Shō-chan no Bōken
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Shō-chan no Bōken (正チャンの冒険, Shō-chan's Adventures) is a Japanese four-panel manga drawn by Katsuichi Kabashima (樺島 勝一, Kabashima Katsuichi, under the pseudonym 東風人, Tōfūjin) and written by Nobutsune Oda (織田 信恒, Oda Nobutsune, as 織田小星, Oda Shosei), serialized in Asahi Graph and Asahi Shimbun from 1923 to 1926 [1] At first, the serialization was anonymous, but the authors' names were written in the March 1, 1924 edition. The comic depicted various adventurous journeys of the main character, a boy named Shō-chan and his sidekick squirrel Risu (リス), and was very popular among readers of the time for its fantastic stories, reminiscent of fairy tales and illustrations with a Western flair.
The comic strip was first serialized in Asahi Graph from its first issue in January 1923 to the last issue at the end of August under the title of Sho-chan no bauken (正チヤンのばうけん)". After Asahi Graph ceased publication, it was serialized in the morning edition of Asahi Shimbun from October 20 of the same year. Although the picture story was discontinued on August 20, 1924, a serial story in the form of a novel, " Suzumushi" was published from August 21 to August 28. Serialization began again on October 5 and continued until October 31st of the following year. Furthermore, from February 12 to May 18, 1926, "Shō-chan no sonogo (正チヤンのその後, After Shō-chan)" was serialized. On the other hand, in the reissued "Asahi Graph", it was serialized from March 12 to August 27, 1924, under the title of "Suiyōbi no Sho-chan (水曜日の正ちやん, Wednesday's Shō-chan)".
Between 1924 and 1925, the Asahi Shimbun compiled the strips in seven volumes (horizontal format, 64 pages per volume, four-color printing). The date of first publication is as follows:
- Volume I - July 6, 1924
- Volume II - September 10, 1924
- Volume III - October 25, 1924
- Volume IV - January 10, 1925
- Volume V - March 20, 1925
- Volume VI - June 15, 1925
- Volume VII - October 15, 1925
There are also related works that differ from these monographs. In 1926, the Asahi Shimbun published a picture book (large vertical book, 60 pages, new text) titled "Shō-chan no Kogo" (正チヤンの其後).[2] In addition to Shochan and Risu, "Donkichi" the acorn dwarf appeared in this book, and in the same year, "Shochan to Risu" was published by Kanao Bunʼendō, for which Kabashima did the cover and frontispiece, and the comic included in the book was illustrated by Shimizu Kimikichi. In 1951, Dainippon Yuben Kodansha published "Emonogatari Shochan no Boken" (絵ものがたり正ちゃんのぼうけん).
Style and format
At the time of serialization, the story was in a four-panel installment each time, but since the "Asahi Graph" serialization, the story has been structured to continue over several episodes. For each panel, in addition to the picture, a vertical caption was attached to the outside of the panel, and speech balloons were used for the dialogues written inside the panel. This style is "intermediate between the earlier pictorial storytelling and modern manga".[3][4]