It is an interesting fact that usually most popular subculture is cooked up by somebody who seeks profit only, and then is fed to some hungry young crowd of fans. It’s not always the case in Japan, though. The skill is good for the art’s sake is what comic market followers are craving for.
Yoshishiro Yonezawa, a novelist, critic as well as a passionate supporter of popular manga subculture, created an idea of founding an enterprise, an industry which will be open for all you non-professional manga artists who form their very own circles called doujinshis to produce manga mimic artwork and magazines (which are called doujinshis, too). The concept became popular as Comiket, the most important comic market in the world, is held in Japan twice yearly for 3 days in a row every time in winter as well as in summer. There are other than 35 thousand circles participating and also more than half millions of attendees.
It is a space where freedom of expression is preached over a major, and organizers never dreamed of so large a success of these creation. Before Comiket, the younger generation who studied in high school or university, taken part in comic markets as amateurs, and ceased to participate in after graduation. In mid-seventies this changed drastically. It was not simply a hobby, however a lifetime passion, as many artists got appreciation and followers because of a growing availability of doujinshi phenomenon. There are many than 2000 doujinshi markets occurring in Japan each year, and Comiket is certainly the most famous one.
The actual idea have spread far beyond Japan as comic markets opened in Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, China as well as Usa. The number of doujinshi circles mushroomed as markets provided great opportunities to get a large number of amateur artists and mangakas (manga artists).
At the start the predominant a part of doujinshis creators were women, about 80 %. From the 1980s more males became interested, now the ratio seems to favor female artists only slightly.
We conclude that doujinshi is a visual cultural phenomenon that is shaped mostly by youth, yet its meaning and consequences have global importance.
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