Nejishiki

by Yoshiharu Tsuge, Ryan Holmberg (Translator), Mitsuhiro Asakawa (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770465060
Publisher:	Drawn & Quarterly
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Series:	Yoshiharu Tsuge , #3
Pages:	284
Sales rank:	375,413
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Yoshiharu Tsuge was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1937. Influenced by the realistic and gritty manga of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, he began making his own comics and was briefly recruited to assist Shigeru Mizuki in the 1960s. In 1968, while working for Garo magazine, Tsuge published the groundbreaking story “Neji-shiki” (commonly called “Screw Style” by Western readers), which established him as an influential manga-ka and a cultural touchstone in the changing Japanese art world. He is considered the originator and greatest practitioner of the I-novel method of comics-making. In 2005, Tsuge was nominated for the Best Album Award at Angoulême International and in 2017 won the Japan Cartoonists Association Grand Award for Yume to tabi no sekai.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/18/2023

Tsuge (The Swamp) sends readers through a twilight back-alley world of obsession and paranoia in this essential collection of short stories from one of the most acclaimed creators of alternative manga. The title piece, “Nejishiki” (which has been previously translated as “Screw-Style”), is arguably Tsuge’s most famous short work, a dream-inspired journey through a landscape of cryptic symbolism and vague menace. In this story and others in the volume, a nameless protagonist wanders through derelict buildings and empty village streets, pursuing amorphous desires and anxieties as he encounters figures who offer dubious help. Even more starkly naturalistic pieces—such as “A Summer Memory,” in which a man out on a stroll comes across a female accident victim and responds by sticking his hand in her underwear—have a nightmarish, unreal bent. Tsuge’s constantly shifting art style mixes simple character designs with feverishly detailed backgrounds, a common manga technique that Tsuge takes to such extremes that his pages have the look of Surrealist collage. This is the third in Homberg’s excellent series at Drawn & Quarterly translating Tsuge’s short manga, and covers what many consider his strongest period. It’s a must-read for any aficionado of alt-manga. (Sept).

Publishers Weekly

A revelation… Tsuge throws open his inner gates of possibility and lets the world rush in with all its complexity, humanity, beauty, uncertainty and violence.” —Chris Ware, The Washington Post

“Fascinating… one of Japan’s most celebrated and reclusive artists.” —The Guardian

“Tsuge’s raw and profound work is equal parts pathos and poetry, streaked with irony and ribaldry.” —Kirkus Starred Review

“Exemplary... an elucidating glimpse into modern manga’s origins.” —Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“This third of seven planned volumes of The Complete Mature Works of Yoshiharu Tsuge promises casual manga fans and committed aficionados plenty to applaud and appreciate.” —Booklist, Starred Review

“Tsuge’s career path frequently features people unsure of themselves or their place in the world, and the existential concern is fully embraced as a constant theme in this collection.” —Slings and Arrows

“The stories in Nejishiki are surreal, disconcerting, and provocative, many utilizing dark, and often sordid, eroticism to convey the psychological underpinnings of their characters and narratives.” —Manga Bookshelf

“Tsuge implies that the waking world is as abstract and strange as the ones we encounter in dreams. Sublime and disturbing.” —Comics Beat, Best Manga of 2023

“An absolute must-have for all gekiga or alternative manga fans and collectors. It’s a wild ride charged with raw emotions.” —Comics Beat

From the Publisher

★ 02/01/2023

This collection of stories brings together the seminal works responsible for establishing Tsuge's (Red Flowers) reputation as a founding father of the Japanese counterculture in the 1960s, as well as one of the most respected manga creators of all time. "Nejishiki" follows a gruesomely wounded young man's search for a doctor among the bizarre and weirdly menacing denizens of a mysterious village. An antisocial man flees society to live in the woods, where he becomes obsessed with the well-being of a crustacean in "The Crab." In "The Mokkiri Tavern Girl," a weary traveler ponders whether to take advantage of a young woman who seems willing to do pretty much anything in order to escape her miserable life as an innkeeper's servant. The stories "Master of Gensenkan Inn," and "Master of the Willow Inn," also depict weary travelers confronting the darkest, most unsavory aspects of their souls. Despite their shared plot elements and thematic concerns, each story collected here feels totally surprising and original due to Tsuge's ability to evoke searing emotional intensity through mesmerizing imagery. VERDICT A disturbing, thoroughly captivating depiction of masculinity in postwar Japan.

Library Journal