club (少女 ク ラ ブ) 1923,
• Kingu (キ ン グ) 1925 and
• Yonen Club (幼年 ク ラ ブ) 1926.

With the publication of Kingu, the first magazine in Japan, which reached a circulation of 1 million, he changed the publisher's name to "Dai Nippon Yūben-kai Kōdansha" (from 1958 again simply "Kōdansha"). Kōdansha's nine magazines accounted for 70% of the total Japanese magazine market in the 1930s.

In addition to its numerous magazines and manga , Kōdansha is also an important budo publisher. Noma has been practicing kendo since he was in school . In 1925, Noma built his own private Kendō- Dōjō , the Noma Dōjō, in addition to his publishing house .

Remarks

1. ↑ Today a district of Kiryu .

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Noma Seiji . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1111.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Noma is the family name, Seiji the first name.