was one of the first Japanese shōjo magazines. It was published by Hakubunkan from 1906 to 1931 and specializing in children's literature. The magazine focused primarily on shōjo shōsetsu (lit. "girls' novel", a term for illustrated novels and poems aimed at an audience of girls) and only incidentally on manga.
History The Shōjo Sekai magazine was initially edited by renowned children's author , better known by the pen name . . . Retrieved 16 September 2008.. . Retrieved 16 September 2008. Shōjo Sekai was created as a sister magazine to , which was also edited by Iwaya, and which began publication in 1895.Nakagawa, Hiromi (2002). . . Nagoya: . Retrieved 16 September 2008.
The magazine's early fiction output tended to be of a didactic nature, with tales about self-sacrifice and the importance of obeying one's parents. The stories then started to focus on passionate bonds between girls, often featuring tones typical of the Class S genre.
According to Kiyoko Nagai, for the first ten years of its publication it was the best-selling shōjo magazine of the time, with peak circulations somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 copies per issue.Nagai, Kiyoko () (2000). . In , edited by Nobuko Kohno (), pp. 278-311. Tokyo: Fujiwara Shoten . .
The final issue of Shōjo Sekai was the December 1931 issue.
Contributors Shōjo Sekai had a number of well known contributors over the years, including the following: Sazanami Iwaya (:ja:巌谷小波), author, children's author, editor, publisher Yasunari Kawabata, novelist and short story author Chiyo Kitagawa (), children's author Tama Morita, essayist Midori Osaki (:ja:尾崎翠), novelist Kikuko Oshima (), author Akiko Yosano, poet, feminist, pacifist, and social reformer Nobuko Yoshiya, author
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