Nejishiki

The Complete Mature Works Of Yoshiharu Tsuge #3

by Yoshiharu Tsuge, Ryan Holmberg (translator)

The most critically acclaimed comic of the Japanese counterculture

Nejishiki unveils the most iconic scenes from Yoshiharu Tsuge’s highly respected body of work alongside his most beloved stories. A cornerstone of Japan’s legendary 1960s counterculture that galvanized avant-garde manga and comics criticism, the title story follows an injured young man as he wanders through a village of strangers in search of emotional and physical release. Other stories in this collection follow a series of weary travelers who while away sultry nights and face menacing doppelgängers. Even banal activities like afternoon strolls uncover unsavory impulses. The emotionally and erotically charged imagery collected in this third volume remains as shocking and vivid today as it did upon its debut fifty years ago.

Tsuge’s stories push boundaries, abruptly crossing the threshold of conventional storytelling. Unassuming protagonists venture further into eerie symbolism against a shadowy, perceptibly dreamlike landscape easily mistaken for the real world. The angst that pervades postwar Japanese society threatens to devour his characters and their pastoral sensibilities as each protagonist’s wanderlust turns surreal.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Short Stories, Fiction, Japan, Seinen

Kindle Edition

Published August 13, 2024

About the author

Influenced by the adventure comics of Osamu Tezuka and the gritty mystery manga of Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Masahiko Matsumoto, Yoshiharu Tsuge began making his own comics in the mid-1950s. He was also briefly recruited to assist Shigeru Mizuki during his explosion of popularity in the 1960s. In 1968, Tsuge published the groundbreaking, surrealistic story "Nejishiki" in the legendary alternative manga magazine Garo. This story established Tsuge as not only an influential manga-ka but also a major figure within Japan's counter-culture and art world at large. He is considered the originator and greatest practitioner of the semi-autobiographical "I-novel" genre of making comics. In 2005, Tsuge was nominated for the Best Album Award at Angoulême International, and in 2017 a survey of his work, A World Of Dreams And Travel, won the Japan Cartoonists Association Grand Award.

Reviews

[Bill Hsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Looks like goodreads broke their "switch edition" function. So what's new? A lot of the reviews here are for a different shorter edition, not the Drawn and Quarterly.]

Ryan Holmberg's essay analyzes these stories in great detail, provides (almost exhausting) contextual information, and is a treasure trove of resources to explore. I'll just add a few brief notes.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, if you haven't read the title story Nejishiki/Screw-Style, you need to. It's here if you don't want to hunt for a back issue of Comics Journal or commit to this volume. It's just as disorienting and mind-blowing as I remember. (I naively showed it to a date years ago; he dumped me not long after.)

"Master of the Gensenkan Inn" is a marvelously unsettling folk horror piece, complete with identity confusion that wouldn't be out-of-place in a Brian Evenson story.

"The Mokkiriya Tavern Girl" hearkens back to the travel tales of Red Flowers. However, there's a darkness and sordidness that's mostly absent from the earlier stories. After the sparseness of some of Nejishiki's panels, and the occasional full page/two page spreads, this and Gensenkan Inn, with smaller, often obsessively detailed panels, can feel really cluttered and claustrophobic. The feeling of being trapped is particularly resonant with the titular character's predicament and the abusive antics of the drunks.

I find some of the remaining stories rather uncomfortable reading, with protagonists that are rather similar to Tsuge himself ("A Summer Memory" features an award-winning cartoonist), involved in various unflattering sexual shenanigans. But I suppose that's the point of these.

So definitely 4 stars for Nejishiki and Gensenkan Inn, with Mokkiriya Tavern Girl, Willow Inn, and Summer Memory somewhat less memorable but still very worthwhile.

[Fábio de Carvalho · Rating 2 out of 5]

Une chance que l'essai de Ryan Holmberg a rescapé quelques uns des mangas de ce recueil, parce qu'en eux-mêmes, je les trouvais très opaques et malaisants. Presque toutes les œuvres présentent une agression sexuelle qui vire en sexe consentant, voire en histoire d'amour, pis dire que ça me dérangeait est un euphémisme.

[Brian O'Connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The promise of Tsuge’s short story “The Swamp”, included in the first volume of this series, fully ripens here. It’s a collection of moody, sometimes surreal, always vaguely grim and eerie narratives about male sexual anxiety and violence against women (“The Crab” is the sole exceptions). The artwork proves surprisingly versatile, moving from the disturbingly amorphous cartoonish-photorealistic dialectic of the first story to more fluid and austere linework in the final two. The best stories are the title story, “Master of the Gensenkan Inn”, and “A Dream Stroll”. This volume also features incredibly insightful and extensive notes by the series editor.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This third volume of D&Q’s comprehensive reprinting of Tsuge’s work is easily the best one so far, and showcases a major leap in his technique and subject matter.

Published from 1968-72, this work is still shocking and engrossing today, with surreal, experimental, dark and erotically-charged elements throughout.

Tsuge’s pioneering title story, previously translated as “Screw Style”, seems to be a sort of Ur-text for indy/alt/experimental comix, fantastic stuff here.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bardzo podobały mi się dwa pierwsze zbiory z serii „D&Q”, podsumowujące dorobek Tsuge, ale dopiero „Nejishiki” w pełni pokazuje możliwości i głębię zawartą w jego pracach. To bardziej awangardowa odsłona tej twórczości, najlepiej reprezentowana przez tytułową historię, która poprzez liczne tropy kieruje czytelnika w stronę dzieciństwa autora, ale też skupia doświadczenia całego pokolenia powojennej młodzieży, z tym że w mocno nieoczywistej i utrzymanej w poetyce snu fabule. Nie bez powodu „Nejishiki” uznaje się za sztandarowe dzieło w historii magazynu „Garo”, jego wyjątkowość nie objawia się zresztą jedynie w treści, ale również formie, w której surowa karykaturalna kreska sąsiaduje z realistycznymi tłami, a całość sprawia wrażenie bardzo statycznych kadrów, z których większość mogłaby funkcjonować jako oddzielne obrazy.

Tę oryginalność można przypisać większości opowiadań zbioru. Niektóre z nich bardzo się od siebie różnią, momentami przypominając to, co później rozwijali tacy twórcy jak Tadao Tsuge czy Seiichi Hayashi. Yoshiharu często opiera historie na motywie samotnika, wędrującego po niedostępnych zakątkach Japonii, co przypomina motywy z tomu „Red flowers”, jednak tamte mangi w porównaniu z omawianymi, wydają się wręcz naiwne i niewinne.

Sporo tu mrocznego erotyzmu, seksualnej przemocy, symboliki, psychologizmu, ale także zawoalowanych odniesień do koncepcji życia i śmierci wywiedzionych z Buddyzmu. Kilka razy pojawia się motyw spotkania samego siebie, lecz z alternatywnych rzeczywistości. Stawiania czoła komuś, kto jest tym samym bohaterem, lecz podjął w życiu inne decyzje.

To nie jest łatwa lektura, jeśli chcemy dojść do jak największej ilości sensów i znaczeń. W tym aspekcie zbawienne jest jak zwykle bardzo wyczerpujące posłowie Ryana Holmberga, który oprócz nakreślenia kontekstu kulturowego, objaśnia szczegółowo wpływy, jakie wywierali na Tsuge reprezentacji innych dziedzin sztuki (film, literatura), a także twórcy samej mangi (Mizuki Shigeru).

„Najishiki” to zbiór wymagający zaangażowania, ale też dający mnóstwo satysfakcji. Czytałem go kilka razy, lecz najwięcej frajdy miałem wtedy, gdy każdą historię poprzedzałem lekturą odpowiedniego rozdziału z posłowia. Kolejne dwa tomy serii stają się automatycznie moim czytelniczym priorytetem

[King]

Crazy stuff, can't wait to read more Tsuge

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bizarre and dreamlike, but not in a good way.

[Philip McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title story Nejishiki was the real draw for this volume for me since I'd just read a book on the history of manga and they labeled it a landmark work, so I decided to check it out. (I didn't read any of the other stories in this volume since flipping through them showed that they were very much not my style) It's a short manga, but one that gives you a whole lot to chew on while also being all over the place. The artwork is elaborate and simple, with many source photos being used to craft a disjointed journey through a dreamscape that leaves itself open to interpretation. The sheer amount of ways a person can interpret this short manga makes it one of the most fun pieces of escapism I've read in a while. It's the kind of work that truly thrives on leaving a trail which you get to construct with your imagination.

[Tom Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's 1968–1972, and Tsuge is flying high and firing on all his avant-garde cylinders. The standout is the famous titular story (aka "Screw Style" as it's commonly translated in English). It's a period where Tsuge seems more confident with his storytelling, or at least less politely constrained. In any case, he's certainly more sexual, which can be problematically "rapey" and uncomfortable to read in sections. 'Tis the time, I guess.

Ryan Holmberg translates from the original Japanese and contextualizes the works and times comprehensively in his afterward essay. His dense essay could have been published as a separate book, and I would have bought it.
 
If you like Tsuge, you likely already have this book. 

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nejishiki is probably my favourite short comic. It's incredible to have a translated printed version that I can access (it had previously been printed by Fantagraphics in The Comics Journal), and it looks far far better than I remember, though the translation actually makes the narrative make more sense (and I'm not sure I prefer this, as it's literally a dream). Some of the stories are very brutal, involving rape, so possibly not for a sensitive reader. The stories show Tsuge's development, with him including himself as a character in some of the stories, and portraying himself as a thoroughly awful person.

[RafaCSQ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I think. (Review of the brazilian portuguese edition)

I can see the historical value here, and some of the stories are very interesting. Mostly, the stories are made for you to feel them, and interpret it. Nejishiki, but some others too, feel very dreamy. At first I thought I didn't understand it, but then I realized I was not supposed to have a 100% clear understanding.

The one I enjoyed the most was probably the The Outside Inflation, maybe because it was the one I was able to have a more clear interpretation.

So yeah, was a good read overall, not sure this is really my style though.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't mind the darkness, but I just didn't find the scenarios compelling or the characters meaningful. The essay in the back managed to have plenty of interesting details, yet also be a massive slog to get through. Could've been a little shorter and tighter, and maybe inserting some examples (photos, artwork, etc.) would've broken up the unrelenting columns of dry text.

[Mortimer]

(Five stars for the research essays. Not sure about rating the actual manga. Maybe later.)

[bug · Rating 5 out of 5]

crazy how smart manga can say more than some books with hundreds of pages

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ryan Holmberg and Drawn + Quarterly present a third collection of translated Yoshiharu Tsuge works, and it continues to be a fantastic sampling of seminal work by a legendary mangaka. What is apparent in "Nejishiki" is Tsuge's progression as a cartoonist and storyteller, with many of his stories taking a darker undertones. In sharp contrast to the lighter travelogue stories found in "Red Flowers", the seven stories collected in "Nejishiki" are far more surreal and bleak. The travelogue concept hasn't wholly vanished from Tsuge's works at this point in his career, but they do tend to be tainted with the harsh realities of post-war Japan and the emerging poverty and societal decay of the period. The stories found here are much more indicative of the Garo-esque sensibilities that Tsuge is more well known for.

The opening story, "Nejishiki", is easily most representative of the Garo-esque style. A young boy is bitten by a jellyfish and begins to bleed out. He desperately seeks medical aid in a nearby village, but the townsfolk are unhelpful. As he continues to lose blood, the boy begins to experience a nightmarish fever dream that eventually leads him into an OB/GYN office. Simultaneous to getting treatment he hallucinates the doctor as a sex worker who he begins to have violent sex with. The tone is set here early for the subject matter in the following stories, most of which also involve sex workers, sexual assault or depravity in general. Readers who come to this collection expecting the light slice-of-life stories found in "Red Flowers" may find this collection to be complete tonal whiplash.

Other strong stories include "The Crab", "A Dream Stroll" and "Summer Memory", largely because of the diversity of Tsuge's illustrative capabilities. While much of his work leans on the heavy use of photorealistic backdrops, Tsuge doesn't shy away from sketchier or more cartoonish styles either. The aesthetics often reflect the type of story Tsuge is trying to convey, with tighter linework being incorporated for his more serious, grittier pieces while a playful looseness used for stories like "The Crab".

As always, it's Holmberg's contextualization of Tsuge's work in the essays that elevate the collection to another level. To those taken aback by the sudden shift in tone found in "Nejishiki", Holmberg details it well. The fascinating portion of the essays describe how many Garo readers believed these were autobiographical pieces despite Tsuge's insistence that they were not. Holmberg can only make educated guesses as to which parts were truly derived from Tsuge's own experiences, but the research he puts into his rationale is astonishing. Despite the disturbing turn in the subject matter of Tsuge's comics of this period, the combination of compelling cartooning and Holmberg's detailed essays make this a collection well worth reading.

[Robert Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of seven stories that are considered Tsuge’s greatest. They feature a more explicit eroticism than his earlier work, but perhaps most important is their dreamlike qualities. Tsuge is most explicitly surreal in “Nejishiki”, a story that blew the minds of hip Japanese comics fans in 1968. The next three are similar to those in the earlier volumes of this series, Red Flowers and The Swamp, in their settings in rustic hot springs and bath houses, but the atmosphere is stranger and more erotically charged here than in those earlier stories. The last three stories have a different feel visually—there are fewer detailed photo-referenced backgrounds—as well as tonally. Translator and editor Ryan Holmberg speculates this reflects life changes undergone by Tsuge at that time—the early 70s—in his exhaustively researched introductory essay. He is not only steeped in the circumstances of the creation of each story, Holmberg explains how this work was received by fans, the press and critics in Japan at the time it was being made. I don’t know the current status of “Tsuge studies” in Japan, but it appears that Holmberg has actually uncovered new biographical material about Tsuge, which is amazing and speaks to the absolute thoroughness of Homberg’s research. Tsuge’s comics are great, and the addition of a truly authoritative essay by Holmberg gives the reader useful context.

[Dan Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love what Drawn and Quarterly is doing with the work of Yoshiharu Tsuge. Taking classic work that has never gotten proper translations and given it new life. This newest collection may be the most subversive yet so I can see why it took generations to get this translated. Some rather brutal content dealing with impropriety, sexual assault, among other difficult topics done within stories that would avoid typical structure. Stories like The Mokkiriya Tavern Girl or A Dream stroll would shock audiences today despite being originally released in the late sixties and early seventies. These are stories that are designed to break the barriers of common convention and live with the taboo. The essential counter culture for the day.
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In way these collections operate like a time capsule where we get to peek into the minds of people at a different time and place to see what were people thinking about. You can certainly see the impacts and uneasiness that existed as the impact and concerns from the events of World WWII still hang over. For Manga fans that what a deeper appreciation for the artform this is something you want to read.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

These surreal storirs, the basis for Getup Is you'd last film, are quintessentially Japanese in their surreal perversity. Though only a couple can be classified as horror proper, there's a strong thread of existential unease that runs throughout them. Tsuge borrows from Tanizaki's early gothic period, and sees him charting similar waters as contemporaries such as Kobo Abe. The atmospheric black and white drawings remind me of a short film by Kiachrio Kawamoto, A Poet's Life, itself based on a story by Abe. Tsuge was an apprentice of Shigeru Mizuki, and Mizuki's juxtaposition of realistic backgrounds and cartoons figures is evident here, too. But Tsuge is such a unique artist, and his macabre stories of grotesque sexuality retain an energy all their own. It's just too bad this volume is so short.

[Philip Decloux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holmberg's scholarly essays are what keeps me coming back to this series. He really gives you as complete an understanding as you're gonna get of Tsuge Yoshiharu's influences, sources of inspiration and collaborators. I'm fascinated by the whole working ecosystem of Mizuki Pro, and the complicated questions of authorship when so many hands are involved in making these works. Holmberg should also be commended for parsing through the mangaka's contradictory statements about the meaning of his work, referencing several decades' worth of interviews in the process.

[Erik Wirfs-Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surreal dreams/nightmares of seedy travel and sexual desire, it's easy to see why this was a sensation as in the japanese counterculture in the 1960s, and it still holds power now. Also a satisfying read if you have read the other volumes of his collected work, as you get the the most comprehensive Ryan holmberg essay yet trying to figure out what happened to cause this radical artistic evolution, as well of course fascinating details about the history of the composition of these stories and all the cultural references. Slight demerit for not just translating the volume as "screw-style".

[Mark Ames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange, eerie tales. Nostalgic maybe but too dreamlike and with some odd psychosexual elements creeping in, the feeling is more dread. This continues Tsuge’s growth away from the youth action orientated comics and towards more adult focused themes. Fantastic essay included. This is the first one I had access to but it is in fact #3 in the series and there will be a 4th upcoming. Still a good starting point

[Tío Coyote · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Leí la edición en inglés de Drawn and Quarterly] Un grandioso ejemplar con algunas de las historias más misteriosas y, algunas de ellas, sexualmente cargadas del catálogo de Y. Tsuge. Si lo tuyo es el manga infantil (shounen), como One Piece o Chainsaw Man, este libro no es para ti. Advertidos. Este es manga alternativo y literario para personas de mente adulta.

[Jessiclees · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve really enjoyed Yoshiharu Tsuge‘s books, but I found this one really disturbing and not in a good way. The stories were horrible and non were happy. The drawing is still beautiful though and so I will read the next one, but I hope it’s not as dark and the subject matter stays away from the things he covered in this one

[Don Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

More alt manga goodness from Yoshiharu Tsuge. I have the first two volumes as well. Here are stories that plumb the lives and imaginations of those living in postwar Japan. It's a dark world as depicted by the creator, filled with secret urges and bizarre journeys. So glad these wonderful tales are being brought back into print.

[Matthew Alvarez]

"Three months after 'Nejishiki' was published, I evaporated to Kyushu. It was a failed attempt, lasting only for a short time. Evaporating is an attempt to erase one's past and live anew as a different person - a 'rebirth' if put in religious terms. They say that being reborn is a way to rid yourself entirely of anxieties and earthly desires."

[Alex Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply fucked up and weird - I enjoyed it. Definitely at least one comic in here where you read it and are reminded that prior to the 00's people didn't just have an infinite supply of pornography available at the touch of a button.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. Amazing work, but the misogyny of the period is LOUD in some of these hallucinatory tales.

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixed feelings but I appreciate the dark humor and dementedness of it all

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grabbed this on a whim at the library. I liked the weirdness of this until I realized it was story after story of sexual violence against women.

[Stella B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

at the same time captivating and disgusting, I love it