, also romanized as , is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of doujin (self-published) works, doujinshi are often derivative of existing works and created by amateurs, though some professional artists participate in order to publish material outside the regular industry.
Groups of doujinshi artists refer to themselves as a . Several such groups actually consist of a single artist: they are sometimes called .
Since the 1980s, the main method of distribution has been through regular doujinshi conventions, the largest of which is called Comiket (short for "Comic Market") held in the summer and winter in Tokyo's Big Sight. At the convention, over 20acres of doujinshi are bought, sold, and traded by attendees.
The term doujinshi is derived from and .
The pioneer among doujinshi was, published in the early Meiji period (since 1874). Not a literary magazine in fact, Meiroku Zasshi nevertheless played a big role in spreading the idea of doujinshi. The first magazine to publish doujinshi novels was, founded in 1885 by writers Ozaki Kōyō and Yamada Bimyo.[1] Doujinshi publication reached its peak in the early Shōwa period, and doujinshi became a mouthpiece for the creative youth of that time. Created and distributed in small circles of authors or close friends, doujinshi contributed significantly to the emergence and development of the shishōsetsu genre. During the postwar years, doujinshi gradually decreased in importance as outlets for different literary schools and new authors. Their role was taken over by literary journals such as Gunzo, Bungakukai and others. One notable exception was, which was published from 1933 until 1969. Few doujinshi magazines survived with the help of official literary journals. Haiku and tanka magazines are still published today.
It has been suggested that technological advances in the field of photocopying during the 1970s contributed to an increase in publishing doujinshi. During this time, manga editors were encouraging manga authors to appeal to a mass market, which may have also contributed to an increase in the popularity of writing doujinshi.[2]
During the 1980s, the content of doujinshi shifted from being predominantly original content to being mostly parodic of existing series. Often called aniparo, this was often an excuse to feature certain characters in romantic relationships. Male authors focused on series like Urusei Yatsura, and female authors focused on series like Captain Tsubasa.[2] This coincided with the rise in popularity of Comiket, the first event dedicated specifically to the distribution of doujinshi, which had been founded in 1975.
As of February 1991, there were some doujinshi creators who sold their work through supportive comic book stores. This practice came to light when three managers of such shops were arrested for having a lolicon doujinshi for sale.[3]
Over the last decade, the practice of creating doujinshi has expanded significantly, attracting thousands of creators and fans alike. Advances in personal publishing technology have also fueled this expansion by making it easier for doujinshi creators to write, draw, promote, publish, and distribute their works. For example, some doujinshi are now published on digital media. Furthermore, many doujinshi creators are moving to online download and print-on-demand services, while others are beginning to distribute their works through American channels such as anime shop websites and specialized online direct distribution sites. In 2008, a white paper on the otaku industry was published, this estimated that gross revenue from sales of doujinshi in 2007 were 27.73 billion yen, or 14.9% of total otaku expenditure on their hobby.[4]
To avoid legal problems, the was created. A license format inspired by Creative Commons licenses,[5] the first author to authorize the license was Ken Akamatsu in the manga UQ Holder!, released on August 28, 2013, in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine.[6]
See main article: Comiket. Comiket is the world's largest comic convention. It is held twice a year (summer and winter) in Tokyo, Japan. The first CM was held in December 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. About 80% of these were female, but male participation in Comiket increased later.[7] In 1982, there were fewer than 10,000 attendees, this increased to over 100,000 attendees as of 1989, and over half a million people in recent years.[8] This rapid increase in attendance enabled doujinshi authors to sell thousands of copies of their works, earning a fair amount of money with their hobby.[9] In 2009, Meiji University opened a dōjin manga library, named "Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library" to honour its alumni in its Surugadai campus. It contains Yonezawa's own doujinshi collection, comprising 4137 boxes, and the collection of Tsuguo Iwata, another famous person in the sphere of doujinshi.[10]
Like their mainstream counterparts, doujinshi are published in a variety of genres and types. However, due to the target audience, certain themes are more prevalent, and there are a few major division points by which the publications can be classified. It can be broadly divided into original works and aniparo—works which parody existing anime and manga franchises.[11]
As in fanfics, a very popular theme to explore is non-canonical pairings of characters in a given show (for doujinshi based on mainstream publications). Many such publications contain yaoi or yuri (stories containing same-sex romance) themes, either as a part of non-canon pairings, or as a more direct statement of what can be hinted by the main show.
Another category of doujinshi is furry or kemono, often depicting homosexual male pairings of anthropomorphic animal characters and, less often, lesbian pairings. Furry doujinshi shares some characteristics with the yaoi and yuri genres, with many furry doujinshi depicting characters in erotic settings or circumstances, or incorporating elements typical of anime and manga, such as exaggerated drawings of eyes or facial expressions.
A major part of doujinshi, whether based on mainstream publications or original, contains sexually explicit material, due to both the large demand for such publications and absence of restrictions official publishing houses have to follow. Indeed, often the main point of a given doujinshi is to present an explicit version of a popular show's characters. Such works may be known to English speakers as "H-doujinshi", in line with the former Japanese use of letter H to denote erotic material. The Japanese usage, however, has since moved towards the word ero,[12] and so is the term almost exclusively used to mark doujinshi with adult themes. Sometimes they will also be termed or (an abbreviation of). To differentiate, is the term used for publications absent of such content.
Most doujinshi are commercially bound and published by doujinshi-ka (doujinshi authors) who self-publish through various printing services. Copybooks, however, are self-made using xerox machines or other copying methods. Few are copied by drawing by hand. Comiket is well known, but there are various doujinshi events in Japan. Authors avoid the word "sale(販売)" and prefer the word "distribution(頒布)". However, there is also a system for putting Dojinshi into circulation, which is generally referred to as "consignment(委託)".
Not all category terms used by English-language fans of doujinshi are derived from Japanese. For example, an AU doujinshi is one set in an alternate universe.[13]
Many doujinshi are derivative works that are produced without the permission of the original creator, a practice that has existed since the early 1980s.[14] Doujinshi are considered shinkokuzai under Japanese copyright law, meaning that doujinshi creators cannot be prosecuted unless a complaint is made by the holders of the copyrights they have violated.[15] In 2016, then-Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe affirmed that doujinshi "don't compete in the market with the original works and don't damage the original creators' profits, so they are shinkokuzai."[15] Copyright holders take an unofficial policy of non-enforcement towards the doujinshi market, as it is seen as having a beneficial impact on the commercial manga market: it creates an avenue for aspiring manga artists to practice,[16] and talented doujinshi creators are often recruited by publishers.[17] Salil K. Mehra, a law professor at Temple University, hypothesizes that doujinshi market causes the manga market to be more productive, and that strict enforcement of copyright law would cause the industry to suffer.[16]
In 1999, the Pokémon doujinshi incident happened, where the author of an erotic Pokémon manga was prosecuted by Nintendo. This created a media furor as well as an academic analysis in Japan of the copyright issues around doujinshi. At this time, the legal analysis seemed to conclude that doujinshi should be overlooked because they are produced by amateurs for one-day events and not sold in the commercial market.[18] In 2006, an artist selling an imagined "final chapter" for the series Doraemon, which was never completed, was given a warning by the estate of author Fujiko F. Fujio. His creation apparently looked confusingly similar to a real Doraemon manga. He ceased distribution of his doujinshi and sent compensation to the publisher voluntarily. The publisher noted at this time that doujinshi were not usually a cause of concern for him. The Yomiuri Shimbun noted, "Fanzines don't usually cause many problems as long as they are sold only at one-day exhibitions," but quoted an expert saying that due to their increasing popularity a copyright system should be set up.[19]
In 2020, the Intellectual Property High Court ordered a doujinshi sharing website to pay ¥2.19 million to a creator whose doujinshi were uploaded to the website without their consent. The file sharing site claimed that as the doujinshi was a derivative work it was not protected by copyright law, though the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to classify the doujinshi as an illegally derivative work. The ruling was noted by commentators as potentially broadening rights for doujinshi creators under commercial law.[20] [21]
John Oppliger of AnimeNation stated in 2005 that creating doujinshi is largely popular with Japanese fans, but not with Western fans. Oppliger claimed that because Japanese fans grow up with anime and manga "as a constant companion", they "are more intuitively inclined" to create or expand on existing manga and anime in the form of doujinshi.[22] Since Western fans experience a "more purely" visual experience as most Western fans cannot understand the Japanese language, the original language of most anime, and are "encouraged by social pressure to grow out of cartoons and comics during the onset of adolescence", most of them usually participate in utilizing and rearranging existing work into anime music videos.[23]
In most Western cultures, doujinshi is often perceived to be derivative of existing work, analogous to fan fiction and almost completely pornographic.[24] This is partly true: doujinshi are often, though not always, parodies or alternative storylines involving the worlds of popular manga, game or anime series, and can often feature overtly sexual material. However, there are also many non sexually explicit doujinshi being created as well. The Touhou Project series for example, is known to be notable for the large amount of doujinshi being produced for it that are not pornographic in nature.[25] [26] Some groups releasing adults-only themed materials during the annual Touhou only event Reitaisai in 2008 were only estimated at 10%.[26]