# Is "A Personal Matter (個人的な体験 / Kojinteki na taiken)" by Kenzaburō Ōe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Personal Matter (個人的な体験 / Kojinteki na taiken) by Kenzaburō Ōe (Shinchōsha, 1964) is identified by: The true first is the Japanese hardcover issued by Shinchōsha in August 1964 (Shōwa 39) within the publisher's 純文学書き下ろし特別作品 (pure-literature commissioned special-work) series; it won the 11th Shinchōsha Literary Prize. The true first edition is the 1964 Japanese Kojinteki na taiken (Shinchōsha, Tokyo, August 1964) — the copy serious Ōe collectors pursue, and his first novel drawn directly from the birth of his son Hikari.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the Japanese hardcover issued by Shinchōsha in August 1964 (Shōwa 39) within the publisher's 純文学書き下ろし特別作品 (pure-literature commissioned special-work) series; it won the 11th Shinchōsha Literary Prize
- Its defining physical point is that it was issued cased in a publisher's slipcase/box (函入り, hako-iri) that carried a printed message from Ōe himself, so a complete first should retain that box; collation runs to roughly 251 pp
- Because Japanese publishers of the period rarely printed explicit printing statements, first-printing identification rests on the earliest dated colophon (奥付) reading the August 1964 first-issue date rather than a later reprint date, together with the correct slipcase and jacket; the colophon reprint date is the surest tell
- (A prize/promotional obi is not documented for the first issue and should not be treated as a required point.)
- Publisher imprint reads Shinchōsha
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kenzaburō Ōe |
| Publisher | Shinchōsha |
| Year | 1964 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the Japanese hardcover issued by Shinchōsha in August 1964 (Shōwa 39) within the publisher's 純文学書き下ろし特別作品… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the Japanese hardcover issued by Shinchōsha in August 1964 (Shōwa 39) within the publisher's 純文学書き下ろし特別作品 (pure-literature commissioned special-work) series; it won the 11th Shinchōsha Literary Prize. Its defining physical point is that it was issued cased in a publisher's slipcase/box (函入り, hako-iri) that carried a printed message from Ōe himself, so a complete first should retain that box; collation runs to roughly 251 pp. Because Japanese publishers of the period rarely printed explicit printing statements, first-printing identification rests on the earliest dated colophon (奥付) reading the August 1964 first-issue date rather than a later reprint date, together with the correct slipcase and jacket; the colophon reprint date is the surest tell. (A prize/promotional obi is not documented for the first issue and should not be treated as a required point.)

## Is this the true first?
The true first edition is the 1964 Japanese Kojinteki na taiken (Shinchōsha, Tokyo, August 1964) — the copy serious Ōe collectors pursue, and his first novel drawn directly from the birth of his son Hikari. Note that Ōe himself frames his career around two novels, this and The Silent Cry (万延元年のフットボール, 1967), which some rank as his masterpiece; but A Personal Matter is the more internationally famous title and the first Ōe translated into English, so it is the defensible signature work. The first English-language edition is A Personal Matter, translated by John Nathan (Grove Press, New York, 1968): brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine, x + 214 pp., color pictorial dust jacket by Kuhlman Associates, the printed price on the flap. It preceded the first UK edition (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1969). On the Grove first, printing status is noted on the copyright page and, per Grove practice, later-printing dust jackets carry a small letter code (e.g., "ii," "iii") on the rear panel — a true first jacket lacks that code; the practical tells are the unclipped the printed price jacket with no rear-panel letter code plus the copyright-page first-printing indication.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No prominent U.S. book-club edition of A Personal Matter is a common trap the way mid-century American fiction is; the realistic pitfalls are different. (1) Confusing the 1968 Grove Press first English printing with later Grove trade or Grove Weidenfeld reprints and the ubiquitous later Grove/Black Cat paperback — check for brown cloth, the unclipped the printed price jacket, the copyright-page first-printing notation, and the absence of a letter code on the jacket's rear panel. (2) On the Japanese side, mistaking a later Shinchōsha reprint or, especially, the later Shinchō Bunko paperback for the 1964 boxed hardcover first — verify the August 1964 colophon date and the presence of the correct slipcase. Ex-library and jacket-clipped copies, and copies lacking the Japanese slipcase, are the most common downgrades.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Personal Matter (個人的な体験 / Kojinteki na taiken)* by Kenzaburō Ōe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-personal-matter
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.