Today’s post is a little bit different than usual, as it’s not a doujinshi translation, but rather a discussion of doujin culture and Comiket in the 1980s.
Old doujinshi are interesting little time capsules of the era in which they were created. Along with cultural references of the time throughout the text, one aspect I enjoy in these fan books are the afterwards and author’s notes. You’ll find thank-yous to the contributors, information about other books the circle is selling, and sometimes anecdotes about the challenges of creating doujinshi. Reading sections like these got me curious about the doujin culture during those days. What was it like being in a circle? How did they afford print costs? What were events like back then?
This article will be the first in a series (maybe?) where I dive into that topic. We’ll be looking into any information I can find about doujin culture and Comiket in the 1970s and 1980s.
The inspiration came from an old Japanese blog I found, titled “I want to know what the atmosphere was like at Comic Market in the 70s!” by an author who goes by NAOS.
Last updated in 2017, the blog has two posts, an intro, and the aforementioned interview. If there was any possible way to reach out to the author and ask for permission to reference their work, I absolutely would, but it seems that they are long gone. I think this is information worth sharing however, so I have chosen to translate a portion of it here. Please also keep in mind I have no way to verify the legitimacy of this account, but it seems unlikely that someone would create something like this just to lie for clout.
I will be translating parts of this interview interspersed with my own thoughts and additional information from other resources. I hope you enjoy!
Memories of the 1980 Comic Market
The interview is titled, Memories of the 1980 Comic Market – From the Perspective of a Participant
From here on out, I will be transposing the author’s words as “NAOS” and the interviewees words as “A-san” to avoid confusion. My additions will be unlabeled.
NAOS: This article is an interview with A-san, who participated in the 1980 Kawasaki Shimin Plaza Comic Market and is close to the blog administrator. The contents are summarized to some extent after classification. In order to avoid inaccuracies, we have asked A-san to confirm any changes in wording when summarizing.
(Kawasaki Shimin Plaza hosted Comiket 14-17, which took place through 1980 and the start of 1981. It still serves as a community center in Kawasaki Japan today.)
A-san: The following is just one person’s view of the Comic Market at that time. It was a long time ago, so it may not be accurate. I was also at science fiction conventions, fantasy conventions, dialogue events with authors of science fiction novels and manga, and pure literature circles, so there is a possibility that my memories of these events are mixed up. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
NAOS: Look at this footage from Comiket in 1980 (81)? ~
A-san: Ah, it was like this. But I think this was right after the doors opened. If it doesn’t sell until around 2:00, it probably won’t sell, right? It closes around 4:00.
~~~
With regards to the times A-san mentioned, even today, Comiket opens at 10 am and closes at 4 pm (though nowadays, the corporate booths stay open an additional hour until 5 pm)
Curious to see if more videos were out there, I searched around on YouTube to see what I could find. While videos on more modern Comiket years are plentiful, I was only able to find one other video from the 1980s. This particular segment is a news broadcast from 1985. No Gundam content that I could spot, but tons of Urusei Yatsura, and many more cosplayers too.
Also interesting to note is the attendance numbers. According to the Comiket website, attendance in 1980 was 7,000, but by 1985 had reached 30,000. So between these two videos, attendance more than quadrupled!
~~~
NAOS: How were you involved in this culture at the time?
A-san: I used to read a lot of SF (science fiction) and shoujo manga. I haven’t read much since I got a job.
NAOS: Oh. That was the classic approach back then!
A-san: The first and last time I participated in Comic Market was when I was in junior college. I didn’t have any money when I was in high school.
NAOS: It is and always has been the case that the generation of high school students and below have trouble making money.
A-san: My friend brought me along.
NAOS: You participated via the word of mouth route, huh?
NAOS: What was Comic Market like back then?
A-san: It was a place for selling doujinshi.
NAOS: It’s very interesting to hear the expression “selling doujinshi” from people who only participated in the comic market of this age and who left the doujinshi scene after that. In 1980, there was an awareness on the part of the participants that doujinshis were something to sell and something to buy.
~~~
I wasn’t aware of such a thing before reading this interview, but apparently there is some debate regarding whether the word “distribution” (頒布) should be used rather than “sale” (販売) when referring to doujinshi.
The author links to two sources. Let’s take a quick look at both for more context.
Summer Comic 2010 (Comic Market 78) Article: “Semantic Interpretation of ‘Distribution’ in Doujin Culture”
This article attempts to uncover the possible motivations for using the word “distribution” rather than “sale” in doujin culture. It’s an interesting read, with a ton of external references that I haven’t had the chance to look through yet, but here are the main takeaways.
Distribution can refer to both doujinshi sold at a set price, and those given away for free as promotion. I’ve never been to Comiket myself so I can’t comment first hand, but I’ve seen free pamphlets and mini books given out by circles at their booth as promotional material show up for auction online as collector’s items. These free items can’t be “sold”, so the term distribution is preferred.
Another reason is something called the “Total Participation Principle” (総参加者主義), a term created by the Comiket Preparatory Committee. One of the basic principles of Comic Market is that all visitors are “participants” in the event, and no one is in the position of a “customer”. I believe this ties in somewhat to the non-commercial nature of Comiket, that all works are simply fan creations and not intended to infringe on the original author or property’s copyright. Of course doujinshi itself falls into a gray area in that regard, but that’s a topic all by itself.
The second source is a Togetter link, which I believe is some kind of Twitter aggregator site. In short, it’s a group of Twitter users debating this same topic. An interesting point one person mentioned is that using the word “sale” implies the doujinshi are being created for profit. I’ve seen this particular point expressed before in regards to selling fan works even outside of Japan, that the goal should be to share what you’ve created with others, not to make money.
So, to bring it back to the interview, it’s understandable why the author was a little surprised by A-san’s use of the word “sell”.
~~~
A-san: It was manga circles acting like it was a school festival.
NAOS: I see. I can imagine the atmosphere of that time.
A-san: There were several food stalls outside the venue, and we got our food there. Whenever there is an event, food vendors are sure to be there. I had some yakisoba and such.
NAOS: Oh! There’s food stalls nowadays too! Lots of them!
A-san: Some people had been queuing since early morning. Doujinshi by popular authors sell out quickly.
NAOS: First come first served, isn’t it?
~~~
Crowds at Comiket are massive today as well, or at least pre-pandemic. One of my editor Zorio’s friends who lives in Japan explained to us that nowadays they use a lottery system to determine entry time (at least as of winter 2022), but back then it indeed was first come first serve. Popular booths can have extremely long queues all on their own.
~~~
NAOS: What was the doujinshi community like back then? Today the main age group of comic market participants is adults, but what about in the 70s?
A-san: Eh? Aren’t the current participants mainly junior high school, high school, and college students? Mainly adults? Huh?
A-san: I felt embarrassed that I was too old to go to Comiket when I was in junior college.
NAOS: At that time, the main participants were junior high school students, high school students, and university students. When I hear from those who actually participated, I can certainly feel the generation gap.
NAOS: What was the male-female ratio?
A-san: I don’t remember.
NAOS: It’s an event from decades ago…
~~~
I don’t know if information is available for early events, but I did find some statistics on Comiket 84, held in 2013. According to this presentation by the Comiket Preparatory Committee, among circles, 57% identified as female and 43% as male. The median age for participants was around 31. You can find lots of other general information in the PDF as well, though keep in mind that it’s from 2014 so some of the stats may be outdated.
~~~
A-san: There were many people who came to Tokyo for Comiket.
NAOS: It was a well-known event in the community.
A-san: At that time, the only venue to make announcements was at Comiket. Although the manga clubs might have been able to present their works at school as well. In the old days, there was no Internet, so I guess they wanted a place where everyone could show off their work, so they created Comiket.
NAOS: Is that the reason for the rapid development of Comiket? Everyone wanted a place to present their work.
A-san: Many of the doujinshis sold at Comiket were Gundam. I think it was after Gundam that Comiket became popular.
NAOS: The first Gundam started airing in 1979, so the 1980 Comic Market is very timely!
A-san: The sellers and buyers were all amateurs of a younger age, so there was not much yaoi or eromanga. I went there when I was in junior college and felt like I was too old to enter. I don’t know why it has increased since then.
NAOS: The colors of BL and eromanga, which are indispensable in today’s Comiket, were initially faint.
A-san: The manga type had a high percentage of women and a large number of derivative works. The anime type was more discussion focused, in other words, a thorough understanding of how the Gundam colony works! etc., and the percentage of males was high.
NAOS: I think it reflects the trends of the community at the time.
~~~
It’s neat how A-san brings up Gundam here, because I’ve come across both types of doujinshi in my impossible journey to catalog every book I can find.
The “manga” type are like the ones I’ve translated on this blog so far. Think gag comics, original stories, pairings, that sort of thing. I think most doujinshi we think of today would fit in this category too.
The others, “anime” type are more akin to material books. Unfortunately I don’t have any old Gundam ones, but a famous example is the Gun Sight series. Contents can include character profiles, diagrams, and episode summaries.
~~~
A-san: In the old days, part of the culture was to send doujinshi to authors, as if to say, “look at what we’re doing!”. It might have been because people were happy when their circles were officially recognized. For example, Guin Saga had an official fan club.
NAOS: Fan recognition… It was an easy-going time.
NAOS: In terms of the atmosphere, was there any kind of reservation toward the original author, a sense of manners, or a sense of segregation?
A-san: What’s that? Nothing in particular.
NAOS: I see. Easy-going.
NAOS: About Circles in those days –
A-san: There were two types of circle members: author members and subscription members. The author members paid higher membership fees because they had to print their own doujinshi. Author members paid a fee based on how many pages they wanted to write or draw. In other words, they wrote what they wanted to write, so it was natural for them to pay for it, right? There weren’t many people reading the book, and the authors were second- or third-rate.
A-san: The circle I was a member of had a monthly circle fee. The club bulletin was mailed. Circle fees jumped up for author members compared to subscription members.
A-san: There were also circles where you only paid for shipping with stamps, but the unit price was free.
~~~
Interesting note here regarding something I came across in a doujinshi I own, Peppermint Voice by MECHANICAL. In the back of the book, the organizer (Makoto Tateno) mentions how their circle has over 100 members. That bewildered me at first, as my impression of “circle” is the modern one, that a member is an author. In this context, that makes perfect sense now, as many of those “members” are subscribers, not necessarily the people making the content.
~~~
A-san: Of course, there were cases of not publishing works that were not up to the level of the doujinshi, so those who wanted to write or draw joined a circle that matched their level.
A-san: Well, each circle had its own way of doing circle activities. However, it wasn’t an internet based society like it is now, so if you didn’t join a circle, you wouldn’t get any information.
A-san: There was also a newsletter with contact information. In short, a letter. It is different from a bulletin. There was also a carbon copy newsletter.
NAOS: Very interesting! Circle membership, a word we rarely hear nowadays.
NAOS: In addition to the structure of the circle management itself, such as author members, subscription members, and monthly circle fees, the fact that circle fees are higher for authors in particular is the complete opposite of general current perception. The number of readers and the level of the authors are key.
A-san: Commercial publications print as much as they can make a profit. Doujinshi, on the other hand, are limited to a print of only 100 if there are 100 members. Although we did print a lot of advertisements to attract new members though.
A-san: Among those selling at Comiket, there were those who wanted to acquire new circle members and those who were trying to make money. I think there were many circles whose purpose of attending Comiket was to increase the number of subscribing members as a source of funding. And of course, the general idea was if I write something, I want someone to read it.
A-san: Originally, the members would have to cover the cost of publishing a doujinshi, but that is not realistic. The principle back then was very simple: “If you buy our doujinshi, we can publish the next one!” Or, it was on the same level as popcorn at a school festival. We sold because we wanted to sell.
NAOS: Certainly, junior high school students to university students do not have the financial resources. Using the words ‘“’members,” “school festival,” and “funding source” as clues, I feel like I can understand the atmosphere of Comic Market in those days. “If you buy it, we can publish the next one!” “It’s the same as the popcorn at the school festival stall.” It’s very easy to understand.
A-san: One of the main purposes of going to Comiket was to find a circle to join. I didn’t want to bring my work to the commercial market, so I looked for a circle where I could write. A circle is a place where people who like the same things gather and have fun. All of the members’ colors were able to shine through. I would ask the seller directly if they are looking for new members.
NAOS: I see. There was a time when “circle” was not a mere formality.
NAOS: (By the way, nowadays adults with financial resources are the main members of Comiket, so there are many people who are active alone, but even if they are active alone, they are called circles because of the remnants of the past. You don’t hear much about new members joining existing circles.)
A-san: How strange~
~~~
If you look through a modern Comiket catalog, or just follow artists on pixiv and Twitter participating in the event, you’ve likely seen something called a “circle cut”. These are small illustrations meant to advertise the circle and sometimes lists the location of their table. This is what I most associate the term “circle” with today. Like NAOS said, it seems like mostly a formality.
I decided to skim through some Japanese artists I follow that participate in Comiket or similar events, and nearly all of them appear to be one person circles, or in a few rare cases, a couple people. It’s interesting how the idea of a circle is just sort of synonymous with a publishing group nowadays, and less so the community aspect of it.
Also, A-san’s comment about only printing just enough copies made my heart sink… It’s understandable, of course, but also confirms that there are plenty of doujinshi with extremely limited print runs that we may never see again, especially from smaller circles.
~~~
NAOS: About the production, sale, purchase, and collection of doujinshi –
A-san: At that time, doujinshi were printed in black and white on poor paper. Moreover, many buyers were junior high and high school students who paid out of their pocket money, so if the price exceeded 500 yen, it would not sell. The main idea behind doujinshi was to make them as cheaply as possible, because people would not buy them if they were expensive.
NAOS: Kinder times on the buyer’s wallet!
A-san: We were able to print many copies because of the university’s manga club… I wonder what ordinary circles did.
NAOS: Indeed. It was the age of letterpress printing, wasn’t it? It’s a mystery.
A-san: The manga club had high quality doujinshi. The manga club’s doujinshi had a variety of manga, novels, and commentary in one volume. On the other hand, other doujinshi were just “to be continued” and there was no continuation… that was usually the pattern.
NAOS: Does this mean that in the absence of the Internet, the manga club was the one important place for doujin culture ? By the way, the anthology format doujinshi was the default back then.
A-san: There was a very popular author who sold out immediately. Because we wanted our doujinshi to sell, we asked them to draw even just one page.
NAOS: Certainly, having a successful author write for you is the best promotion. It was possible because there were multiple authors for one doujinshi, and the framework of authors was open.
A-san: Popular authors almost never appeared in commercial magazines. Rather, the doujin community was at such a low level at the time that companies never intervened.
NAOS: So there was no crossover happening with commercial magazines.
A-san: Come to think of it, there were doujinshi where the cover basically matched the contents. You wouldn’t just stand and read them in public…
NAOS: Such a thing still exists now…
~~~
Interesting that A-san mentions how even popular authors didn’t appear in commercial magazines back then. Perhaps this changed a few years later, as many artists I’m familiar with made contributions to magazines like Monthly OUT.
Also I’m fairly certain A-san is talking about lewd doujinshi covers at the end…I completely understand. Anyone who openly reads doujinshi in public is a far more powerful man than I.
~~~
NAOS: Before the Internet, how did you keep track of the new publications of circles you were interested in?
A-san: If the circle you belong to publishes a doujinshi, you can be sure you can buy it. Another method was hearing from an acquaintance of an acquaintance of an acquaintance. Other than that, you’d have to go there (Comiket) to find out. It was a time when people weren’t too fussy about personal information, and even doujinshi included real names and addresses without hesitation, so if you’re a real fan, you probably contacted the circle.
NAOS: This is a feat that was possible because the number of participants was only in the thousands and because a circle = a real human relationship. It’s amazing.
NAOS: Were there any doujinshi goods?
A-san: What’s that? There weren’t any.
NAOS: So in 1980 there was not yet a goods culture.
~~~
In terms of goods, only one doujinshi I have includes something similar, and that’s a poster in White Harp. I imagine anything more than that was too expensive.
Compare that to today, where you see just about anything sold alongside doujinshi. I’ve seen clear files, key chains, pens, tapestries, pillow covers, and signboards to name a few.
So that’s the end of the Comiket and doujin culture focused content from the interview. The author and A-san go on to discuss cosplay, Sci-Fi and fantasy conventions as well.
I originally intended this article to be a brief post on social media, however due to the length and numerous references to outside sources, I think here is the best place for it. I may do similar write ups in the future as I find other interesting things. If I ever have the opportunity to attend Comiket myself, I’ll definitely add to this to include my own experiences.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!