Minyusha - Minyusha

A publishing house founded in 1887 (Meiji 20) by Tokutomi Soho with the cooperation of Yuasa Jiro. Modelled on the American general interest magazine The Nation, Kokumin no Tomo (Friend of the People) (1887-98) advocated populism and was well-received as a progressive critical magazine. Subsequent publications such as Kokumin Shimbun, Katei Zasshi and The Far East were also well-received, but after the Sino-Japanese War, Soho supported the clan-based politics of the Katsura Taro cabinet and publications began to take on an increasingly nationalistic tone, leading to the magazine losing public support. Among the people who gathered around Soho were Takegoshi Sansa, Tsukagoshi Teishun, Morita Shiken, Miyazaki Koshoshi, Yamaji Aizan, Tokutomi Roka, and later Kunikida Doppo. In book publishing, they published books on politics, thought, and literature, mainly focusing on Roka's best-selling works "Hototogisu" and "Shizen to Jinsei," the biography "Junior Writers," the "Heimin Sosho" series that introduced overseas ideas, and Soho's "Kinsei Nihon Kokumin Shi" (History of the Early Modern Japanese Nation), and had a major impact on the literary world of the Meiji and Taisho periods. In 1933 (Showa 8), Min'yūsha was absorbed into Meiji Shoin and came to an end.

[Hisao Okubo]

"A Thirty-Year History of the Minyusha Society, edited by Namiki Sentaro (1917, Minyusha Society)" ▽ " A Study of the Minyusha Society, edited by Sugii Rokuro, Imanaka Kanji, and the Institute of Humanities, Doshisha University (1977, Yuzankaku Publishing)" ▽ "A Study of Minyusha Literature, edited by Hirabayashi Hajime and Yamada Hiromitsu (1985, Sanichi Shobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1887年（明治20）徳富蘇峰(とくとみそほう)が湯浅治郎の協力を得て創業した出版社。アメリカの総合雑誌『The Nation』を模した『国民之友』（1887～98）は、平民主義を標榜(ひょうぼう)し進歩的な評論誌として評判で、続く『国民新聞』『家庭雑誌』『The Far East』も好評であったが、日清(にっしん)戦争後、蘇峰が桂(かつら)太郎内閣の藩閥政治を支援し、出版物に国家主義的論調が多くなるにつれて、大衆の支持を失うに至った。蘇峰のもとに集まった同人には、竹越三叉(たけごしさんさ)、塚越停春(つかごしていしゅん)、森田思軒(しけん)、宮崎湖処子(こしょし)、山路愛山(やまじあいざん)、徳冨蘆花(とくとみろか)らがおり、遅れて国木田独歩(くにきだどっぽ)が加わった。図書出版では、蘆花のベストセラー『不如帰(ほととぎす)』『自然と人生』、伝記書『十二文豪』、海外思想を紹介した「平民叢書(そうしょ)」、蘇峰の『近世日本国民史』など、同人の著書を中心に、政治、思想、文学にわたり刊行し、明治・大正期の文芸界に大きい影響を与えた。1933年（昭和8）民友社は明治書院に吸収合併され終焉(しゅうえん)する。

［大久保久雄］

『並木仙太郎編『民友社三十年史』（1917・民友社）』▽『杉井六郎・今中寛司・同志社大学人文科学研究所編『民友社の研究』（1977・雄山閣出版）』▽『平林一・山田博光編『民友社文学の研究』（1985・三一書房）』

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