Ōdontaku Shinbun Kidan (Great Sunday Newspaper: Stories of Demons)

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Ōdontaku Shinbun Kidan ["Great Sunday Newspaper: Stories of Demons"]

Mantei, Ōga [text by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrations by]. 

Tōkyō: Yamazakiya Seishichi ... [et al.], Meiji 5-6 [1872-1873]. 

Issues 1 and 2 (all published) of a Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi on the exploits of the monks Anrakubō and Narakubō in the six realms of the afterlife. The phonetic reading of the word dontaku in the title comes from the Dutch zontag, meaning "Sunday" or "holiday", but the kanji used mean something like "stupid consignments". Steele (2010) notes that this was Ōga's first riposte to pro-'enlightenment' works published by the reformer and educator Fukuzawa Yukichi. Oikawa and Yamaguchi (1984b) claim that this work is more of a fresh take on a Buddhist Rokudō (Six Realms) story than a satire, and add that Kyōsai's opposition to the adoption of the (Western) custom of selling and consuming beef is silently expressed in his satirical illustration of a cow preparing a meal from human flesh. A third issue was advertised but never published. This work, Hōnen Gokoku Matsuri: Rikai Shinbun (1872-1873), and possibly Seijin Kimotsubushi: Kengu Shinbun (c. 1872) are examples of works by Ōga that use the word shinbun in their titles and predate Kanagaki Robun's 1874 koshinbun Eshinbun Nipponchi (although the kanji used are different, those of the former meaning "new texts" and those of the latter meaning "newspaper"). No complete (physical) sets traced outside of Japan in OCLC. 

Issues 1 and 2 (all published). Two four-hole-bound (yotsumetoji) volumes, complete, on double leaves, traditional East Asian binding style (fukurotoji). Original woodblock-printed daisen (title panels) present. Presumed original wrappers creased and with a few ink marks, ex-ownership inscription to lower wrapper of issue 1. Occasional ex-ownership seals and notes to pastedowns, prefaces, and upper margins. Binding string of issue 2 cut. Sticker to lower pastedown of issue 2. Creases and occasional marks to leaves. A toriawase-bon (matched) set. [3], 22; 25 leaves. Each issue approx. 17.9 x 11.9 cm. 

❧ Steele, M. William. "Meiji Twitterings: A Parody of Fukuzawa's An Encouragement of Learning". Ajia Bunka Kenkyū 18 (2010), 55-77.  

❧ Oikawa, Shigeru and Seiichi Yamaguchi. "Kawanabe Kyōsai Sashiebon no Shomoku narabini Kaidai: Ge, Kyōsai no Sashie to Dezain". Museum 396 (1984), 18-26.

Ōdontaku Shinbun Kidan (Great Sunday Newspaper: Stories of Demons)
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