was a bimonthly Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

magazine published in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

from November 1906 to March 1950. Its publisher when it first launched was Kibunkan, located in the Funeba area in central Osaka, which later changed its name to the Osaka Puck Company. When it ceased publication, it was published by the Osaka Shimbun Company.

Overview

''Osaka Puck'' was launched in 1906, with the Western-style artist Akamatsu Rinsaku playing a central role. Its format placed it in opposition to the satirical comics magazine ''

Tokyo Puck was a Japanese satirical comic magazine launched in 1905. It was based on the American '' Puck'' and featured multicolor illustrations that emphasized visual characteristics. It was the first publication of its kind in Japan to feature color il ...

'', which launched in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in 1905 under editor-in-chief

Kitazawa Rakuten , better known by the pen name , was a Japanese manga artist and ''nihonga'' artist. He drew many editorial cartoons and comic strips during the years from the late Meiji era through the early Shōwa era. He is considered by many historians ...

. In its early years, it grew its circulation by perfecting sales through station vendors. It continued regular publication as a "wholesome manga magazine" even while other satirical comics magazines shut down one after the other due to excessive competition and the intensification of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

. It changed its name to ''Manga Japan'' in 1943 in accordance with a prohibition on the English language, but in January 1945 was forced to cease publication temporarily. ''Osaka Puck'' resumed publication in September 1945 after the end of the war. Although it relaunched in 1946 under the title ''Reading Material and Manga'', it ultimately ceased publication in March 1950 after more than 43 years in print. It held the record for longest-running comics periodical in Japan until April 1997, when it was surpassed by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's ''

Nakayoshi is a monthly ''shōjo'' manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First issued in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 60 years of manga publication history. Notable titles serialized in Nakayoshi include ''Princess Knight ...

''.

References

* Isao Shimizu, ''Birth of Modern Japanese Manga'', 1906 establishments in Japan 1950 disestablishments in Japan Bi-monthly manga magazines published in Japan Defunct magazines published in Japan Humor magazines Magazines established in 1906 Magazines disestablished in 1950 Mass media in Osaka {{anime-mag-stub