“Yukichi Fukuzawa in His Later Years” by Rakuten Kitazawa

“Manga” is listed in dictionaries as an English word. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “Japanese comic books that tell stories in pictures.” Some may associate the term manga in Japan with the Edo-period “Hokusai Manga.” However, that “manga” is interpreted as sketches drawn aimlessly or at will. The satirical caricatures called “ponchi-e” during the Meiji era—such as Bigot's caricature of the Normanton incident often seen in textbooks—are understood as the starting point of the caricature that led to Manga. It is said that the Jiji Shinpo, founded by Yukichi Fukuzawa, was the first to apply the term “manga” to these, with the first instance being a manga quoting a foreign newspaper published on April 27, 1891.

In the Jiji Shinpo, alongside the editorials often written by Fukuzawa, there was an irregular social commentary column called “Mangen” (idle talk), and it is natural to assume the character “man” (漫) was associated with this. The person initially in charge of the manga section was Hidetaro Imaizumi (Ippyo), Fukuzawa's nephew, whose drawing skills Fukuzawa highly valued. In addition to political and social satire, Imaizumi began publishing irregular caricatures intended to provide “laughter” as a refreshing entertainment for the pages; one of these is sometimes called Japan's first four-panel manga. However, Imaizumi was sickly and died young. Yasuji Kitazawa (Rakuten, 1876–1955) was welcomed to the Jiji Shinpo office in 1899 as his successor. He is referred to by various titles, such as the father of modern Japanese manga, the founder of story manga, the creator of the first girls' manga, and Japan's first professional manga artist.

Among the many works published in the Jiji Shinpo, the biting political satires in the “Jiji Manga,” which debuted in 1921 as a separate Sunday supplement, are frequently introduced. However, the upcoming exhibition at the Keio History Museum, “Rakuten Kitazawa and Modern Japan: Yukichi Fukuzawa Opens the Door to MANGA” (October 16 – December 13), will focus instead on works that provided laughter as simple entertainment. It is not widely known that Fukuzawa, who believed Japanese “laughter” should be much richer, took a deep interest in it. This painting depicts Rakuten's impression of Yukichi Fukuzawa in his final years at the Jiji Shinpo office, fully expressing his immense presence.

(Takeyuki Tokura, Professor, Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies)