is a monthly Japanese literary magazine (), first established 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 ...

and continuing to this day. It is published by its namesake-bearing Chūōkōron Shinsha (formerly Chūōkōron-sha). The headquarters is in Tokyo. ''Chūō Kōron'' publishes a wide variety of material, including novels, photographs and reports based on various philosophical, economic, political, cultural and social topics.

Early history

The magazine was first published in January 1887 under the title in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

by the , a literary group of professors and students of

Ryukoku University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as a school for Buddhist priests of the Nishi Hongan-ji denomination in 1639, and became a secularized university in 1876. The university's professors and students founded the literary ...

. In 1899, the magazine changed its name to ''Chūō Kōron''. In the 1920s, journalist Yūsaku Shimanaka rose to become editor-in-chief and later owner of ''Chūō Kōron.'' During the

World War II 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 opposing ...

editors of the magazine were arrested in the Yokohama incident. In 1944 the magazine was closed down due to its anti-war sentiments but publication resumed in 1946. In 1949, ownership and control of the magazine passed to his son,

Hōji Shimanaka was a Japanese magazine publisher who was the president and publisher of the prominent monthly magazine ''Chūō Kōron'' for nearly five decades. According to Shimanaka's longtime friend and sometime rival Kengo Tanaka, the publisher of compet ...

, who would serve as its president for the next 45 years. Under the Shimanakas, ''Chūō Kōron'' became one of Japan's foremost general-interest magazines, and has been cited as having a profound influence on several Japanese intellectuals. The noted author

Ryōtarō Shiba , also known as , was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the r ...

once stated that the magazine's history corresponded to the history of modern Japan itself. There have been numerous famous contributors to the magazine, including

Princess Takamatsu , born , was a member of the Japanese Imperial Family. The Princess was married to Prince Takamatsu, the third son of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei. She was, therefore, a sister-in-law of Emperor Shōwa and an aunt-in-law of the following e ...

Tama Morita was a Japanese essayist whose books were quite popular in Japan around World War II. She later served as a member of the House of Councillors in 1962. Early life Morita Tama was born in Sapporo Hokkaidō, as the second daughter of Muraoka ...

, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki,

Tōson Shimazaki was the pen-name of Haruki Shimazaki, a Japanese writer active in the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japan. He began his career as a Romantic poet, but went on to establish himself as a major proponent of Japanese Naturalism. Ea ...

, Shōfu Muramatsu, his grandson

Tomomi Muramatsu is a novelist in late Shōwa period and Heisei period Japan. Biography Muramatsu was born in Tokyo, but was raised in Shimizu, Shizuoka. His grandfather was the noted writer Muramatsu Shofu, and both his father and his mother worked for the li ...

Yaeko Nogami Yaeko is a female Japanese given name. People *, Ainu waka poet and evangelist. *, Japanese nurse, wife of Joseph Hardy Neesima *, Japanese novelist *, Japanese volleyball player *, Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea * Yaeko Uehara, a geiko ...

, Tomoyoshi Murayama, Motojirō Kajii, Sakuzō Yoshino,

Nanami Shiono is a Japanese author and novelist known for her works on the history of Italy, especially those dealing with ancient Rome and the Renaissance period. Biography Shiono was born in Tokyo, on 7 July 1937. In high school she read Homer's ''Iliad'' ...

Shichirō Fukazawa was a Japanese author and guitarist whose 1960 short story ''Fūryū mutan'' ("Tale of an Elegant Dream") caused a nationwide uproar and led to an attempt by an ultranationalist to assassinate the president of the magazine that published it. B ...

, and

Masao Horino was one of the most prominent Japanese people, Japanese photographers in the first half of the 20th century in Japan. He was born in Tokyo and graduated from , now . He was a member of which was founded by in 1930. In 1932, Horino published a ...

Shimanaka incident

In 1960, ''Chūō Kōron'' was at the center of a major controversy that shaped the future of freedom of expression in Japan. The magazine's November 1960 issue featured a satirical story by

featuring a dream sequence in which the Emperor and Empress were beheaded with a guillotine. Japanese right-wing ultranationalist groups were outraged and mounted a long series of protests and attacks aimed at ''Chūō Kōron'' in an attempt to force an apology. An initial attempt at apology was deemed too perfunctory by the rightists, and on the evening of February 1, 1961, a 17-year-old rightist named

Kazutaka Komori was a Japanese right-wing ultranationalist youth who attempted to assassinate Japanese journalist and magazine publisher Hōji Shimanaka in February 1961, in what became known as the Shimanaka Incident. Komori sought retribution for a fictional s ...

invaded ''Chūō Kōron'' publisher Shimanaka Hōji's home in Shinjuku, Tokyo in an apparent assassination attempt. Shimanaka was away from home at the time, but his housekeeper was stabbed to death and his wife was seriously injured, in a terroristic attack that became known as the " Shimanaka Incident." Shimanaka was deeply shaken by the attack on his household and issued a statement of remorse in which he repudiated Fukazawa's story as “unsuitable for print" and offered his "deepest apologies" for “having disturbed society to the point of causing violent incidents." Thereafter, Shimanaka forced the magazine's editor-in-chief to resign, and negotiated a deal with right-wing groups to end the attacks on ''Chūō Kōron'' in exchange for a promise to adopt a more "neutral" (i.e. conservative) editorial policy. The Shimanaka incident has been cited by scholars as helping to cement in place the so-called

Chrysanthemum Taboo The is the Japanese social taboo against discussion or criticism of the Emperor of Japan and his family, especially the late Emperor Shōwa (1901–1989). The taboo also extended to discussion of the Emperor's declining health. The term came i ...

(菊タブー, ''kiku tabū'', named after the Imperial family's chrysanthemum crest) in postwar Japan that informally but powerfully forbids literary or artistic expression directly featuring the Emperor or the Imperial family.

Recent history

From 1985 to 1988 Motohiro Kondo served as the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the magazine. In 1994, Shimanaka resigned as president of ''Chūō Kōron'' after 45 years, succeeded by his eldest son Yukio, and became chairman of the board of directors. However two years later, in 1996, he fired Yukio and for a time the company had no president. When Shimanaka died on April 3, 1997, it was discovered that he had co-mingled the company's finances with his own, leaving behind a massive debt of 15 billion yen. Shimanaka's wife Masako became chairman and president, but was not able to resolve the company's financial crisis. In 1999, Chūōkōron-sha and all of its assets were bought out by the ''

Yomiuri Shinbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

'' newspaper company. Thereafter, the magazine's tone and content took a decidedly more politically conservative direction, in line with ''Yomiuri'''s broader editorial stance. As of 2006 the circulation of ''Chūō Kōron'' was 40,975 copies.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chuo Koron 1887 establishments in Japan Literary magazines published in Japan Magazines established in 1887 Magazines published in Tokyo Mass media in Kyoto Monthly magazines published in Japan