''Meiroku zasshi'' (明六雑誌) was a

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...

magazine which was in circulation between 1874 and 1875 during the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

History and profile

''Meiroku zasshi'' was launched in 1874, and the first issue was published on 2 April 1874. The founders were the members of

Meirokusha The was an intellectual society in Meiji period Japan that published social-criticism journal . Proposed by statesman Mori Arinori in 1873 (six years after the Meiji Restoration) and officially formed on 1 February 1874, the Meirokusha was i ...

, a group of Japanese intellectuals, including

Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio University, the newspaper '' Jiji-Shinpō'', and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases. Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ...

. The publisher was the Hochisha Company, and it was published on a B6 size or A5 size calligraphy paper. Leading contributors included

Mori Arinori Viscount was a Meiji period Japanese statesman, diplomat, and founder of Japan's modern educational system. Early life Mori was born in the Satsuma domain (modern Kagoshima prefecture) from a ''samurai'' family, and educated in the ''Kaisenjo' ...

, future education minister of Japan, and

Tsuda Mamichi Baron was a Japanese statesman and legal scholar in the Meiji period. He was one of the founding members of the Meirokusha with Mori Arinori, Nishimura Shigeki, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Kato Hiroyuki, Nakamura Masanao, and Nishi Amane. Early life T ...

. It is one of the earliest publications in Japan which covered writings on

Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...

. Given that it was a publication of the

it frequently discussed education-related topics in regard to

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...

in the family as well as in the nation. ''Meiroku zasshi'' sold nearly 3,000 copies in 1884. It was published twice or three times per month and folded following the 43rd issue which appeared on 14 November 1875. In 1975 William Braisted published a book on the magazine entitled ''Meiroku Zasshi: Journal of the Japanese Enlightenment''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meiroku zasshi 1874 establishments in Japan 1875 disestablishments in Japan Biweekly magazines published in Japan Cultural magazines Defunct magazines published in Japan Magazines established in 1874 Magazines disestablished in 1875 Magazines published in Tokyo