Doshisha Literature was published as a monthly magazine in Kyoto for eight years from March, 1887 to April,1895 by Doshisha people. The merit and value of the magazine consists in its contribution to the enlightenment of the people in the early part of the Meiji Era in our country. It was the time when the Meiji Constitution was first established and the Diet was called for the first time. In those days few worthy books and magazines were published, and therefore Doshisha Literature is one of the rare magazines published in those days worthy of notice.
The magazine published contributions chiefly by Doshisha people, but those who were in some way connected with them also had opportunities to contribute to the magazine. Among the contributors, we find such eminent persons as Joe Niishima, Yūzo Tsubouchi, Iichiro Tokutomi, Kenjiro Tokutomi, Hajime Ohnishi, Umpō Isogai, Kichirō Yuasa, Eigo Fukai, Saburō Takayasu and others. We also find such names of foreigners as Edwin Arnold, G.E. Albrecht, D.W. Learned, J.D. Davis and others.
From this magazine we can obtain much knowledge of the cultural state of affairs as well as the political, philosophical, educational and religious situations of our country in the former half of the Meiji Era. But from the viewpoint of Comparative Literature, we find many materials for us to study, such as translations of literature and philosophy, comments on foreign authors and so forth. We find Japanese translations of Goldsmith, Washington Irving, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Dickens, together with the translated poems of Byron, Tennyson, Schiller, Longfellow, Bryant and others. It is especially worthy of notice that works of Ibsen and Dostoevsky were first translated into Japanese in this magazine.
There are also many essays which concern western literature and philosophy in this magazine. The most important are “A Lecture on Education” by Edwin Arnold, “The Influence of the Bible on English and English Literature” by C.M. Cady, “Reviews and Creation” by Yūzo Tsubouchi, “The Contrast between Japan and U.S.A.” by J.D. Davis, and other essays.
At last the author wishes to mention that the magazine contains “Reviews” of new books published in those days, which also furnish many materials of study to the scholars of Comparative Literature.
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