Heibonsha (å¹³å¡社) is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, which publishes encyclopedias, dictionaries and books in the fields of science and philosophy. Since 1945 it has also published books on art and literature. Similarly to the Iwanami Shoten and the Chikuma Shobà  publishing houses, its publishing program is directed primarily at an academic audience and features well-illustrated publications.
Heibonsha's head office is at 3-29 Kanda-jinbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0051.
In 1914 the educator Shimonaka Yasaburà  (ä¸Âä¸Âå½Âä¸ÂéÂÂ) (1878âÂÂ1961) founded the Heibonsha publishing house as a means of selling copies of his pocket encyclopedia That is Convenient: Pocket Advisor (ãÂÂæ¤ã¯便å©ã ! : ãÂÂã±ãÂÂãÂÂ顧åÂÂ, Ya kore wa benri da: Poketto komon) to the general public. In 1923 it was converted into a public limited company. In 1924, in the wake of the 1923 Great Kantà  earthquake, it began to publish books on a larger scale. In 1927, it began publishing the 60-volume Collection of Contemporary Popular Literature (ç¾代大è¡ÂæÂÂå¦堨éÂÂ, Gendai taishà « bungaku senshà «) as a series of budget small format books, which have been dubbed a series of "one-yen books" (ä¸ÂÃ¥ÂÂæ¬). Beginning in 1928 there followed the publication of its Encyclopedia (大ç¾ç§ÂäºÂå ¸, Daihyakka jiten) in 28 volumes, the final volume of which appeared in 1934.
In the years 1934âÂÂ36 Heibonsha published the Daijiten (大è¾Âå ¸, Great/Comprehensive Dictionary), edited by Shimonaka Yasaburà Â. This work remains the largest kokugo dictionary ever published. The original 26-volume edition, which is still available in condensed versions, entered over 700,000 headwords, listed by pronunciation, and covered a wide variety of Japanese vocabulary.
The publishing house ceased operations in the 1940s, but at the end of the Second World War in 1945 it relaunched with a reprinting of the 1934 Encyclopedia. Over the following decade new works followed, including the Social Encyclopedia (社ä¼Âç§ÂäºÂå ¸, Shakaika jinten), Housekeeping (家åºÂç§ÂäºÂå ¸, Kateika jitan), Complete Collection of World Art (ä¸ÂçÂÂç¾Âè¡Âå ¨éÂÂ, Sekai bijutsu zenshà «), Encyclopedia of World History (ä¸ÂçÂÂæ´å²äºÂå ¸, Sekai rekishi jiten), and the Children's Encyclopedia (å Âç«¥ç¾ç§ÂäºÂå ¸, Kodomo hyakkaten). In 1954âÂÂ59, in order to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the publishing house, a 32-volume comprehensive World Encyclopedia (ä¸ÂçÂÂ大ç¾ç§ÂäºÂå ¸, Sekai hyakka jiten) was issued.
In 1961, as part of an encyclopedia boom, the company's National Encyclopedia (å½æ°Âç¾ç§ÂäºÂå ¸, Kokumin hyakka jiten) appeared. In 1963, Heibonsha launched Japan's first monthly graphics magazine, Sun (太é½, Taiyà Â). "The Eastern Library Series" (æ±æ´ÂæÂÂ庫, Tà Âyà  Bunko) book series was issued featuring a comprehensive range of literature from the Far East.
1971 saw the launch of another book series under the title of Heibonsha Selected Books (å¹³å¡社é¸æ¸, Heibonsha sensho), which was followed in 1972 by the first edition of Special Editions Taiyà  (å¥å 太é½, Bessho Teiyà Â). In the early 1970s Weatherhill, a U.S.-based publisher, and Heibonsha jointly published The Heibonsha Survey of Japanese Art, a book series with text in both Japanese and English. In 1979 the 50-volume gazetteer Japanese Historical Place Names (æ¥澴å²å°åÂÂ大系, Nihon rekishi chimei taikei) series began to be published, and as of 2022 it is also available online with "200,000 headings with detailed explanations of [each] place name".
In 1980 the Japanese Map Research Institute (æÂ¥æΡå³ç Â究æÂÂ, Nihon chizu kenkyà «jo), an internal division of Heibonsha, was spun off as the Heibonsha Map Publishing (å¹³å¡社å°å³åºçÂÂ, Heibonsha chizu shuppan) imprint. In 1984, Heibonsha published a 16-volume Encyclopedia (大ç¾ç§ÂäºÂå ¸), and in 1987 the publication of the seven-volume World Great Museum Picture Book (ä¸ÂçÂÂ大åÂÂç©å³éÂÂ, Sekai dai-hakubutsu zukan) began. In 1988 the publication of all 35 volumes of the World Encyclopedia (ä¸ÂçÂÂ大ç¾ç§ÂäºÂå ¸, Sekai daihayakka jiten) was completed. 1993 saw the launch of the "Heibonsha Library" (å¹³å¡社ã©ã¤ãÂÂã©ãªã¼, Heibonsha raiburarë) book series, and in 1994 the "Corona Books" (ã³ãÂÂãÂÂãÂȋÂÂãÂÂã¯ã¹, Korona bukkusu) book series began issuing volumes.
In 2011 a new magazine Heart (ãÂÂãÂÂãÂÂ, Kokoro) began publication. In 2012 the company moved its offices across Tokyo to Kanda-Jimbochà Â. In 2014 the 100th anniversary of the publishing house was celebrated.