Bungei Shunju

In January 1923 Kikuchi Kan, then a popular writer, launched Bungei Shunju with friends as a coterie magazine. The first issue had 28 pages, cost 10 sen and was printed in 3,000 copies, which sold out within three days; contributors included Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Kawabata Yasunari and Yokomitsu Riichi.⁠[1]

The company says it grew out of this magazine and still has no written company creed or motto.⁠[2]

The company was incorporated as a joint-stock company in May 1928. In July 1930 it issued a special edition, All Yomimono-go, which became monthly in April 1931; in July 1936 it took over Bungakukai from Bunpodo.⁠[3]

In 1935 Kikuchi Kan set up two literary prizes in memory of his friends Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Naoki Sanjugo, each awarded twice a year: the Akutagawa Prize for literary short and medium-length fiction by new writers, and the Naoki Prize for books of popular fiction by new or mid-career writers. Each now carries a pocket watch and 1 million yen.⁠[4]

The prizes were announced in the January 1935 issue of Bungei Shunju. Organization later passed to Nihon Bungaku Shinkokai, but the company remains closely involved: preliminary selection of candidates is led by its editors, and the selection meetings are chaired by the editors of Bungei Shunju and All Yomimono respectively.⁠[5]

The first Akutagawa Prize (first half of 1935) went to Ishikawa Tatsuzo’s Sobo; after the 20th round (second half of 1944), the 21st round was not decided until the first half of 1949.⁠[6]

The first Naoki Prize went to Kawaguchi Matsutaro for works including Tsuruhachi Tsurujiro, published in All Yomimono; the 21st round (first half of 1949) went to Tomita Tsuneo for Men / Irezumi.⁠[7]

Nihon Bungaku Shinkokai was founded on July 2, 1938, to award literary prizes and promote literature, and on February 8, 2010, the Cabinet Office certified it as a public interest incorporated foundation. It now selects the Akutagawa, Naoki, Kikuchi Kan, Oya Soichi Nonfiction and Matsumoto Seicho prizes and has its office in the Bungei Shunju Building.⁠[8]

All magazines were suspended in April 1945 as the war worsened; Bungei Shunju resumed that October. In March 1946 Kikuchi Kan dissolved the company, and in June employees, with his permission, founded Bungei Shunju Shinsha Co.⁠[9]

Recipients of the 1st Kikuchi Kan Prize in 1953 included Yoshikawa Eiji’s Shin Heike Monogatari, Mizuki Yoko’s screenplays, Iwanami Shoten’s Photo Library series and the Shukan Asahi editorial department.⁠[10]

Shukan Bunshun was launched in April 1959. In March 1966 the company took the name Bungei Shunju Ltd. and moved into the newly completed Bungei Shunju Building in Kioicho, Chiyoda.⁠[3]

The company later announced the Oya Soichi Nonfiction Prize (1969) and the Matsumoto Seicho Prize (1993) and launched Bunshun Bunko (1974), Sports Graphic Number (1980) and Bunshun Shinsho (1998).⁠[9]

Ando Mitsuru, who joined in March 1955 and edited Shokun!, All Yomimono and Bungei Shunju, was representative director and president from February 1995 to June 2000; he died of heart failure on January 9, 2023, aged 91.⁠[11]

In 1999 Shukan Bunshun ran a series of reports on suspected sexual abuse by Johnny Kitagawa. Johnny & Associates sued the company for defamation; in 2003 the Tokyo High Court found the reports true in their important parts and not defamatory, and in 2004 the Supreme Court rejected the agency’s appeal.⁠[12]

Murakami Haruki’s Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, published by the company in 2013, sold a million copies within seven days of release; Matayoshi Naoki’s Hibana passed 2.5 million copies in 2015; and Murata Sayaka’s Convenience Store Woman passed 1.2 million copies cumulatively.⁠[13]

Bunshun Online, opened in 2017, recorded 630.94 million pure page views in August 2021, as measured by Google Analytics.⁠[14]

In November 2019 the company launched Bungei Shunju digital, a paid subscription site built with note. On December 10, 2020, it announced that it had subscribed to a third-party allotment of shares in note Inc. and signed a capital and business alliance, planning to find and develop writers together and exchange staff.⁠[15]

In March 2021 the company launched Shukan Bunshun Denshiban, a paid digital edition costing 2,200 yen a month including tax, which offers about 20 feature articles a week from 4 p.m. on the day before the print issue goes on sale, with, in principle, the past year of articles.⁠[16]

In July 2021 it set up Bunshun Tech ZERO, a limited liability company (godo kaisha) focused on digital development and business, with Bungei Shunju as its representative.⁠[17]

On December 9–10, 2022, the company streamed its first company-wide online event free on its media brands’ YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channels, ahead of its 100th anniversary in 2023.⁠[2]

A BBCBBCThe BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is the United Kingdom’s public broadcaster. Its predecessor was the British Broadcasting Company, formed in 1922, and since 1927 it has been established under a Royal Charter. It provides television, radio, and online services in the UK, is funded mainly by the television licence fee, and broadcasts worldwide in multiple languages through BBC World Service.Open the full entry report in March 2023 drew wide attention to the issue; an outside panel found that the abuse took place from the 1950s to the mid-2010s and affected at least several hundred victims.⁠[12]

In October 2023 Bunshun Online joined about 30 media companies, including Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo, Nikkei, Kodansha and Shueisha, in a declaration pledging to improve the quality of digital advertising. Japan ABCABCABC (American Broadcasting Company) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It grew out of NBC’s Blue radio network, took its name after becoming independent in 1943, developed into a national television network after merging with United Paramount Theatres in 1953, was acquired by Capital Cities in 1985, and has been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1996. With CBS and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks, and it is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry data for April–June 2023 showed Bunshun Online with more than 490 million monthly page views on its own site.⁠[18]

In December 2023 Shukan Bunshun published allegations by two women that the comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi had forced them into sexual acts at private parties at a luxury Tokyo hotel in 2015. His agency, Yoshimoto Kogyo, denied the report and said it would protest strongly and was considering legal action.⁠[19]

On November 8, 2024, Matsumoto announced that he was withdrawing his libel suit against the magazine.⁠[20]

His lawyers’ statement said no physical evidence directly showing coercion had been confirmed, that he was withdrawing to avoid causing further trouble to many people, and that he apologized to any women who had felt uncomfortable or hurt; Shukan Bunshun said it agreed to the withdrawal after consulting the women concerned.⁠[21]

On March 17, 2026, Yamagata Prefectural Police referred to prosecutors, on suspicion of copyright violation, a man who had reposted Shukan Bunshun, Bunshun Online and other articles on a news aggregation site without permission; the company then issued a notice.⁠[22]

Shukan Bunshun had a certified print circulation of 405,750 copies for January–March 2025, and the company says ABC audits have ranked it first among weeklies in actual sales for 22 consecutive years; the digital edition had about 18,000 paying members in March 2026.⁠[23]

President Iikubo Shigeyuki says Bunshun Online ranks first in page views among publisher-run news sites and that the YouTube channel Bungei Shunju PLUS passed 500,000 subscribers within a year; the company has also opened the comic sites BUNCOMI and Seasons and is strengthening subscription services such as Shukan Bunshun Denshiban and NumberPREMIER.⁠[24]

Bungei Shunju: Official website: https://www.bunshun.co.jp/ (opens in a new window)⁠[17]

Bunshun Online: Official website: https://bunshun.jp/ (opens in a new window)⁠[18]

Bunshun Tech ZERO: Official website: https://tech.bunshun.co.jp/ (opens in a new window)⁠[17]

Nihon Bungaku Shinkokai: Official website: https://bungakushinko.or.jp/ (opens in a new window)⁠[8]

YouTube: Official account: https://www.youtube.com/@Bungeishunju (opens in a new window)⁠[9]