Kanagaki Robun

Kanagaki Robun
Kanagaki Robun
仮名かめい垣かき魯文
Born	9 February 1829; Edo, Musashi Province, Japan
Died	8 November 1894 (aged 65); Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Other names	Nozaki Bunzō (野崎のさき文蔵ぶぞう)
Alma mater	Hanagasa Bunkyō (master)
Occupation(s)	Journalist, writer, novelist
Employer(s)	Worked for Kanagawa Prefectural Government, Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun

Kanagaki Robun (仮名かめい垣かき魯文) was the pen name of Nozaki Bunzō (野崎のさき文蔵ぶぞう) (1829–1894), a Japanese author and journalist.

Career[edit]

Kanagaki Robun, the son of a fishmonger,^[1] was originally known for light fiction in the gesaku genre. He is said to have met painter Kawanabe Kyosai while writing an account of the 1855 Edo earthquake on the day after it happened. Kyosai's sketch of a catfish, accompanying Robun's text, was Kyosai's first single-sheet ukiyo-e woodblock print. Its commercial success saw Robun producing a sequence of catfish pictures (known as namazu-e).^[2] In 1874 the pair collaborated to create what was effectively Japan's first manga magazine, Eshinbun nipponchi (Illustrated News).^[1]

In 1874 Robun turned to journalism, joining the Yokohama mainichi shinbun and going on in 1875 to found his own newspaper, the Kana-yomi shinbun (Kana Newspaper). His newspaper pioneered the genre of "dokufu-mono," criminal biographies of female outlaws, and Kanagaki Robun's own Tale of Takahashi Oden the She-Devil (written rapidly after Takahashi Oden was beheaded for killing a man) is the most famous example of the genre.^[3]

He also wrote illustrated biographies, including an adapted biography of Ulysses S. Grant published for Grant's 1879 visit to Japan.^[4]

Works[edit]

Collected Rumors of Ansei (安政あんせい風聞ふうぶん集しゅう, Ansei fūbunshū) (1856)
Account of the Ansei Cholera Epidemic (安政あんせい頃ごろ痢流行りゅうこう記き, Ansei korori ryūkōki) (1856)
Journey on Foot to the Western Sea (西洋せいよう道中どうちゅう膝栗毛ひざくりげ, Seiyōdōchū hizakurige) (1870–76), a parody of Jippensha Ikku's Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige
The Beefeater (安やす愚ぐ楽らく鍋なべ, Aguranabe) (1871)
The Cucumber Messenger (胡瓜きゅうり遣や, Kyurisukai) (1872)
Connoisseur of Western-Style Cuisine (西洋せいよう料理りょうり通どおり, Seiyō ryōritsu) (1872)
Chronicle of the Saga Telegraph Line (佐賀さが電信でんしん録ろく, Saga denshinroku) (1874)
The Tale of Takahashi Oden, the She-Devil (高橋たかはし阿伝あでん夜叉やしゃ譚たん, Takahashi Oden yasha tan) (1879)
A Japanese Print of Hamlet (葉は武たけ列れつ土ど倭やまと錦絵にしきえ, Hamuretto Yamato nishikie) (1886)

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Peter Duus (2013). "'Punch Pictures': Localising Punch in Edo Japan". In Hans Harder; Barbara Mittler (eds.). Asian Punches: A Transcultural Affair. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 319. ISBN 978-3-642-28607-0.
^ Hiroshi Nara (2007). Inexorable Modernity: Japan's Grappling with Modernity in the Arts. Lexington Books. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-7391-5637-7.
^ Mark Silver (2008). Purloined Letters: Cultural Borrowing and Japanese Crime Literature, 1868-1937. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 30–32. ISBN 978-0-8248-3188-2.
^ Scott J. Miller (2009). Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater. Scarecrow Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-8108-6319-4.

[HarderMittler2013-1] Peter Duus (2013). "'Punch Pictures': Localising Punch in Edo Japan". In Hans Harder; Barbara Mittler (eds.). Asian Punches: A Transcultural Affair. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 319. ISBN 978-3-642-28607-0.

[Nara2007-2] Hiroshi Nara (2007). Inexorable Modernity: Japan's Grappling with Modernity in the Arts. Lexington Books. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-7391-5637-7.

[Silver2008-3] Mark Silver (2008). Purloined Letters: Cultural Borrowing and Japanese Crime Literature, 1868-1937. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 30–32. ISBN 978-0-8248-3188-2.

[Miller2009-4] Scott J. Miller (2009). Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater. Scarecrow Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-8108-6319-4.

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