The Roots of Gekiga

Gekiga and Street kamishibai

　In terms of the development of Japanese manga after the war, the influence of "gekiga" (literally dramatic pictures, essentially graphic novels) cannot be ignored. In fact, from the 1960s to the 1970s, the emphasis on a more realistic style and subject matter aimed at a readership consisting of teenagers and older readers dominated the manga world, and the word "gekiga" came to be used in place of terms such as "story-based manga" and "manga". One of the roots of gekiga is street kamishibai (paper plays).

The word "kamishibai" initially meant paper-doll theater, but, in 1930, a style of kamishibai called "hirae", which involved drawing pictures on rectangular sheets of paper and then removing one at a time in order to tell a story, started becoming popular in Tokyo. So-called "kashimoto" (kamishibai dealers)—who produced hand-drawn kamishibai—loaned their kamishibai to performers called sellers who actually performed in the streets, and then the sellers sold sweets to children who showed up wanting to watch the kamishibai, which is how the business worked. According to a 1931 survey, there were already over 20 kashimoto in Tokyo alone at the time, and the popularity of kamishibai soon swept over the entire nation.

Educational kamishibai and national policy kamishibai

As a result of the popularity of street kamishibai, police and educators started viewing the vulgarity of its contents and expressions as a problem. At the same time, around 1935, the educational kamishibai movement—which involved creating and performing kamishibai suitable for children—was started in an effort to exploit the power of the medium to attract children. As the Second Sino-Japanese War dragged on, educational kamishibai—for which printed materials were distributed all over the country—started to include content aimed at helping the people understand Japan’s national policy. Many examples of this so-called "kokusaku kamishibai [national policy kamishibai]" were produced during the war.

Resurgence in popularity after the war

　After the war, street kamishibai once again started gaining popularity throughout the country. Its popularity even spread to boys’ magazines, and popular kamishibai writers were used for boy’s magazines. Major success stories include "Bōken Katsugeki Bunko [Swashbuckler Books]" (Meimeisha, currently known as Shonengahosha)—which serialized "Ōgon Batto [Golden Bat]", a work by Takeo Nagamatsu, the originator of the kamishibai boom starting in the 1930s—and "Omoshiro Book [Fun Books]" (Shueisha)—which serialized "Shōnen Ōja [Boy King]", a work by Sōji Yamakawa, who was already doing work for "Shōnen Club" (Dainippon Yūbenkai Kodansha) during the war.

From kamishibai to emonogatari

When the kamishibai performance style—which involved a kamishibaiya (kamishibai narrator) showing pictures drawn on rectangular sheets of paper and reading the sentences written on the back—shifted to magazines, the stories became "emonogatari" (illustrated stories), which had pictures drawn in frames with sentences to the side of them. The pictures used for street kamishibai were more realistic than those used for manga, and this style was used for emonogatari as well, but the layout of frames with pictures in them and sentences was not limited to Sōji Yamakawa’s relatively orthodox approach. Instead, there were a diverse variety of works, including works with unorthodox frame layouts, works with speech balloons, works without lines around frames, and works in which sentences were incorporated into frames.

Similarities between emonogatari and manga

One major example of an early hit emonogatari, Tetsuji Fukushima’s "Sabaku no Maō [Demon king of the desert]" (Akita Shoten, 1949-56), actually resembled modern-day American superhero comics in its use of speech balloons, the shape and size of its frames as well as the free way these were changed, and the way each episode was printed in color. As a matter of fact, the editor of "Bōken-ō [Adventure King]" (Akita Shoten)—the magazine in which this work was serialized—bought up American comics from the occupation army and had Fukushima refer to them. This work is also famous for having a tremendous effect on Hayao Miyazaki when he was a boy.

Kashihonya and kashihon manga

　Kashihonya (booklenders) existed starting in the Edo period, but, after the war, they succeeded with an approach that involved renting out books and magazines for a rental charge without taking a deposit, and this business peaked throughout Japan from 1955 to 1964. One reason for this development was the publication of many manga books made specifically for kashihonya. Even though kashihon (rental book) manga were criticized for their vulgarity, they expanded the range of the manga market, and they represented an attempt to tackle subject matter and expressive ideas that were not present in manga published in magazines for boys and girls. Therefore, the role they played in terms of the development of manga after the war cannot be ignored.

From kamishibai to kashihon manga

　The world of kashihon manga included Shigeru Mizuki, Sanpei Shirato, and others who switched their jobs from street kamishibai as it began to decline from 1955 to 1964. Genres such as historical stories with graphic depictions of events as well as horrific ghost stories show the depth of the relationship between street kamishibai and kashihon manga. Sanpei Shirato’s Ninja Bugeichō [History of the Ninja Arts] (Sanyōsha, 1959-62)—a sweeping historical drama set during the Sengoku Period that depicts the chaotic interactions between Sengoku warlords such as Nobunaga Oda, a ninja group known as the shadow clan that leads a hyakushō ikki (peasant revolt) against them, swordsmen who have noticed the inconsistencies inherent in their hierarchical class society, and others—gained a lot of support from young people of the day, partially due to the fact that there were a lot of student and social movements at the time.

The birth of gekiga

　Kashihon manga included many historical stories, detective stories, ghost stories, and other works for which a readership consisting of teenagers and older readers was assumed, many of whom were not satisfied by the manga in magazines for boys and girls. Yoshihiro Tatsumi—who was working at Hakkō, an Osaka-based kashihon manga publishing company at the time—dubbed more realistic, dramatic story-based manga for such readers "gekiga". In 1959, he formed the "Gekiga Kōbō" (Gekiga Studio) with Takao Saitō and other like-minded colleagues working at the same publishing company and then sent a message entitled the Gekiga Studio Notice to newspaper and publishing companies, thereby spreading the gekiga name.

From kashihon manga to magazines

　In 1959, "Weekly Shōnen Magazine" (Kodansha) and "Weekly Shōnen Sunday" (Shogakukan)—the first weekly magazines for boys—were established. In the late 1960s, the works of popular kashihon manga writers were used one after another for both magazines, and "Weekly Shōnen Magazine"’s emphasis on gekiga in particular brought the publication success, resulting in a circulation of over one million copies. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, numerous manga magazines aimed at young men were established, and gekiga—which dominated manga magazines for boys as well as young men—entered its golden age. "Weekly Shōnen Magazine"’s "Gekiga Primer", which was planned by Shōji Ōtomo for the leadoff articles and focused on Takao Saitō’s "Muyōnosuke", is arguably a symbol of this.

Shigeru Mizuki

　GeGeGe no Kitarō, one of Shigeru Mizuki’s representative works, started out as "Hakaba no Kitarō" [Kitarō of the Graveyard] (1954)—which was drawn by him while he worked on street kamishibai in Kobe in response by advice to make something like "Hakaba Kitarō" (written by Masami Itō and drawn by Tajimi Kei in 1933), a hit street kamishibai from before the war. (Apparently, Mizuki himself never actually saw "Hakaba Kitarō" before the war.) From 1960 to 1964, Kitarō appeared in kashihon manga released by various publishing companies, and, in 1965, Weekly Shōnen Magazine started publishing "Hakaba no Kitarō" on an irregular basis. Starting in 1967, the work was serialized with a new title: "GeGeGe no Kitarō". Kitarō’s character gradually became more approachable during the transition from kashihon manga to Weekly Shōnen Magazine.