Tōjisha Manga

This book defines tōjisha manga as Japan’s autobiographical comics in which the author recounts the experience of a mental or neurological condition in a unique medium of text and image. Yoshiko Okuyama argues that tōjisha manga illuminate otherwise “faceless” individuals and humanize their invisible tribulations because the first-person narrative makes their lived experience more authentic and relatable to the reader. Part I introduces the evolution of the term tōjisha, the tōjisha movements, and other relevant social phenomena and concepts. Part II analyzes five representative titles to demonstrate the humanizing power of tōjisha manga, drawing on interviews with the authors of these manga and examining how psychological or brain-related symptoms are artistically depicted in approximately 40 drawings. This book is highly recommended to not only scholars of disability studies and comic studies but also global fans of manga who are interested in the graphic memoirs of serious social issues.

“By identifying the genre tōjisha manga and providing the foundation for its analysis, Yoshiko Okuyama offers a valuable and necessary intervention into our understanding of manga, autobiographical comics, and disability. Written with a combination of care, empathy, and rigorous scholarship, Tōjisha Manga: Japan’s Graphic Memoirs of Brain and Mental Health will resonate in comics studies and graphic medicine, exposing readers to fascinating, underappreciated works.” (Andrew J. Kunka, Professor at the University of South Carolina Sumter, USA)

“Yoshiko Okuyama brings together insights gleaned from North American and Japanese disability studies, the Japanese disability rights movement, and interviews with manga artists to create an innovative and highly original study of what she calls “tōjisha manga” – graphic memoirs written by people living with various mental disabilities and their families. Presented in an accessible, conversational tone,Tōjisha Manga provides an exemplary, interdisciplinary foundation for future considerations of these important cultural artifacts and the women and men who produce them.” (Michael Rembis, Associate Professor of History and the Director of the Center for Disability Studies at the University at Buffalo, USA)

Yoshiko Okuyama is Professor of Japanese studies at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, USA. Her recent publications include Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime (2015) and Reframing Disability in Manga (2020).