The Most Famous Library of Manga

Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo: The Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subculture was born in 2009 from the manga collection of the late Yoshihiro Yonezawa (1953–2006), in a corner not far from the famous Jimbocho “book town.” Today, manga is recognized worldwide as a representative facet of Japanese culture, but its history as a subject of academic research is still relatively young, and even fewer libraries in Japan specialize in collecting manga-related materials. In this context, this Meiji University-run facility has been supporting manga research through the systematic collection, preservation, and utilization of materials, holding of exhibitions, and other activities. (July 2020 interview)

Yoshihiro Yonezawa, the man who built the foundation of the library, was the author of titles such as A History of Postwar Girls’ Manga, A History of Postwar Science Fiction Manga, and A History of Postwar Gag Manga (all published under the Chikuma Bunko label), as well as a manga critic who pioneered current manga research. The library was created through the efforts of his acquaintances, who lamented the dissipation of his collection after his death. Behind their efforts was the growing momentum behind academic research into subcultures such as manga and animation since the 2000s.

Another important aspect of Yonezawa was the role he played as representative of the preparatory committee that runs the Comic Market (Comiket), which is the world’s largest marketplace for dōjinshi (self-published works), currently held twice a year in summer and winter. Yonezawa, who co-founded Comiket with his friends in 1975, served as its representative from 1980 until his death in 2006. In addition to housing catalogs from Comiket and other dōjinshi marketplaces, as well as Yonezawa’s collection of approximately 4,000 volumes of dōjinshi, the library also temporarily holds approximately 50,000 sample copies of titles submitted by participating circles (publishing groups) at each Comiket and provides opportunities for viewing them.

Yonezawa’s desire to preserve the entire environment surrounding manga is strikingly evident in the closed stacks on the third through fifth floors. Yonezawa collected everything from popular manga magazines to grade school magazines and adult reading materials, basically almost anything that met his criteria of “containing manga in it.” Most of these magazines were meant to be read once as a form of temporary entertainment and thrown away; only a few popular works lived on as standalone volumes. However: “What page a particular work was printed on at the time of its publication is also important information,” says Misaki. In this collection, the lives of these works are preserved along with the atmosphere of the times during which they were published.

The exhibition hall on the first floor is made up of three sections. There is a permanent exhibition that introduces the library’s diverse collection, a space for special exhibitions that change three times a year, and a corner with materials related to Comiket.

One the most popular exhibitions was a two-time exhibition that showcased the work of Jun Mihara, a manga artist who died prematurely and was known for creating shōjo manga in a socially-aware style. Inspired by the “Twenty Years After Her Death Exhibition” held at the library in 2015, and as a result of a four-year-long process of organizing Mihara’s original works, the “Original Color Illustrations Exhibition” was held in 2019. The same exhibition also led to the publication of the book Jun Mihara All Color Works (Hakusensha).

This corner introduces Comiket, the convention that Yonezawa was involved in establishing and for which he long served as representative of the preparatory committee. Comiket started in 1975 with 32 circles and 700 participants and has since grown into a massive event that currently attracts 32,000 circles and 750,000 participants. The corner displays items such as valuable notes from the first convention and a layout diagram depicting the locations of circles participating in the event. This densely packed diagram, which was exhibited at the Japan Pavilion of the 9th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition (2004) themed on the relationship between otaku culture and the city, conveys the intensity of the Comiket venue.

There is another manga library operated by Meiji University.