This year Sonic the Hedgehog celebrates his 80th birthday. I want to use this opportunity to look back at the long an fascinating history of our favorite prickly cartoon animal.
The story Sonic the Hedgehog began in Japan in the year 1901 when the young writer
猿渡 進 Saruwatari Susumu told his daughter the first (
ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) Sonikku za Hejjihoggu tale.
But if we really want to go into the depth of the Sonic's origins, we have to go back a little further.
The Meiji Restoration (
明治維新 Meiji Ishin), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868. The Restoration led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure, and spanned both the late Edo period (often called Late Tokugawa shogunate) and the beginning of the Meiji period. Meiji Japan sought out western experts to help them modernize so that Japan would be able to compete with the other industrializing countries of the word. One of the new reformer that came to power was Mori Arinori
森 有礼 the Minister of Education was tasked with designing the educational system for the new Japan. The most important political edict was the kyoiku chojugo the imperial edict on education which gave the guidelines for a central educational system. Johann Friedrich Herbart (May 4, 1776– August 14, 1841) a German philosopher, psychologist, and founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline, and his school of pedagogy was seen as best suited for the new Japanese educational system. It was concerned with creating loyal, patriotic future citizen for the Nation of Japan.
What Herbart's philosophy exactly was isn't too important for us. The relevant information to take away is that emphasized the important of storytelling and mythology in education.
The main proponent of Herbert method was Dr. Emil Hausknecht who became a popular lecturer at the Tokyo University and played a central role in training Japans new generation of teacher. Part of the reform process was to standardize education throughout the empire which meant that all students at the age of 6-7 had the following curriculum in at the first grade (age 6-7) in their story classes: Various Brother Grimm Fairy Tales as well as three Japanese Folk tales (Shitakirisumzume, Kachikachiyama and Sarujanigassen.) One of the Grimm Fairy tales was Hase und Igel/
兎とはりねずみ/usagi to hari nezumi/The Hare and the Hedgehog. This fairy tale was first published in “The Hare and the Hedgehog” is a popular German folk tale. The first written version known was by Wilhelm Schröder under the title “De Has un de Swinegel” in 1840 in the "Hanoverian Volksblatt" and was added in 1843 by the brothers Grimm to their Children's and Household Tales.
In a chance encounter, the hare makes fun of the bandy legs of the hedgehog, after which he challenged by the hedgehog to a race where the price is a bottle of brandy. In the race itself the hedgehog runs only a few steps and than hides inside a hedge. The hare who is much faster doesn't see it because he is always way ahead. The hedgehogs wife who looks exactly like her husband, (at least in the eyes of the hare) waits at the other end of the field and when the seemingly victorious hare storms onto the finishing line the hedgehog's wife rises and calls to him: "Ick flush al dor" ("I'm already there"). The rabbit can't comprehend that he the fastest runner in the Forrest was defeated and tires it again and again. After a total of 73 runs with always the same result, in the 74th race the hare breaks down from exhaustion and accepts his defeat. The story contains several different morals that were all seen as important life lessons.
Saruwatari liked the story as well and so did his daughter Saruwatari Amaya . He used the character of the hedgehog in stories he made up himself every night he sat at his daughters bed. Since the hedgehog didn't have a name, Saruwatari decided to call him Sonikku, since he was faster than sound, or so thought everyone else in the Forrest. For most of his early writing career Saruwatari was unsuccessful. He than decided to write a children's book based on one of the stories he told his daughter.
The book of cause was "Mori no yofukuya", or “Everything is Fine at the Forest - Only the Tailors Are Bad” about the hare who buys a new jacket from the forest tailor shop,run by Hedgehog but isn't willing to pay the full price and tries to trick Sonikku and fails badly. Right after it was published in 1907 and to Saruwatari pleasant surprise the books sold like rice cake and he soon became one of Japans bestselling authors. He continued to write several more books detailing the eternal rivalry between the Hare and Sonikku. The only thing he often complained about was that he was shoehorned in the role of the "children's story" author and not taken serious for his other books.
