Chapter 7, Section 4: Fairy Tales at the Children's Discussion Group

Goban-cho Children's Storytelling Gathering

October 10, 1909, was the fourth day since the children's column in the "Toyama Nippo" newspaper began. The 4th Children's Storytelling Gathering was held starting at 3:00 PM at Kogen-ji Temple in Goban-cho, Toyama City. As the Sodo sect Kogen-ji Temple was the family temple of the lords of the Toyama Domain, it had a large main hall and was frequently used as a meeting place. In September 1905, a prefectural rally opposing the Treaty of Portsmouth was held there, and in 1908, a mock parliament sponsored by the "Toyama Nippo" also took place at this temple.

Sixty-five children are sitting in formal posture, separated into boys and girls. There are also over 20 guardians and guests present. Among them was Reiko Oi, a reporter for the "Toyama Nippo."

Reiko had been invited to this gathering as a performer. He was finally going to perform the storytelling that Sazanami Iwaya and Takehiko Kurushima had demonstrated five months prior.

The storytelling gathering began with a signal from an organ. Tsuji Ikawa (65 years old) went up to the podium at the front, gave the opening remarks, and told the folktale of "The Crane and the Tortoise." Tsuji Ikawa was a local physician.

Next were the children's presentations. As the program written on paper was turned, one child would step up to the podium and speak for about five minutes. The presenters that day totaled 11 children, ranging from second-year elementary students to first-year higher elementary students. They spoke about fairy tales, true stories, and topics from magazines and textbooks.

Between the children's presentations, three adults gave lectures. Naonori Koshiba [6], a teacher at Goban-cho Elementary School and acting principal, told the story of "The Cobra"; Reiko Oi told the fairy tale of "Honest Shokichi"; and Tsuji Shonson, a teacher at the Prefectural Normal School and son of Tsuji Ikawa, told the story of "The Childhood of Tachibana Muneshige." The details of the content of "The Fairy Tale of Honest Shokichi" are unknown.

There was also entertainment featuring a phonograph donated by Nakada Bookstore. Finally, physician Iwajiro Yamada (49 years old) gave the closing remarks, and the two-hour gathering concluded.

The "Toyama Nippo" issue on the 12th, two days later, featured an article on page 3 reporting on this gathering, listing the names and titles of the 11 children.

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The Goban-cho Children's Storytelling Gathering began on July 25, 1909. It was organized by volunteers in Goban-cho with the goal of "providing language practice for children for the sake of linguistic cultivation, and standing between school and home to guide children's moral conduct and manners." In modern terms, this is social education.

Those neighborhood volunteers included three physicians—Tsuji Ikawa (13 Goban-cho), Iwajiro Yamada (40 Goban-cho), and Shin Hada (30 Goban-cho)—as well as Tsuji's son, Tsuji Shonson (34 years old), and Sakujiro Nakagawa, a teacher at Hachinin-cho Elementary School. [7] Tsuji Ikawa was the eldest and appears to have served as the representative.

The Goban-cho Children's Storytelling Gathering was held once a month, and starting with the 6th gathering on December 13, 1909, the name was changed to the "Children's Discussion Group." An article from the 18th gathering on December 3, 1910, states that 18 children gave speeches and a total of 120 people gathered. It is unknown how long this group continued.

In the school district of Goban-cho Elementary School, there were 21 neighborhoods and over 1,100 school-age children. Entering 1910, following the example of the Goban-cho Children's Discussion Group, similar children's groups were established one after another in neighborhood units. [8]

• November 1909–: Nakano-shinmachi Youth Association Children's Discussion Group

• July 1909–: Goban-cho Children's Discussion Group

• February 1910–: Minami-shin Bikukai, Saturday nights.

• June 1910–: Tatsumi-cho Family Discussion Group, a project of the Youth Association. Held twice a year. Over 400 people participated, including guardians.

• December 1910–: Esashi-cho Children's Fun Group

The Goban-cho Children's Discussion Group was likely a pioneer among children's associations in Toyama Prefecture. Similar children's associations were born one after another in the surrounding area. And Reiko Oi lived in a rented house in Minamida-cho, which was in the school district of Goban-cho Elementary School.

How did the Children's Discussion Group originate and flourish in Goban-cho? Did doctors and teachers happen to stand up for social education? It is an interesting theme, but no materials have been found to clarify it.

It seems that Reiko was invited to every meeting after attending the 4th one. He left the 5th meeting (November) midway through because he was busy. Newspaper articles record that he performed the fairy tale "The New Kobutori" at the 6th meeting (December) and the fairy tale "The Water of Immortality" at the 7th meeting.

Toyama City Children's Exposition

In May 1906 (Meiji 39), the first children's exposition in Japan was held in Tokyo. In the same year, similar children's expositions were held in Kyoto and Osaka, and the following year, in 1908 (Meiji 41), at Hikone Castle Mountain. In 1909 (Meiji 42), the Mitsukoshi Department Store in Tokyo held a children's exposition, and the rise in enthusiasm for education throughout society was likely spreading not only to urban areas but also to rural areas.

Sazanami Iwaya, the chief editor of the magazine "Shonen Sekai" (Children's World), was involved in the children's expositions in Tokyo. I have already noted that Iwaya came to Toyama City in May 1909 (Meiji 42) with Takehiko Kurushima, and that Reiko ran around taking care of them.

The Toyama City Educational Association held a children's exposition for five days starting July 1, 1909 (Meiji 42), with the Sogawa Ordinary Elementary School as the main venue. According to the "Toyama Nippo," such an event aimed at improving and developing children's goods was a rare attempt, with only three or four similar events held, such as the children's expositions in Tokyo. The total number of visitors was 75,000, which was more bustling than expected.

At Sogawa Elementary School, a total of about 50,000 items were exhibited in 15 rooms, including a "Clothing Hall" for clothes and dolls, an "Apparatus Hall" for toys and musical instruments, and an "Education Hall" for children's works. In addition, as entertainment, fairy tale motion pictures were shown at the Fukusuke-za, a koto performance was held at Nishi Hongan-ji Temple, and a boys' and girls' concert was held at Higashi Hongan-ji Temple, showing great liveliness. Also, in front of the venue, the boys' music band of the Hon-e Orphanage performed. This reminds one of the Mitsukoshi boys' music band.

The children's exposition in July was reported quite extensively by the "Toyama Nippo" and the "Hokuriku Times." Since the "Toyama Nippo" contains descriptions such as "Ideal Toys of Mr. Sazanami Iwaya" and "Draft by Takehiko Kurushima" in its articles, it is highly likely that Reiko covered the event, but there is no signature by Reiko. A reporter's signature is on the "General Review" article on July 6, which is presumed to be written by Reiko. In this general review, he gives a harsh summary, stating that it was more popular than expected, that although it was called a children's exposition, it was not child-oriented, and that the attitude of the teachers explaining at the venue was not good, saying, "As a result, it became too much of a festival atmosphere, became popularity-seeking, and ran towards advertising, so the original purpose was almost lost, so I will record it as a lesson for the future."

Toyama City Educational Association's Children's Exposition (1909/Meiji 42)

[6] In Kayoko Kobayashi's "Reconstruction and Reception of the Origin Story of the Flying Dumplings of Higashi-Iwase due to the Opening of the Hokuriku Main Line: Focusing on Reiko Oi's 'Historical Fairy Tale Flying Dumplings'" in the "Bulletin of the Koshinokuni Literature Museum" No. 1 (published January 13, 2017), the estimation that Naonori Koshiba = Nansui is introduced, but this is a misidentification. Nansui = Urabe Nansui = Ikutaro Urabe (born September 12, 1867 - died November 23, 1938) is correct. Since the Koshinokuni Literature Museum does not publish a correction, this blog will act on its behalf, albeit presumptuously.【Material】 Reiko "Historical Fairy Tale Flying Dumplings"
　【Material】 Urabe Nansui "Fairy Tale Flying Dumplings" 1909

Even now, the first issue of the "Bulletin of the Koshinokuni Literature Museum" is distributed on the Internet in PDF format, but if such errors are not distributed along with errata articles, it will lead to a chain of misidentification. Corrections are relatively easy on the Internet. It is enough to set up a "Correction" category on the homepage and constantly transmit errata information.

This case is an omission of correction, which is a troublesome story. It is no longer a problem for Ms. Kobayashi personally, but a problem of how a public educational research institution called the Koshinokuni Literature Museum deals with it. Ms. Kobayashi's paper itself is worthy of sufficient evaluation, but leaving such a misidentification for several months is not acceptable. When you make a mistake, do not hesitate to correct it.

[7] There was a series "Hobbies of Toyama Gentlemen" in the "Toyama Nippo" from May to June 1909 (Meiji 42), and Iwajiro Yamada was featured in the 24th installment and Ikawa Tsuji in the 39th. It is highly likely that Reiko Oi was in charge of this series. In other words, it seems that Reiko was acquainted with Tsuji, Yamada, and others through interviews before being invited to the children's association in October.

[8] "Children's Discussion Group," "Toyama Prefecture Educational Association Magazine" No. 36 (published February 25, 1911/Meiji 44). "A podium is set up in the front. When the meeting is opened with organ music, children who have submitted their discussion topics in advance proceed to the podium one by one to discuss for about five minutes, and for each child, a program with the topic and the child's name is torn off one by one. After the child's discussion, or in the middle of it, it was customary to add children's singing or speeches by guests to maintain interest. (Omitted) The average number of speakers is about 20, and the selection of people is changed at each meeting, and the types of discussions are mainly oral fairy tales, factual segments, and materials from magazine textbooks."

Such social education in the Meiji era is called popular education. According to "History of Education in Toyama Prefecture," Vol. 1 (published March 31, 1971), p. 744, "Popular Education Discussion Groups were established" in the 1887-1896 (Meiji 20s) period, and on p. 749, the number of times held by county and city from 1902 to 1910 (Meiji 35 to 43) is summarized in a table. In that table, Toyama City is listed as 4 times in 1909 (Meiji 42) and 2 times in 1910 (Meiji 43).

This is a figure far from the reality of the Children's Discussion Group that Reiko was participating in, and there is still room for investigation and research. In the first place, "History of Education in Toyama Prefecture" describes the City Educational Association's children's exposition, but does not deal with the visits of Sazanami Iwaya or Takehiko Kurushima to the prefecture, and the movements of Reiko and others are not recorded at all. It is a regrettable thing.

(2018.06.16) The cover photo is a child from the Meiji era