is a Japanese publishing company based in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409. Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was

Natsume Sōseki , born , was a Japanese novelist. He is best known around the world for his novels ''Kokoro'', ''Botchan'', ''I Am a Cat'', '' Kusamakura'' and his unfinished work '' Light and Darkness''. He was also a scholar of British literature and writer ...

's novel '' Kokoro'', which appeared as a book in 1914 after being serialized in the ''

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...

''. Iwanami has since become known for scholarly publications, editions of classical Japanese literature, dictionaries, and high-quality paperbacks. Since 1955, it has published the ''

Kōjien is a single-volume Japanese dictionary first published by Iwanami Shoten in 1955. It is widely regarded as the most authoritative dictionary of Japanese, and newspaper editorials frequently cite its definitions. As of 2007, it had sold 11 mil ...

'', a single-volume dictionary of Japanese that is widely considered to be authoritative. Iwanami's head office is at Hitotsubashi 2–5–5, Chiyoda, Tokyo.

Company history

Iwanami Shigeo founded the publishing firm Iwanami Shoten in the

Kanda Kanda may refer to: People * Kanda (surname) *Kanda Bongo Man (born 1955), Congolese soukous musician Places * Kanda, Tokyo, an area in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan **Kanda Station (Tokyo), a railway station in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo * Kanda River, a ri ...

district of Tokyo in 1913. In its early years, the company published authors such as Natsume Sōseki, Kurata Hyakuzō and Abe Jiro. It also published academic and literary journals in the field of philosophy, including ''Shijo'' (1917) and ''Shicho'' (1921), science, including ''Kagaku'' (1931), and literature, such as ''Bungaku'' (1933). In 1927, it launched the Iwanami Bunko (Iwanami Library), a "major series of international works". During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the firm was repeatedly censored because of its positions against the war and the Emperor. Iwanami Shigeo was even sentenced to two months in prison for the publication of the banned works of Tsuda Sōkichi (a sentence which he did not serve, however). Shortly before his death in 1946, he founded the newspaper '' Sekai'', which had a great influence in post-war Japanese intellectual circles. In 1955, the company released its Japanese language dictionary, ''

'', which is highly regarded today and sold more than eleven million copies in 2007. During the post-war decades, it continued to publish numerous foreign classics as well as encyclopedias. In 2010, around 20,000 titles were released by Iwanami Shoten.

Book series

* Iwanami Bunko ( 岩波文庫) (English, "Iwanami Paperback Library") (1927) * Iwanami Gendai Bunko (岩波現代文庫) (English, "Iwanami Modern Paperback Library") (2000) * Iwanami Gendai Zensho (岩波現代全書) (English, "Iwanami Modern Complete Books") * Iwanami Kōza Sekai Shichō (岩波講座世界思潮) (English, "Iwanami Lectures on Trends in World Thought") (1928) - often referred to in short as Iwanami Koza (岩波講座) (English, "Iwanami Lectures" or "Iwanami Courses") * Iwanami Shashin Bunko (岩波写真文庫), (English, "Iwanami Photo Library") * Iwanami Shinsho ( 岩波新書) (English, "Iwanami Trade Paperbacks") * Iwanami Sugaku Sosho (岩波数学叢書) (English, "Iwanami Mathematics Series") * Koza Nihon Eiga (講座・日本映画) (English, "A Course on Japanese Film" or "Lectures on Japanese Film") (1985)Koza Nihon Eiga (Iwanami Shoten) - Book Series List
publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 17 June 2022. * Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei (日本古典文学大系) (English, "Japanese Classical Literature System") (1967) * Yūtopia Ryokō-ki Sōsho (ユートピア旅行記叢書) (English, "Utopia Travel Journal") (1996-2002)

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial website - English version
Book publishing companies in Tokyo Japanese companies established in 1913 Liberal media in Japan Magazine publishing companies in Tokyo Publishing companies established in 1913 Visual arts publishing companies {{Japan-company-stub