Published in "Juku" No. 194, November 1, 1995
The magazine "Mita Bungaku" was first published in May 1910 (Meiji 43) with Kafu Nagai as its editor-in-chief.
Since then, "Mita Bungaku" has continued for 85 years to this day, despite several periods of suspension and republication.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the relaunch of the current eighth series of "Mita Bungaku."
To commemorate this, let's take a look back at the history of "Mita Bungaku."
From the mid-1890s onward, Keio University entered a period of great progress in academic research, with efforts to enhance the faculty and establish academic societies in each department of the college. In the Department of Literature, the Mita Bungakukai (Mita Literary Society) was formed, and with the increasing specialization of studies, three majors were established: literature, philosophy, and history. In 1910, Ogai Mori and Bin Ueda were appointed as advisors to the Department of Literature, and it was decided to publish a literary magazine as the official journal of the Mita Bungakukai. Upon the recommendation of Mori and Ueda, the up-and-coming writer in the literary world, Kafu Nagai, was appointed as editor-in-chief.
Thus, "Mita Bungaku" was launched on May 1, 1910, amidst the movement to reform the Department of Literature. The inaugural issue featured works by Ogai Mori, Yonejiro Noguchi, Mokutaro Kinoshita, Rofu Miki, Kocho Baba, Shiko Yamazaki, Kafu Nagai, Kozan Kuroda, and Yau Fukagawa, with an innovative cover design by Takeji Fujishima (which represented "Mita" with three four-leaf clovers stylized into the shape of the character 田, pronounced "ta"). The back cover also featured Article 21 from Yukichi Fukuzawa's handwritten *Shūshin Yōryō: Fukuzawa's Moral Code*: "A taste for literature and art elevates a person's character and entertains the spirit..."
In the literary world of the time, anti-naturalist literature was emerging in opposition to the naturalist school represented by "Waseda Bungaku." Department of Literature advisors Mori and Ueda were both leading figures of anti-naturalist literature, and "Mita Bungaku," which featured writers such as Kaoru Osanai, Hiroshi Yosano, Tetsuro Watsuji, Hakushu Kitahara, and Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, took on the character of an anti-naturalist literary movement.
From the year after its launch, not only established writers and poets but also students of the university (later known as the "Mita School") began publishing their works in "Mita Bungaku" one after another. Led by Mantaro Kubota with "Asagao" (Morning Glory) and Takitaro Minakami with "Yamanote no Ko" (Child of the Yamanote), "Mita Bungaku" launched many talented individuals into the literary world, including Daigaku Horiguchi, Haruo Sato, Yasushi Matsumoto, Masajiro Kojima, and Shutaro Nambu.
In 1915, Kafu Nagai stepped down as editor-in-chief, and "Mita Bungaku" was forced to suspend publication for a time. However, it was revived in 1926 with Takitaro Minakami at the helm, and it once again entered a golden age. Since then, "Mita Bungaku" has repeatedly suspended and resumed publication for various reasons, but its lifeline has never been broken.
Currently, the chairmanship of the Mita Bungakukai has been passed from Shotaro Yasuoka to Jun Eto, and it has begun to forge a new path.