Koganemaru is considered to be the first modern book for children in Japan. It was
the first volume of Shônen Bungaku [Juvenile Literature] series (32vols)
by Hakubun-Kan. Iwaya said that this work for children was "of quite
a new phenomenon in the Japanese literary world."
The protagonist is Koganemaru, a dog, whose father was killed by a
tiger. Koganemaru searched for the tiger and, with the help of his friend,
another dog, succeeded in avenging his father's death. The amusing idea
of a dog's revenge story, the eventful plot, and word-play inserted in
many places had a strong appeal to readers.
Koganemaru created a big sensation among literary people, as it was the first novel-length
story originally written for young readers. Many reviews of this book appeared
in newspapers and magazines. Most of them favored it, but Hori Shizan in
the Yomiuri Newspaper criticized that this book should have been written
in a colloquial style, not in a classical literary style. Iwaya retorted
that he used the classical style to make it easier for young people to
read. In the twelfth edition in 1899, several changes were made.
In 1921, Sanjûnenme: Kakinaoshi: Koganemaru [30 Years After: Re-Written Koganemaru], a colloquial style edition, was published. A reprint of the original edition was published by the Museum of Modern Japanese Literature in 1968. |
