Iwanami Shoten: books, series and editorial publishing

Shigeo Iwanami opened the business in 1913, combining used-book sales and publishing. An important early project was Soseki’s Kokoro, issued in September 1914 after its newspaper serialisation. Relationships with authors linked the new publisher to contemporary literature. The business was incorporated as a company in 1949.

Series for different readers

Iwanami Bunko, launched in 1927, offered editions of Japanese and overseas classics. Iwanami Shinsho followed in 1938 with books on contemporary questions across disciplines. The children’s Bunko, begun in 1950, and Junior Shinsho, launched in 1979, addressed younger readers. Each series brought together many authors and subjects within an editorial programme.

The author and editor of Snow

One of the first Shinsho titles was physicist Ukichiro Nakaya’s Snow (1938). Nakaya explained his Hokkaido research on snow crystals for readers without scientific training, including work on making snow artificially. In the preface, he thanked Isamu Kobayashi for selecting earlier articles and finding records about snow and life in snowy regions. The book gives a concrete example of an author and editor shaping specialist research for general readers.

Four works by the historian Sokichi Tsuda were banned in 1940, and Tsuda and publisher Shigeo Iwanami faced prosecution under the Publishing Law. From 1945 to 1949, the Occupation’s Civil Censorship Detachment imposed a different censorship system. Surviving records of the handling of Tsuda’s books show how authors and publishers faced changing constraints across wartime and Occupation Japan.

The general-interest magazine Sekai began in 1946, and the dictionary Kojien first appeared in 1955. Large scholarly series and editions of Japanese classics further expanded the catalogue. Publishing formats also changed: the third edition of Kojien appeared on CD-ROM in 1987, and electronic books and print-on-demand later added ways to produce and supply titles.