was a Japanese monthly magazine which focused on

public speaking Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...

. It was in circulation in Tokyo between 1910 and 1941 and gained popularity among different sectors of the Japanese society.

History and profile

''Yūben'' was launched by

Seiji Noma was a Japanese writer and publisher who was the founder of Kodansha, a leading publishing company, which his family still wholly own today. He was the founder and publisher of many well-known newspapers and magazines. Early life and education N ...

in 1910 as a monthly magazine, and its first issue appeared in February that year. Noma was also the founder of the publishing house

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

which was first named Dainihon Yūbenkai (Japanese: the Great Japanese Oratorical Society). ''Yūben'' was the first magazine started by the company. The goal of ''Yūben'' was to improve the self-expression ability of young people which was considered to be significant for democracy. Therefore, the magazine provided scholarly and popular articles about oratory and published the texts of the speeches by

orators Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...

who included

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...

and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

. ''Yūben'' also featured articles in regard to the historical significance of public speaking and its impacts on the modernization of Japan. These articles were both instructive and entertaining. The first issue of ''Yūben'' had a circulation of 14,000 copies. Over time it became very popular among intellectuals, politicians, and university student and read by nearly all politicians of the period. The first issue of the magazine was edited by the academics from

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

. The contributors of the following issues were individuals from various public and private institutions. In the period between 1930 and 1935 the magazine organized 14 comprehensive debates where university students publicly discussed the common problematic political topics of the period, including

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

and international marriage. ''Yūben'' folded in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuben 1910 establishments in Japan 1941 disestablishments in Japan Defunct magazines published in Tokyo Defunct professional and trade magazines Magazines established in 1910 Magazines disestablished in 1941 Monthly magazines published in Japan Kodansha magazines Public speaking