Seiji Noma

Seiji Noma (野間 清治) 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

Noma was born in 1878. His father hailed from a samurai family and was himself a samurai.[1]

Noma was educated as a teacher.

Career

Following his graduation Noma worked as a teacher in the Luchu Islands. Later he served as a schoolmaster.[1] Then he began to work as an administrative official at the Imperial University's law department in Tokyo.[1]

Noma established a publishing company, Dainippon Yūbenkai (Japanese: the Great Japanese Oratorical Society), in 1910.[2] The company would be later renamed as Dainippon Yūbenkai-Kodansha, which later be shortened as simply Kodansha.[3] The first publication of the company was Yūben, a monthly magazine on public speech.[1][3]

The nine magazines Noma started enjoyed high levels of circulations and were very influential on the popular culture of Japan.[4] His goal in starting these titles was to modernize, entertain and educate Japanese society.[1] On the other hand, they comprised the 75% of the total circulation of all Japanese publications.[5] These publications included Kōdan Club (from which Kodansha is named for), Shōnen Club, Omoshiro Club, Gendai (Japanese: Present Generation), Fujin Club, Shōjo Club and Kingu.[2] The latter was his flagship magazine which was identified with the company.[6] In 1930 he established Hochi Shimbun (Japanese: Intelligence Newspaper) which also became an influential publication.[2]

Personal life and death

Noma's wife was a teacher.[7] He died of heart attack in Tokyo on 18 October 1938.[8]

See also

• Noma Literary Prize