Doujinshi and Comiket, a day of ‘Hare’

Tara McInerney, Teesside University

January 18th 2019

Abstract

Since 1975, the increasing success of Comiket (Comic Market) stands testament to the

popularity of doujinshi in Japan.: At first attracting only 700 visitors, Comikeit now

attracts roughly one million visitors yearly, (Mantan 2016), with nine million doujinshi

sold per market (Comiket 2009). Meiji University’s Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial

Library is entirely dedicated to the collection and preservation of hundreds of thousands

of fancomics (Meiji University 2014) – their status elevated to that of high cultural and

historical worth, worthy of their own archive. Whilst doujinshi are now a valued

commodity, seen as inextricable from the manga industry, they are still categorically

illegal. Doujinshi (fan-comics) are hailed as the foundation of the Manga industry,

(Lessig 2004), supporting creative talent, craft tradition and financial revenue. There are

many practical legal defenses for doujinshi that are widely agreed upon, a symbiosis

that has been acknowledged by lawyers and academics, (Lessig 2010), creators and

fans (Akamatsu 2015; Yonezawa 1994) alike. Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe (the Japanese PM) commented that doujinshi ‘operate in a different market’

(SGCafe 2016) to original manga, and therefore do not warrant litigation. These

arguments sit well with Japanese lawyers, but if doujinshi have proven so beneficial to

the Japanese comic industry, why are fan-comics shrouded in taboo in the West? Even

before one attempts to sell a fan-comic, the sheer creation of them is culturally shameful

– not a parody, but a soulless copy. In Japan there is a learning model of creating

utsushi (replicas) that functions through applied copying, used in traditional crafts such

as basket-weaving, lacquering and now, even manga (in the West we may liken it to

rote-learning or embodied learning). In light of utsushi, I aim to examine the boundary

between copying craft and copying ideas. I hope to explain the inextricability of learning

Manga as a visual language with learning storytelling through reappropriation of

archetypes and the folkloric tradition of the East. I aim to depict this cultural and

cognitive dissonance between Japan and the West, this disagreement of exactly what

constitutes a copy.

Keywords

Japan

doujinshi

fandom

copyright

prosumer

manga

Introduction

We live in a world that celebrates ‘property’. (Lawrence Lessig)

You must be watchful of a tree, not the forest, because the forest will be lost when all the

trees die. (Yonezawa 2005)

同人 (doujin): ‘same person’, refers to a group of people with shared interests.

誌 (shi): short for 雑誌 (zasshi), which means magazine.

Doujinshi (同人誌)どうじんし: a self-published magazine or publication that caters to a

specific group of people. (Tofugu Richey 2016)

This article aims to explain the phenomenon of doujinshi and their circulation through festivals

such as Comiket. The relationship between doujinshi culture and the Japanese manga industry

will be examined, and the benefits of this proactive fan-culture. Due to limited resources in the

field of doujinshi study, I have orchestrated a number of interviews that have been recorded by

documentarian Louis Francis, in addition to drawing from first-hand observations on research

trips to Japan in 2015 and 2017. The aforementioned primary research has formed the basis for

some conclusions throughout the article.

Doujin

Henry Jenkins said, ‘Star Wars becomes participatory culture the moment (in which) a kid

playing with an action figure begins to make up their own story’ (via Philippe 2010); indeed, this

state of playful creation – playing with the properties of another story – is necessary to create

independent fanworks. The specific state of creation here is not synonymous with nor is it

tethered by the need for originality. It could be argued that the various properties that fans play

with will shape part of their identity; these properties become the essential building blocks to

fans’ interests, outlooks and personalities. (Jones 2010). The assimilation of aspects of pop-

culture into identity, particularly in Japanese culture, is ‘the absorption of another personality

into one’s own personality’, throwing the concept of originality, uniqueness or indeed ownership

of identity into question (Ohnuki-Tierney 1987). From the Japanese perspective, ‘copying

facilitate(s) self-understanding’ (Ishibashi and Okada 201704: 6); this iterative process of self-

identification creates doujin, communities of like-minded people, often devout fans of a single

franchise (Tofugu Richey 2016). Doujin create fanwork within a state of creativity that is not at

the behest of original thought, but rather manipulates derivative content, transforming it to create

new stories and new meanings, much in the same vein as a remixed song or a collage (Noppe

2014). All fans are offered these ‘building blocks’ for self-identification, self-education and the

proliferation of doujin communities. However, the above benefits are compromised by the extent

to which fanwork is permitted; in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, the

‘building blocks’ do not belong to the fans, whereas in Japan, to an extent, they do (Lessig

2002).

Through fans’ responsive play with modern media, culture and popular stories, they

emerge as storytellers and artists in their own right, with a keen understanding of the

contemporary context that they inhabit. This reflexive, iterative and observational process is an

effective form of learning visual creativity, copying and response (Ishibashi and Okada 201704:

6). Unfortunately, learning through imitation is perceived to be indicative of a lack of creativity,

particularly in Western culture (Guth 2010: 8). It has a few strongholds; the cover song, for

example – but even the once invaluable practice of the Renaissance atelier or master study is

now a kind of taboo. The atelier method emphasized the importance of the craft of painting,

instead of the ideas that the painting depicts – they would follow later (Macfarlane 2007: 6).

During a study of a master’s painting, an imitation of the idea was created as a byproduct of

studying the craft, but doujinshi artists are not simply imitating: they are transforming, elevating

and expanding upon stories. The fanwork is an ‘artform in and of itself, but what is under threat,

are the terms of our participation’ (Jenkins via Philippe 2010). Cory Doctorow also believes this;

he says that as fans, much like children, we are encouraged to play in a ‘sandbox’ (via Philippe

2010), which – while beneficial to honing creative skills – is simultaneously the place with the

strictest rules. Yet in Japan, fans’ creative play is protected by cultural mores (Mehra 2002: 39).

The cultural significance of doujinshi is evidenced through their enshrinement in purpose-built

edifices such as Meiji University’s Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library, where ‘hundreds of

thousands’ of Doujinshi are catalogued (Meiji University 2014). , whilstSimilarly, giant cultural

events such as Comiket, where approximately nine million doujinshi are sold per market (Koichi

2009) demonstrate that fan involvement is an irrevocable part of Japanese culture as a whole. .

Aside from solely satisfying fannish urges, doujinshi is seen to support the comic book industry

through creating artists and writers (Yonezawa via Koichi 2005; Lessig 2002), signal-boosting

fandoms and generating publicity for the source material (Mehra 2002: 39).

Doujin and Doujinshi

Doujinshi (or Dōjinshi) are Japanese fancomics and art books. They are sold at almost all comic

conventions in Japan (Noppe 2014). Indeed, some conventions such as Comiket and Comitia are

hosted specifically for the sale of doujinshi. Japanese fan-creations such as doujinshi are

invaluable to the manga and anime industry, to the extent that detailed popularity charts from

Comiket and websites such as Pixiv are used as forecasts for identifying popular franchises

(Loveridge 2017). This relationship was echoed by Comiket Committee member Yoshiyuki

Fudetani, who, at Comiket #93, remarked that industries and fans work in tandem and that for

this reason, companies are reluctant to prosecute fans (via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d,

2017e, 2017df). This is a singular phenomenon because whilst the Japanese copyright legislation

is nearly identical to that of the United States, Japanese authors, publishers and prosecutors alike

refuse to tackle the blatant infringement (Lessig 2002). Japan and the United States have

divergent cultural ideas of what constitutes reasonable and ‘unreasonable facsimiles’ (Schwartz

2014). The rationale behind this difference is that doujinshi is a boon for the comic book industry

in Japan (Mehra 2002: 48; Lessig 2002). Salil Mehra identified a ‘Japanese “fair use”’ (2002:

13), an ‘gentleman’s ‘agreement’ between fan and rights-owners – completely apart from the

western ideal of defendable fair use. The ‘gentleman’s is unspoken agreement’ (Lessig 2002) in

Japan at once allows for a limited mutually beneficial engagement with intellectual property

(Lessig 2002), but also prohibits the production of ‘copycat’ comics (Lessig 2002: 25). Mehra

echoes the opinion of many lawyers, publishers and academics, from both East and West, who

agree that the relationship of derivative fan-content with their supposed original Manga

properties is a symbiotic one. Even the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe commented that

doujinshi ‘operate in a different market’ (Abe via Stimson 2016) to original manga and therefore

do not warrant litigation. Abe also confirmed that ‘doujinshi […] are shinkokuzai’ (ANN in

Stimson 2016 n. pag), which, similar to the German Antragsdelikt, refers to illegal works that,

without complaint from the victim, cannot be prosecuted. In the United States doujinshi are often

referred to as ‘parody comics’ (Lessig 2002); this which may be an intentional misnomer to

defend doujinshi as parody work is usually permitted for sale under American law, whereas fan

comics are not. In Japanese culture and law, a definite distinction is drawn between parody and

fancomics, but unlike in the United States, where both fall within the terms of ‘fair use’.

The Oxford DictionaryLinda Hutcheon defines parody as an ‘ironic quotation, pastiche,

appropriation, or intertextualityimitation of the style of a particular writer, artist or genre with

deliberate exaggeration for comic effect’ (1989 :93), but yet the majority of doujinshi are not

ironic, but sincere creations. Nobuteru Yūki for example, began his authorial manga career as a

doujinshi-ka (doujinshi creator) and has since become director and character designer on an

impressive number of manga, anime, video game sequences and feature-length animations

including the popular The Vision of Escaflowne (1996) anime, the Cardcaptor Sakura 2 (2000)

films and Ragnarok Online (2002) video games. Despite his industry success, he has returned to

the creation of doujinshi, which curiously, are all based on the anime and manga that he has

officially worked on. Nobuteru creates unofficial work with his doujinshi circle ‘Man in The

High Castle’, producing publications such as the Escaflowne Fan Book that is so loyal in tone,

execution and appearance that it could be mistaken for original content (doujinshi.org). As a

result, Nobuteru’s doujinshi are some of his most famous work (Anon. 2006: 192).1

Nobuteru is not alone; Maki Murakami (Gravitation), Yoshihiro Togashi

(HunterXHunter) and Nanae Chrono (Peacemaker Kurogane) have all returned to and sold

doujinshi after publishing their own manga. Numerous doujinshi-ka claim that doujinshi is to

create content that would not be suited to conventional modes of publishing (Fudetani via

Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f). Yuichi Abe (Director of Ultraman Zero The

Movie and Prince of Tennis) sells a variety of fan-films and fancomics, commenting that he

continues to produce unofficial works, explaining that he has greater freedom of expression in

his fan activity (via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f). Harumo Sanazaki

(Bara no Kishi) has expressed that she is delighted to meet people who enjoy her personal work

and feels a kinship with them (via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f). Their

responses reflect the intentions of Comiket laid out in their public statement, ‘Ideals and Vision’,

and the importance of community is epitomized in their slogan ‘Friendship Forever’

(Comiket.co.jp 2014). Yoshiyuki Fudetani (Comiket Committee Member) corroborated that

professionals returning to fanwork is a common occurrence and that as editor for the biweekly

serial Young King, he identified a rift between freedom of expression in self-published material

compared to that of official publications. He argued that the distinction between professional and

amateur is becoming less pronounced within the manga industry, stating that ‘some amateurs

have better skills than the pros’.2 Yonezawa also identified this destabilization of boundaries

between pro and amateur, citing high production value in amateur work (Koichi 2005), also

suggesting that the manga market may be moving away from the centralized control of

publishing houses (Lovink 2017).

Why respond?

There are widely understood and universal motives to create fanwork. Despite usually

being non-profit and often at the expense of the fan (in terms of time, money and stigma) – there

is the potential for pleasure and the potential to share their work with other like-minded fans

(Jenkins 1992; Fiske 198792). These rationales broadly apply to doujinshi, but there are other

reasons to create doujinshi that can be discerned due to the success of doujinshi within Japan,

such as the importance of freedom of expression, self-identification and the potential for self-

education.

In a 2017 interview with Keiko Takemiya (Terra E 1977-80) she described doujinshi as a

plaything, something created to satisfy one’s own desires, and yet in a conversation with Mitsuru

Sugaya (Game Center Arashi), he explained that doujinshi were also considered a fundamental

strategy for learning manga creation skills. Sugaya continued to explain that during his career as

a manga-ka, many of his colleagues created doujinshi openly; it seemed to him odd to pretend

that you could learn manga without imitating the work of others (Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017b,

2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f). The educational benefits that Sugaya mentions are evidenced by

Ishibashi and Okada (201704), who, through a series of controlled studies, have demonstrated

that adaptive copying from exemplar artworks (similar to atelier methodologies) proves

beneficial for creativity, additionally stating that the choices of exemplar works affect creator

self-identification. This is particularly pertinent, in the case of Sugaya’s best-selling manga

Game Center Arashi, in which the narrative relies upon remixing content and imagery from 80s

video games. The protagonist Ishino Arashi conquers video games closely resembling Space

Invaders (1978), Break Out (1976) and Galaxian (1979). Arashi is seen within the fabric of the

game itself, sometimes surrounded by 8-bit enemies, all illustrated by Sugaya. The above video

games were released within a two-year window of the initial run of this manga from 1978 to

1984 in the serial CoroCoro; these were first-in-the-field, groundbreaking video games, and

Sugaya extols the games for the significant influence that they had on the creation of Game

Center Arashi. Whilst Sugaya understands the inevitability of visual intertextuality between

comics, and the benefits of doujinshi to comic artists, other manga professionals such as Keiko

Takemiya are still somewhat critical of the place of doujinshi within the modern industry.

These interviews indicate that creators such as Sugaya see less of a dichotomy and more

of a permeable membrane between the roles of fan and creator, while some uphold the view that

the two roles are distinct. The view that fanworks are illegitimate forms of expression is an

exemplary effect of Lessig’s notion of a ‘read only’ culture, as opposed to a ‘read/write’ culture,

which enables ‘interest-based learning’ through creative response (2008: 80). Creators in other

countries, such as British comic author Alan Moore, have echoed this sentiment: ‘If the audience

knew what they needed, then they wouldn’t be the audience [] They would be the artists’

(Moore and Vylenz 2003). This overly axiomatic statement and the simplistic view that it

purports warrant scrutiny; the roles of ‘artist’ and ‘audience’ are of course performative, subject

to consolidation through ‘reiterative’ enactment, and therefore temporal (Butler 1993: xii). In

highlighting the temporality of these titles, their fluidity becomes apparent. This reflexive,

‘read/write’ (Lessig 2008) activity is seen prominently in the online fandom space, where images

can be viewed and ‘copied and dispersed at the flick of a finger’ (Steyerl 2015: 12). Abercrombie

and Longhurst echo this notion with their ‘diffused audience’ (1998: 39) model, suggesting that

being the audience is inescapable, we do so at every moment in the created world or the ‘world

of spectacles’ (1998: 83) one is a member of an audience. So, by this logic – whilst artists are not

creating, they are audience members – the boundaries destabilize. The statement ‘the audience

doesn’t know what the audience wants’, whilst pontifical, is indicative of a ‘read only’ (Lessig

2008) gap between audience and creators, who like ‘magicians’ (Moore and Vylenz 2003)

conceal their tricks from unenlightened onlookers.

A prime example of the Japanese perspective on this reflexive creativity is with the case

of Disney drawing inspiration from Osamu Tezuka’s manga, Kimba the White Lion (1950–54)

for their feature film The Lion King (Minkoff, Allers 1994) (Andersen 2012). TakaYūki

Matsutani, the director of the anime adaptation of Kimba the White Lion (1965), confirmed that

they would be ‘happy’ for Disney to have created been inspired by The Lion King derivatively,

which is perhaps significant of the greater Japanese perspective, this ‘gentleman’s ‘agreement’

(Mehra Mehra 2002: 39-4002) to borrow respectfully.3 Conversely, Disney is infamous for its

repertoire of copyright lawsuits, with the landmark Mickey Mouse Protection Act (1998) – but

there is a greater understanding in the Japanese creative industries that it is precisely this sharing

of culture that creates a functional ‘mythology’. Then stories become ‘emergent from life’; it is a

story without one ‘author’ (Barthes 1977). Further to the point of performativity, Barthes

explains this: ‘the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author’ (1977: 147–

48), which refers in a general sense back to the notions of creator and viewer – and they are

performative – only valid whilst being enacted, not static but fluid states. Barthes’ concept also

discloses that once creations are created, the creator ceases to exist – their purpose is nullified.

The creations then exist apart from their creator, the creation endures as a free agent and –

crucially to the question of doujinshi – the Death of the Author signifies that all works are

subject to response.

Doujinshi-ka as prosumers

Challenging the tension between artist and audience, creator and viewer, producer and

consumer – is the core principle of prosumerism (Toffler 1980). In The Third Wave (1980),

Alvin Toffler argues that consumers are a consequence of the Industrial Age and that with the

dawn of the Post-Industrial Age, consumers will be replaced by ‘prosumers’. Prosumers would

engage fully in the consumption and crafting of content, products and services. Toffler’s theory

has captured the imaginations of consumer behaviourists and marketing analysts – becoming

somewhat of a business buzzword. Whilst his conclusions are speculative and often

controversial, they are useful as a framework for assessing the functionality of this ‘hybrid

economy’ (Noppe 2014: 333) in Japan. Although the prosumer is often an individual, engaging

in prosumption from their ‘electronic cottage’ (1980: 10), these activities encapsulate the

‘read/write’ (Lessig 2008) phenomenon present in Japan’s thriving doujinshi culture. In the

specific case of doujin – as the definition of this word in English is (approximately) ‘people like

me’ – here, the sharing of works is not a transaction across boundaries of producer and

consumer, but a transaction within a larger body, a collective of like-minded individuals,

working towards the same goal. Toffler’s concept of the prosumer, whilst usually relevant to an

activity that is conducted by an individual, here, is relevant to the collective doujin working as an

individual whole.

Doujin communities have a firm idea of ‘what they want’. Neil Gaiman proposes that ‘...

fans know exactly what they want, fans want more of the last thing they read and they liked’ (via

Philippe 2010), which is true to some extent, although Jenkins contends with this by proposing

that fanwork is not simply a replica of the original as Gaiman suggests, but rather the result of

the ‘fascination’ and ‘frustration’ (Jenkins 2006a, 20066b) with the shortcomings of an original

work or to rectify the mistakes of the original. Ultimately, particularly in the case of doujinshi,

fans do want and will endeavour to create ‘more of the last thing […] they liked’, but often with

significant non-canonical alterations – such as romantic couplings (or ‘pairings’) (McLelland and

Welker 2015). Doujin who ship a specific romantic ‘pairing’ may take upwards of 300 tables at

Comiket; in the case of slash pairing Viktor Nikiforov/Yuuri Katsuki from the anime Yuuri!!! on

Ice (2016), this pairing amassed 150 tables (Comiket Catalog #93, 2017), carrying the work of

300 different circles, with several artists in each circle. This case supports Jenkins’ claim, as

within the official main narrative of Yuuri!!! on Ice, the romantic pairing of Viktor

Nikiforov/Yuuri Katsuki is narratively canon, and yet the pinnacle of these characters’ romantic

encounters was a frustratingly uncertain kiss. It is perhaps then no coincidence that the majority

of the material on sale at Comiket #93 was explicit in nature (Comiket Catalog #93, 2017). This

identifies a strong mutual awareness of specific desires within the doujin community, in addition

to supporting Jenkins’ assertion that fans create fanwork to fix perceived shortcomings of the

original source material (19922006).

Figure 1: Scan of Comiket Catalog 93 Map depicting East Hall with tables dedicated to Yuuri!!! On Ice. B5 publication, 1309 pages. 2017 © Comiket

Doujin circles such as OJmomo produce doujinshi for the Yuuri!!! on Ice fandom, which

are visually professional publications, utilizing production techniques common to popular

manga. As Yuuri!!! on Ice is an original anime with no previous manga release, the subsequent

doujinshi undergoes a form shift, from screen to paper, anime to manga doujinshi. Explicit

doujinshi such as OJmomo’s Waking or Sleeping must negotiate loyalty to the original anime

canon, whilst incorporating the explicit ‘genre-specific’ narrative features of yaoi manga that do

not feature in the original narrative (Mizoguchi 2008: 152). In stylistic terms, Yuuri and Viktor

in Waking or Sleeping are illustrated to evoke the visual aesthetic of ‘bishounen’ comics.

Bishounen manga, which depicts beautiful boys who possess exceptional physical beauty, are

majorly made by and made for a female readership (Mizoguchi 2008: vii). The original anime,

Yuuri!!! on Ice, depicts Viktor and Yuuri more modestly – so whilst the ‘bishounen’ aesthetic is

common to official works within the boys love genre (McLelland and Walker 2015), within boys

love unofficial works it is a common embellishment, often accentuated beyond that of the source

material. The similarities between the anime and subsequent doujinshi by OJmomo are broadly

apparent in the anatomical proportion of the characters’ bodies and line art, while some

embellishments such as the ‘bishounen’ aesthetic and ‘genre-specific’ narrative are fan-

orchestrated. It is the responsibility of the doujinshi-ka to negotiate their ‘affinity and loyalty’ to

the original source material (Lamerichs 2007: 11), whilst devising content (both visual and

narrative) to satisfy their own discontent with the original (Jenkins 1992). ‘Mere copyists’

doujinshi-ka are not (Lessig 2002), but rather negotiators of their own enjoyment and ‘creative

learning process’ (Lamerichs 2007: 59).

Figure 2: Scan from OJmomo’s doujinshi Waking or Sleeping - Yuuri!!! On ICE Unofficial Fanbook #09 - OJmomo / yoshi - Independent publication - Released: 30/12/2017 - © OJmomo / yoshi

A main tenet of prosumerism is that in a third-wave society, the exchange of currency

will be minimized or compromised (Toffler 1980: 11). Whilst Toffler’s prosumer model very

closely reflects doujinshi industry, it would be fallacious to suggest that doujinshi festivals are

exclusively non-financial ventures. Comiket alone attracts 550,000 visitors biannually, making it

the largest comic convention, of any kind, in the world (Mantan 2016, CComiket.co.jp 2008) and

single-issue doujinshi are indeed sold – they can be sold from anywhere between 200 and 1000

yen on average (currently, £1.31–£6.56). Originally, early doujinshi would be exclusively printed

as anthologies of work from one specific doujin circle; this was a financial inevitability to cut

production costs due to limited and costly printing methods in Japan, before wider

commercialized printing (Sugaya viain Francis 2017a). Production costs of modern doujinshi are

relatively low as their typical format is B5, with approximately 26 pages. In addition, as

doujinshi rarely resemble a usual perfect-bound manga tankoubon (B6 with 100+ pages) there is

no aim to imitate the original product here. Fudetani claims, quoting the Comiket ‘ideals and

vision’, that the priority of Comiket is for attendees to collectively enjoy a ‘Day of Hare’, free

from everyday responsibilities, that there are no customers or vendors at Comiket, but rather

‘participants’, furthermore suggesting that the majority of circles price their goods to cover only

production and time costs (Fudetani via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f) (see

endnote 2). This de-emphasis on financial exchange within doujinshi festivals such as Comiket

and the forcible removal of consumer/producer roles mimic Toffler’s definition of prosumerism.

In The Third Wave – Toffler unveils a society that promotes the exchange of information without

monetary consequence, a society that is simultaneously ‘primordial’ whilst equipped with ‘high-

technology’ (1980: 276); the digital software and hardware that a vast majority of doujinshi

exploit reflects this scenario. He posits too that prosumerism supports communities: the ability

for fans with ‘similar interests’ to be ‘dialled up instantly from anywhere in the country’ will be

a great force to sustain prosumer activity, and so by this assertion, Comiket’s emphasis on

participation, like-mindedness and creativity helps to ‘sustain and enrich’ these doujin

communities (1980: 374).

Education circles

Comiket was started by the doujinshi circle Meikyu (迷宮) in 1975, which began as a

group for studying the works of various manga artists, including famous shoujo manga-ka Moto

Hagio (Osaka 2009). These study circles now total 35,000 per event (Comiket.co.jp 2008) – and,

as previously stated, are used as predictors by the anime and manga industries to judge

popularity and trends in franchises, an invaluable gauge. These educational ‘circles’ are similar

to the atelier method in their aims, their methods and the size of the group. The atelier was the

standard vocational method for artists from the middle ages to the nineteenth century, similarly

imitating the works of a chosen master, in a similarly small group, similarly for the learning

outcomes of improving one’s craft skill. Moreover, these workshops would generate

communities through a ‘multi-layered process of socialization’ much in the way that today’s

Japanese circles generate fanatic communities. This is the basis of Japanese utsushi, copying

until craft becomes rote, second nature – and only recently seeing a resurgence in western

educational institutions under the titles ‘embodied’ or ‘rote learning’ (Guth 2010: 10).

Another reason for doujinshi is the platform for skill enhancement and language

acquisition that it provides in comparison to the scarce institutional education routes for aspiring

manga professionals (Suan via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017cd, 2017e, 2017f). College and

university comics courses have been taught in American educational institutions since the 1940s

with the School of Visual Arts NYC, in 2004 with the Center for Cartoon Studies and much

later, in the 2000s comics courses gained popularity in the United Kingdom and Japan.

Traditionally and for the most part, the Japanese route to professional manga authorship is via

doujinshi (in English; fancomics); they are hailed as the foundation of the manga industry

(Lessig 2002; Tofugu Richey 2016; Japan Times 2014) due to doujinshi’s positive effect on

creative talent, craft tradition and financial revenue. Established manga-ka such as Akamatsu

Ken (Love Hina, Negima!, UQ Holder) argues that ‘The larger a pool of amateurs there is, the

better professional artists’ skills get’ (Akamatsu via Green 2015).

Even when for non-profit purposes, the very creation of fanwork is culturally shameful –

not a parody, but an unoriginal, soulless, self-serving copy. As Christine Guth explains, in the

Western countries, copying (in craft or content) signifies ‘lack of imagination and slavish

devotion to the past’ (2010: 8). This is reflected in British opinion of the Japanese in the 1900s,

one British Diplomat stating that ‘the Japanese never originated anything’ – and the Japanese

were discounted as a ‘society of copyists’ (Schwartz 2014: 303). To understand the western idea

of the copy – and the stigma attached – it is important to consider the opposite – originality.

Schwartz unveils a particularly ‘atlantocentric’ and ‘racist’ western notion of originality that

stands in opposition to Japanese ‘copyists’ (2014: 303) based on their eminent borrowing of

American technologies in alignment with Meiji’s Wakon Yosai principle (Japanese Spirit,

Western Technology) (2014: 301). The learning outcomes for creative courses across the United

Kingdom, particularly at the highest level of achievement, will use the term ‘originality’ or

‘innovation’ (QAA 2017: 11). Originality is prized as a standard of creative fluency, of

professionalism within the arts – but what is the cost of preoccupation with the original? Barthes

proposed that destroying ‘every point of origin’ (1972: 2) creates a mythology – and in the

classical sense, a mythology is upheld by oral tradition. This would be a mythological canon

dependent not just on the interaction of its audience, but on the interpretation and appropriation

of its contents – subject to alteration through centuries of imperfect verbal recounting. In this

vein, destroying the idea of the origin (or original) could create the foundations for a fully

responsive, reflexive, creative community (Hoare 2001: 15). As American and British copyright

laws are ‘based on the charming notion that authors create something from nothing’ (Litman

1990: 1), there is limited potential for self-actualization and self-education through the creation

of fancomics outside of Japan’s fruitful ‘hybrid economy’ (Noppe 2014).

There are many examples of scenarios in Japan where the fandom is not simply tolerated

– but encouraged to flourish. These digital or physical environments are created for the express

purpose of facilitating the fandom – we will call these affinity spaces (Gee 2004), of which

Comiket is a prime example. Its late president, Yoshihiro Yonezawa, also identified the

importance of supporting this particular type of creativity:

‘[] making a fanzine was like a one-step method to become professional.’

(昔はプロになるためのワンステップみたいな形で同人誌はあったと思う

んです。)

‘By continuing to provide this kind of space, I want to support new artists/writers,

I want to support hand-drawn work.’

(このような場を用意し続けることで、新たな作家が出てきてほしい、描

き手が出てきてほしい。). (Koichi 2005)

He identifies the link between learning from copying and becoming a ‘professional’, particularly

highlighting that apart from Comiket, perhaps that place does not – or did not – exist. This

echoes antiquated methods of learning: the master-study in renaissance painting, even the cover

song – a mode of learning and appreciation that persists today. This ‘skill at doubling’ (Schwartz

2014: 301) is particular to Japan; across many Japanese disciplines it would seem that copying is

the ideal method of adapting oneself to a task, to learn a new skill. This ideology can be

discerned in martial arts, lacquering, Buddhist practices, Tea Ceremonies (Chanoyu), Japanese

Traditional Painting (Nihonga), textiles – and across most – if not all – Japanese traditional craft.

Guth noted that ‘copying should be interpreted in relational terms’ (2010: 8), that perhaps

copying to learn a craft is unavoidable, but copying in other areas must be approached

differently. Yonezawa echoes this notion in his declaration that a simple ‘copycat’ will be

prohibited from selling at Comiket, and also, to not create a ‘feature-length’ story that might

overshadow the original source material (Koichi 2005). However, Manga, as a culturally

significant visual practice, has always been subject to ‘embodied learning’ (Schenk 2013) – the

idea of sensory or kinaesthetic imitation to understand a practice or craft. A manga-ka, for

example, may employ a host of artists for jobs such as inking, shading, screen-toning – all of

which must be learnt first-hand from the original manga-ka, through imitation; Guth explains this

as ‘copying the actions of a master until these become second nature’ (2010: 8).

Outside of Japan, the traditional and revered method of ‘utsushi’ (learn by reiteration)

(Guth 2010: 8) for teaching Karate, for example, is somewhat derisively considered ‘autocratic’

(Callej 2001) as it offers little room for personal interpretation. Wado-Ryu Karate Master

Hironori Ohtsuka’s writings on ‘kata’ and ‘igata’ explain that ‘igata’ was dead form, pure copy,

stiff, rigid and prone to shatter, whilst ‘kata’ is an interpretation of the original, it is living,

something mutable and applicable – like water around a rock (Shaw 2008). Ohtsuka describes

‘kata’ in the same way that Jenkins describes fanwork as ‘a living, evolving thing, taking on its

own life, one story building on another’ (2006a, 2006b: 256). Therefore, this divide between

what constitutes original and derivative is not purely a geographical or a cultural one, but is a

divide that exists within Japanese ideology too, although in Ohtsuka’s writing represents perhaps

a more reflexive, interpretational relationship with the copy. Indeed, the more masterful Japanese

craftspeople will purport the importance of self-expression – but in conjunction with periods

copying and learning first-hand from one’s sensei (Guth 2010: 15). This comes full circle to

Yonezawa’s claim that Comiket benefits new writers and artists by providing a safe platform to

express themselves as individuals – ‘kata’, after learning through ‘utsushi’ – studying and

copying their favourite artists and manga-ka (Koichi 2005).

In Japan this learning model of creating utsushi – or replicas – a method that functions

through applied copying (Guth 2010: 8), is used in traditional crafts such as basket-weaving,

lacquering and now, manga. Following Guth’s assertion that all copying must be ‘considered in

relational terms’, from a practical perspective, replicating the form and techniques of comic-art

without the content is not only incredibly droll – its benefits are limited. As Scott McCloud

claims (in the McLuhanesque vein), the form, ‘the vessel’ (1993: 6), should be crafted bespoke

to its content – the medium is the message. So what good, when practicing for communication, is

practicing the medium alone? It is practicing the words of a language without stringing together

coherent sentences – an inextricability of form and content.

The ideological conflict can be Despite Neil Gaiman’s previous quote (and the fact that

he does not read fanfiction); he asserts that ‘that all writing is useful for honing writing skills’ –

whether it is writing a novel or ‘Smeagol-Gollum slash’, it still encourages ‘learning as a writer’

(2012). Both he and Alan Moore share a similar opinion on the fan; Gaiman has said that the

author is not the fan’s ‘bitch’ (2009), that they should leave the author ‘alone’ (via Philippe

2010), whilst Moore states that creators are ‘magicians’ and that not everyone is capable of

magic (via Moore and Vylenz 2003). Their opinion differs, however, in the case of fan-response,

when Gaiman says transformative works are ‘an absolutely cool and legitimate response’. Moore

suggests, rather derogatively, that derivative work is a ‘kind of incest’ or ‘inbreeding’,

completely devoid of ‘imagination’ (via Smith in Moore 2011), proposing the fanwork as an

illegitimate form of self-expression or even self-development.

Despite Moore’s harsh claims, a great deal of his own material is transformative, and I

will contend, fanwork by definition. His publication Lost Girls is a comic that taps into European

folk stories from the public domain, pornographizes them and offers them up in a mid-century

time frame. It is the epitome of a fanwork; it features Alice from Lewis Caroll’s Alice in

Wonderland, Dorothy Gale from Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz and Wendy Darling from J.M

Barrie’s Peter Pan. Whilst Lewis Caroll embraced the transformation of his work, with over 200

adaptations being released twenty years after its initial publication, Alan Moore evidently does

not, to the extent that fans are, to him, ‘emotionally subnormal’ (Moore via Flood 2014).

Moore’s bibliography is awash with derivations, including not only Lost Girls, but From Hell,

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Miracleman, Watchmen, as examples. His acclaimed

Watchmen comic, which is a self-professed critique of the superhero, stars a host of anti-heroic

superheroes, based on ‘Action hero’ characters featured in the Charlton Comics (Moore via

Cooke 2000). Not to mention that his most famous work, V For Vendetta is based on the story of

Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot of 1605. Much like doujinshika in Japan, Alan Moore has

been the audience of – and found inspiration from – a plethora of stories, and has then proceeded

as creator to author his own derivative, transformative works. All the aforementioned works are

highly original in their own right, but could not exist without its source texts. Like doujinshi,

these publications all blur the audience/artist dichotomy absolutely.

Moore’s work elucidates irrespective of the harsh opinions that he harbours, derivative

work is absolutely ineludible. Creativity is a conversation, and in the response there is growth as

nothing exists, nor can anything be created in a vacuum (Lessig 20027). Lawrence Lessig

proposes that this is the natural course of creativity and always has been. It is only in the twenty-

first century that this natural course has been disrupted (Lessig 2002: 37) – moving from what he

calls a ‘read/write’ culture to a ‘read-only existence’. Yet, without a wider understanding of

usage rights – creators have little self-defence in their output. Jenkins contends also that – as is

the case in Japan – larger corporations with the means to do so must allow the fans some

ownership of the intellectual property within legally sequestered franchises such as Star Wars

(2006a, 2006b: 21).

Conclusion

The significance of doujinshi, cosplay and merchandise for the manga industry in Japan is that

manga is completely integrated into Japanese contemporary culture like ‘air’ (Kinsella, 2000: 4).

Manga is a 420 billion yen ($5.5bn; £3.3bn) industry circa 2009 (Syed 2011) compared to the

$870 million American comic book industry of the time – evidencing the respective cultural

importance of comics. In addition, the decline in sales via the direct market of single-issue

comics in the West highlights a need for strategic change (Macdonald 2018), not just of how

comics are marketed, but the liberties that fans are given to respond. Considering that Japan was

a party to the Berne Convention in 1899, its copyright and intellectual property laws are in sync

with most other industrially developed countries, and yet evidently, they are enacted in different

ways. In the United States, from 2011 fancomics/doujinshi have been banned from conventions

altogether, despite 16 per cent of the United States’ GDP in 2014 being attributed to derivative

works – equalling 5.6 trillion dollars (Computer & Communications Industry Association

[CCIA] 2017). Japanese artists and publishers know that prohibiting doujinshi would ‘alienate

their consumer base’ (Tofugu Richey 2016) and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expresses that the

relationship is economically sustainable. This suggests that the convergent approaches have

cultural differences at their core, not legal ones, particularly with respect to learning approaches

and idea generation. Western and Japanese legal structures – whilst similar, are behaving

differently here in response to similar issues, which may suggest a more holistic explanation of

events. ‘Culture influences law’ (Varner and Varner 2014: 1), especially in the case of Japanese

fan-culture; the positive correlation between the industry and the fan industry highlights the need

for this fan participation for industry growth in the West too.

Fan work is necessary for industry growth, it is necessary for the kindling of fan

communities and it is necessary for the comprehension of working methodologies. The

educational empowerment of fan-artists of all kinds will coincide with a move towards a

‘multitude of singularities’ (Lovink 2017: 170) where creative control is ‘decentralized’

(McLuhan 1964: 55).

Afterword

This article is part of a larger vein of research that has taken me to Japan twice to delve into the

culture surrounding doujinshi. Many of the quotes in this text are from recorded interviews

conducted over December 2017 and will become available in documentary format by December

2019 through Optic Nerve Films.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to The Daiwa Foundation and Newcastle University for funding the research;

Christine Guth, David Crowley for their guidance; Yūki Tsujita, Yukari Yoshihara for their help

and guidance in Japan; Keiko Takemiya, Tomoko Yamada, Mitsuru Sugaya, Chie Kutsuwada,

Harumo Sanazaki, Ai Takita-Lucas, Stevie Suan, for their insightful and comprehensive

interviews; and Louis Francis for filming and organizational assistance in this undertaking.

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Contributor details

Tara McInerney is a Visual Storyteller who currently lecturesand Senior Lecturer in

Ccomics and Graphic Novels at Teesside University. She specializes in Manga,

fan studies and LGBT studies, and her visual sequential work combines fiction

with her academic interests. Most recently she has been testing the applications

of the ‘self-insert’ in queer (or ‘slash’) fanfiction as a method for critical self-

authorship of identity. She has exhibited internationally and has resided in

Birmingham, Limerick, Calpe, Cardiff, Kyoto, London and now, Newcastleis

currently working on a feature-length documentary examining Japanese doujinshi

culture. She studied at Cardiff School of Art and Design and gained earned an a

mastersMA degree in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art,

London.

Contact:

Tara McInerney, 61 High Quay, City Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear,

NE12PD, United Kingdom.School of Computing, Media and the Arts, Teesside

University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX

E-mail: t.mcinerney@tees.ac.uk

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8195-6706https://orcid.org/

Notes

1 Nobuteru Yūki explains on his personal website that some of his unofficial doujinshi for

productions that he worked on such as Keiko Takemiya’s ‘To the Earth’ (Terra E) work would be

sold out by 1 p.m. at comic conventions, such as Comic City in Osaka

(http://web.archive.org/web/20080503094840/http://www.ac.cyberhome.ne.jp/~say/hall.html,

accessed 22 December 2017).

2 The filmed interview with Comiket Committee Member Yoshiyuki Fudetani was conducted at Big

Sight Convention Centre, Tokyo, on 29 December 2017 and is confirmed on the official Comiket

Website (URL below). It is pending official video release in December 2019, whilst a trailer for the

upcoming documentary will be available late 2018

(http://www.comiket.co.jp/info-a/TAFO/C93/C93collectings.html, accessed 1 January 2018).

3 The full sentiment of Takayūki Matsutani is as follows:

If Disney took hints from ‘The Jungle Emperor’ [by the cartoonist Osamu Tezuka in making

Disney’s ‘The Lion King,’] our founder, the late Osamu Tezuka, would be very pleased by

it. Rather than filing a claim, we would be very happy to know that Disney people saw

Tezuka’s work. (Takayūki Matsutani, President, Tezuka Productions in Mehra 2002)