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Paper short abstract

This paper examines Morishita Uson’s (1890-1965) “Kagaku shōsetsu: Kaisei no himitsu” (“The Secret of the Mysterious Planet: A Scientific Novel”), written for the magazine Shōjo no tomo (Girls’ Friend) in 1916, as a counternarrative to the magazine’s depiction of science and technology.

Paper long abstract

Morishita Uson (1890-1965) is known in the history of popular fiction primarily for his role as the first editor of the literary magazine Shin seinen (New Youth, 1920-50), where he promoted detective fiction. However, Shin seinen was not the first magazine with which he was associated. Morishita made his debut as a fiction writer in Shōjo no tomo (Girls’ Friend, 1908-55), one of the most widely read literary magazines for young girls during the Taishō and early Shōwa periods. Over four years, from 1916 to 1919, he published six serialised novels in the magazine. Although most of these works feature plots centred on mysteries resolved through investigation, foreshadowing Morishita’s later interest in detective fiction, none were explicitly presented to readers as detective novels. Instead, the editors designated the literary genres of these stories using various tsunogaki (two-line subtitles), such as kagaku shōsetsu (scientific novel) and bōken shōsetsu (adventure novel). This paper focuses on “Kagaku shōsetsu: Kaisei no himitsu” (“The Secret of the Mysterious Planet: A Scientific Novel”, February-November 1916), the first story Morishita wrote for Girls’ Friend.

I argue that the story serves as a counternarrative to the magazine’s prevailing depiction of the relationship between girls and technological and scientific discourse. Consistent with the concept of ryōsai kenbo (good wife and wise mother) that shaped Taishō era discussions of female education, Girls’ Friend promoted, through various texts—including commercial advertisements, essays on female educators who were also inventors, and educational articles on scientific topics—a vision of science and technology as integral to girls’ domestic life. In contrast, “The Secret of the Mysterious Planet” employs science and technology to transport its young female characters beyond the domestic sphere, enabling them to embark on an adventure in an alien world characterised by curiosity and courage.