"Nagaoka Local Reader" Volumes 1 & 2 [Reprint Edition] 📙
[Introduction to Niigata Antiquarian Books] 🧐
"Nagaoka Local Reader" Volumes 1 & 2 [Reprint Edition] 📙
Original: Published in Showa 8 (1933)
Reprint: Published in Showa 60 (1985)
Co-edited by the Nagaoka Women's Normal School Elementary School Local Education Research Department and the Nagaoka City Elementary School Education Research Association
Published by Nagaoka Meguro Shoten
A local education reader created in 1933 for Nagaoka elementary school students—everything about Nagaoka, including the Shinano River, Nagaoka Castle, Hokuetsu Paper Mills (founding), oil fields, Echigo Jofu linen, and the three-shaku fireworks, is quietly told in language from a child's perspective. 📖
The modern orange and black binding restores the atmosphere of 1933, and the presentation of the two volumes in a slipcase conveys respect for Nagaoka's local history.
[Commentary on Content, etc.] 🧐
⚫︎ The greatest value of this book is that it is a primary source that records "Nagaoka as of 1933" in real-time.
Pre-war Nagaoka's industries, nature, people, and customs are written in simple language for elementary school students, making it highly dense as material for local history research.
Even as a reprint, its documentary reliability is high because it reproduces the format of the original almost faithfully.
⚫︎ The table of contents for the first volume includes a diverse range of themes such as "Patriotic Cherry Blossoms," "Shinano River," "Kawazu Diversion Channel," "The Fall of Nagaoka Castle," "Iku-a School," "Carpenter's Arithmetic," "Echigo's Ushino," "Seeing the Higashiyama Oil Field," "Echigo Merchants," and "Lord Tadanari and Nagaoka at That Time." The second volume continues with figures, industries, and scenery associated with Nagaoka, such as "Hokuetsu Paper Company," "Mr. Torajiro Kobayashi," "Seeing Mr. Kahoko Hoshino," "Mishima-ba," "The Festival of the 27th of Spring," and "Travels in Hokuriku."
⚫︎ "Seeing the Higashiyama Oil Field" is a chapter that depicts the oil industry in the Echigo/Nagaoka region from a child's perspective.
It is a valuable account that conveys that Nagaoka at the time had an aspect as an "oil town."
The chapter on "Hokuetsu Paper Company" is also a rewarding read as a clue to understanding the history of modern industry in Nagaoka.
⚫︎ The chapter on "Mr. Torajiro Kobayashi" is believed to feature Torasaburo Kobayashi, who was born as the child of a Nagaoka feudal retainer and is known for the spirit of "One Hundred Sacks of Rice."
The fact that a figure who forms the foundation of Nagaoka's educational spirit already appears in a local reader from 1933 carries great weight.
⚫︎ Each chapter ends with appendices such as waka poetry, Chinese poetry, folk songs, and Nagaoka customs/proverbs, giving it a literary depth that goes beyond a mere gazetteer.
Records of folklore and dialects such as "Lullabies," "Nagaoka Language," and "Echi no Tabino" are also not to be missed as materials for regional cultural history.
⚫︎ The binding is a two-color print in orange and black that reproduces the design of the original, and the modern design featuring factory chimneys and silhouettes of people is eye-catching. The appearance, which brings back the graphic sense of the early Showa period, is one of the charms of this book.
📖 A "cross-section of history" told by paper—in 1933, Nagaoka teachers tried to teach children to "know Nagaoka." The flow of the Shinano River, the flames of the oil fields, the aspirations of Torasaburo Kobayashi—each of these is sealed in these two volumes along with the atmosphere of pre-war Nagaoka. This book, which was released to the world again in 1985 in the form of a reprint, is also proof that the town of Nagaoka has continued to cherish its own history. 😌
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