The Complex History of Manga

By Kenneth Chan

A Rather Inconsequential Introduction

There was a period in my life when I would binge read
manga, spending more than 10 hours a day just reading
manga. School work? Pft. Meals? Manga is my sustenance.
Social life? What’s that? After all, what could be important
than immersing myself in the fascinating worlds from
shōnen masterpieces such as One Piece and Hunter X Hunter
to seinen works like Monster and Claymore to the romantic
fantasy of Ichigo 100% (…I’m old T.T). My manga reading
habit is better now, only reading pieces which interest me.
Image 1: Manga in Kanji.
Image from: However, recently it struck me, I knew absolutely nothing
Commons.wikimedia.org about how manga came to be. NOTHING. I knew
nothing about something which I spent thousands of hours
of my life, perhaps tens of thousands, into. Thus, became
my ambitious quest to dig out the history of manga, from
art works from the 11th century to illustrations of Tanuki’s
testicles to American comics to German films and post-
World War 2 Japanese psychology. Yes, Tanuki’s balls.

A Very Brief History for Very Busy People

Manga literally means whimsical picture and was
popularized in the late 18th century. One of the
earliest work to be considered manga is Hokusai
Manga from famed Ukiyo-e artist Katsushika
Hokusai. Now you may not have heard of him
before, but I’m sure as hell you’ll recognize this
image.
Image 2: Katsushika Hokusai. (1814)
Hokusai Manga. [Woodblock print].
Image from: Commons.wikimedia.org
Hokusai Manga is a series of sketches Image 3: Katsushika Hokusai. (1829-
1833). The Great Wave Off Kanagawa [Color
which depicts funny and entertaining woodblock print]. Metropolitan Museum
everyday scenes. However, the more of Art, New York, NY. Image from:
astute reader among you would have Commons.wikimedia.org
realized that that is a far cry from what
we might recognise as manga today.
According to Paul Gravett, author of
Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics,
manga is birth from a blend of East
meets West, a ‘Wakon-yōsai’ referring to
Japanese spirit and Western techniques.
Hence, we have to go all the way back to
the good old days of the 11th century to
discover one of the earliest influences of
manga, Emaki-mono.
Traditional Japanese Influence: Heian Period

Image 4: Unknown. (12th Century). The Tale of
Genji. [Emaki]. Tokugawa Museum. Image from:
Commons.wikimedia.org
Emaki-mono is a horizontal,
illustrated scroll which tells a
narrative created during the 11th
century. It combines both text and
pictures and is read from right to left
as the action unfold over time much
like a manga.
One of the most famous emaki-mono
is The Tale of Genji Emaki, which
illustrates … The Tale of Genji
(Surprise!). It is also arguably one of
the earliest example of the harem
genre, Genji be balling, but I digress.

Image 5: Unknown. (12th Century). The Tale of

Genji. [Emaki]. Gotoh Museum. Image from:
Commons.wikimedia.org
Image 6: Hasegawa
Tōhaku. (16th
Century). Pine Trees.
[Pair of six-folded
screens; ink on
paper]. Tokyo
National Museum.
Image from:
Commons.wikimedia.
org

Another possible influence of manga also happened around this period is Byōbu,
Japanese folding screen used as a separation screen in a room. Some manga
scholars claim that the gutters of manga (spaces between borders of manga panels)
can be traced back to these folding screens with its screen separations. However,
the influence of Emaki-mono and Byōbu on manga is contentious as they were not
meant for the common masses and are considered ‘high art’. Nonetheless, it could
have cemented a culture of combining text and images as these art form bleeds
down to society.
Traditional Japanese Influence: Edo Period

Image 7: Utagawa Kuniyoshi. (1844). Triptych of Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre. [Color Woodblock
Print]. V&A Museum, London. Image from: Commons.wikimedia.org

Unlike Emaki-mono and Byōbu, most

manga scholars agree that Ukiyo-e had a
more direct influence on contemporary
manga. Ukiyo-e are woodblock prints
and a popular form of media from the
mid-17th century to the early 20th century
and translates to ‘pictures of the floating
world’ which sounds all posh and dandy
and is anything but.
Ukiyo-e was art for the people by the
people and are mass-produced and
disposable. They are commercial product
for entertainment that expresses humor
and realism of the middle-class. Such as
these prints alluding to tanuki’s supposed
ability to enlarge their scrotums. Manga
carries forward the same spirit of Ukiyo-e Image 8: Utagawa Kuniyoshi. (1842). Raccoon
as a mass-produced consumer product. Dogs. [Color woodblock prints]. Image from:
Kuniyoshiproject.com
Ukiyo-e also influenced how manga is styled with a lack of depth and the outlining of
forms. There is a lack of illusionistic presentation of space which is carried forward by
earlier Japanese traditional art, which Takashi Murakami, a Japanese contemporary
artist, term as ‘superflat’. This flatness is most prominent in the character design of
manga which does not attempt to recreate realism. We can see this in the comparison
below between manga and Ukiyo-e and western comics.

Image 9: Rumiko Takahashi. Inuyasha Image 10: Suzuki Harunobu. (1725-

Manga. [Comic]. Published by Weekly 1770). Woman Admiring Plum Blossoms at
Shōnen Sunday. Image from: Pinterest.com Night. [Color woodblock print]. The
Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY.
Image from: Metmuseum.org

Image 11: Alan

Moore. Watchmen.
[Digital image].
Copyright owned by
DC entertainment.
Image from:
Newsweek.com
More importantly, Ukiyo-e established the
process of how manga is created. Publishers
would commission an artist for an Ukiyo-e
print, which are then drafted into blocks to be
taken to a print workshop where it will be
created and reproduced to be sold. Brigitte
Koyama-Richard, author of One Thousand Years
of Manga, wrote that “it is a situation that has
hardly changed.” Furthermore, Ukiyo-e
publishers would guide the genre and subject
through the popular culture of its time much
like how modern manga publishers would do
too which might explain Fairy Fail Tail or Black
Clover with every Shonen’s genre clichés
without any originality. If you would like to
know more about Ukiyo-e print, here’s an
ASMR video which I painstakingly spent 1
minute to find. Image 12: Hosoki Toshikazu. (1879). Making
Prints. [Color woodblock prints]. Image from:
Commons.wikimedia.org
Incorporation of Western Ideas: Meiji Period
Image 14: Rakuten Kitazawa. (January,
1929). Tokyo Puck Front Page. [Comic]. Image
from: Www1.udel.edu/
Image 13: Toyohara Chikanobu.
(1888). Emperor Meiji at
Asukayama Park. Image from:
Commons.wikimedia.org
The Meiji period opened Japan to foreign
influences, creating a flow of cultural
material between nations. Takayuki
Tatsumi, a Japanese literary critic and
professor at Keio University, posits that this
transnational cultural and technological
exchange was important to manga’s
development.
The development of manga’s style was tied
to technological developments that came
about during the Meiji era – modernization
of publishing system, newspaper printing
press, and 20th century American comics.
This brought about the classic manga
magazine we know about today and a more
familiar styling with speech bubbles and
serial narratives.
One of the earliest magazine was Tokyo
Puck, started in 1905 by Rakuten Kitazawa.
Kitazawa is widely regarded as the founding
father of modern manga and inspired many
younger artists, which at that time included
Tezuka Osamu. His works were influenced
by Western comics like The Yellow Kid by
 Richard Felton. This was a huge jump
compared to the comics that came before
like Kibyōshi, ‘yellow cover’ booklets
printed from late 18th century to early 19th
century.

Image 15: Koikawa Harumachi. (1775). Kinkin-

sensei's Dream of Splendor. Image from:
Library.metro.tokyo.jp/
Another unlikely source of influence for
manga came from a form of street theatre
called Kamishibai. Kamishibai made use
of illustrated boards that change while
being narrated. “A mix of ‘trashy pop
culture’ and fine artistry, Kamishibai
blended traditional linear styles of
Japanese painting with the heavy
chiaroscuro of Western painting, Image 16: (3 January, 2011). Kamishibai Performer
contrasting light and dark to give figures In Japan. [Digital photo]. Image from:
Commons.wikimedia.org
depth and dynamism.” According to Eric
Nash, author of Manga Kamishibai: The Art
of Japanese Paper Theater.
Many people view Kamishibai as
significant an influence on manga as
many of the later prolific manga artists
were once Kamishibai artists. Among the
list, includes Shigeru Mizuki of GeGeGe
No Kitarō’s fame. It is with Kamishibai
and the influence of Western comics that
we start to see a more familiar aesthetic
which we may recognize in today’s Image 17: An illustration of GeGeGe no
Kitaro. [Scanned from artbook]. Image
manga. Below is a link to a Kamishibai from: Wikipedia.org
performance, if you would like to see
how it went.
The Reinvention of Manga: Post World War 2
We’ve almost reach the end of the history
of manga now, pretty cool huh? After the
Second World War, there was an explosion
of creative development in manga. Some
attributed this to the lack of censorship to
manga during the allied occupation of Japan
from 1945 to 1952. With the occupation of
Japan by allied forces came a huge wave of
foreign influences which gave birth to one
Image 18: Tezuka Osamu and his creation, Astro Boy. of the most important figure in recent
Image from: japantimes.co.jp manga history, Osamu Tezuka, the creator
of Mighty Atom (or Astro Boy).
While Rakuten Kitazawa is regarded as the founding father of modern manga, Tezuka
Osamu reinvented it. Osamu was heavily influenced by early Western films –
American, French, and German. He consciously utilizes cinematic techniques to make
manga panels read like a film - experimenting with close-ups, varied angles, and
techniques to emphasize movement and action expressionistically – which aims to
grab reader’s attention as his stories unfolds rapidly with an expressionistic style;
establishing a technique known as ‘story manga’. Osamu was also heavily influenced
by Disney films. He was reported to have watched Bambi more than 80 times which
could have inspired the kawaii eyes of Mighty Atom.

Image 19: A scan of Mighty Atom Manga. Published by Weekly Shonen Magazine. Image from: Pinterest.com

While Osamu took up the spotlight for the

Shounen genre, Machiko Hasegawa lead to
the development of the slice-of-life and
Shōjo genre with Sazae-San, a yon-koma
(four-cell) manga about the day to day life
of… Sazae-san (Surprise again!). Unlike
Tezuka action-focus style, Hasegawa’s style
would perhaps resemble what one might
think of comic more than manga.
Nonetheless, one cannot deny the impact of
Hasegawa’s Sazae-san on Shōjo and slice-of-
 Image 20: Machiko Hasegawa. Sazae-san life genre. It’s anime is still running today.
Watching Kamishibai Performance. [Comic].
Published by Asahi Shinbun. Image from: But, that’s a story for another time.
Vi.wikipedia.org

However, not all is fine and dandy and

here is where it gets a little more
complicated. Remember the term
‘superflat’, which was used in the chapter
on Ukiyo-e? ‘Superflat’ carries another
implication aside from the style. It is also
an interpretation of Japanese culture
being ‘superflat’, carrying a child-like
culture with the popularity of comics, rise
of kawaii culture, and massive
consumerism. He claims that there was
an absence of closure to World War 2
and especially the atomic bombing of
Hiroshima. Japan as a nation was thrust
into rapid development without time to
grieve or reflect. This, according to
Murakami, made Japan ‘superflat, “From
social mores to art and culture,
everything is super two-dimensional”. Image 21: Maria Ponce Berre. (2017). A
Portrait of Takashi Murakami. [Digital Photo].
How is this related to manga? Well, it has Copyrighted by MCA Chicago. Image from:
everything to do with manga and nothing Creators.vice.com
to do with it.

This historical amnesia, where Japan’s

past is absolved by America, and
superflatness, could perhaps lead to a
sense of ambiguous identity. Perhaps
once again, best represented in the
character design and quite often world
design of manga, which are neither
Japanese nor Western. However, the
ambiguousness could be said to represent
an unrealized ideal, a blend of East and
West but representing neither, which
perhaps could only happen in manga, Image 32: Kazuhiko Katō. Character of
which is what I would argue makes Mine Fujiko (considered to be
quintessential “Japanese” woman).
manga such a unique art form. This Image from:
Whatismanga.wordpress.com
statelessness, or ‘Mukokuseki’, is perhaps
what makes manga and by extension
anime such a fascinating and beloved
medium of art.

A Very Lazy Conclusion

Naturally, aside from these influences on manga, there are plenty more, especially on
the history of how some genres came to be. Anyway, I’ve listed the sources down
below if you would like to read about the history of manga in more detail.
Sources:
Aoki, D. (2017). Early Origins of Japanese Comics. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from
https://www.thoughtco.com/early-origins-of-japanese-comics-2282750

Cha, K. (2008). The Historical Roots of Manga. Retrieved April 13, 2018, from
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-
announcements/article/7050-the-historical-roots-of-manga.html

Gaens. B. (2016). Tezuka Osamu MW: Challenging Politics and Society Through Manga.
Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://www.ennenjanyt.net/2016/11/tezuka-osamus-
mw-challenging-politics-and-society-through-manga/
Graillat, L. (2011, May 30). America vs. Japan: The Influence of American Comics on Manga –
Ludovic Graillat. Retrieved April 13, 2018, from
http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2006/12/04/america-vs-japan-the-influence-of-
american-comics-on-manga-ludovic-graillat/
Gravett, P. (2010). Manga: Sixty years of Japanese comics. New York: Collins Design.
Jackson, F. J. (2014). Progenitor or Mere Predecessor: A Study of Ukiyo-e’s Place in the
Development of Modern Manga Through the Works of Rumiko Takahashi. University of
Missouri-Kansas City, MO:
https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/43700/JacksonPro
MerPre.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Kato, Y. (2014). Japanese Manga - Where Did These Comics Come From?. Retrieved April 3,
2018, from https://matcha-jp.com/en/547
Nash, E. P. (2009). Manga kamishibai: The art of Japanese paper theater. New York:
Abrams ComicArts.
Origins of manga and anime. (2009). Retrieved April 13, 2018, from
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/11/origins-of-manga-and-
anime.html
Schodt, F. L. (1986). Manga! Manga! - The World of Japanese comics.
Theisen, A. N. (2013). 8C. What’s Japan Got To Do With It? – Mukokuseki, Ronin, and
Kabuki: Circle of Blood. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from
https://whatismanga.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/8c-whats-japan-got-to-do-with-it-
mukokuseki-ronin-and-kabuki-circle-of-blood/