ランドセル

1868 is a clear printed point for ランドセル: Shogakukan's Seisenban Nihon Kokugo Daijiten cites Konohana Shinsho, no. 2, with ランドセル in a military scene. The source form is Dutch ransel, a rectangular knapsack associated with soldiers; Dutch ANW defines ransel as a back bag first used for soldiers and later also for similar school bags. The same Japanese entry says ransel was heard as ランセル or ランゼル. In late Edo and early Meiji Japan, Dutch military vocabulary entered through Rangaku, army training, and equipment names such as 背嚢. The dictionary note also points to Takano Choei's 1850 use of ラントスル and to Gakushuin in 1885, when the school made this back-worn bag part of student equipment. Iwaya Sazanami's 1892 Tosei Shonen Katagi gives the school sense. Today ランドセル normally means the firm, box-shaped bag used by elementary school children, especially first graders buying one before April entrance ceremonies. English school backpack is wider: it can be nylon, casual, or used at any school level. Dutch ransel stays closer to knapsack or old-style satchel, not the Japanese product category. Japan's April school entrance context keeps it tied to first grade and the six years of elementary school. Example: 新しいランドセルを買った.