Original Manga

Manga is a type of art that was created in Japan. It is pronounced Mah-nnn-gah. In Japan they pronounce it with three syllables however in America we have started to say it faster and this creates only two syllables. Manga has different meanings, there is the old and new Manga. old Manga was created by Hokusai and was just sketches. New Manga was invented later on and consists of a storyline and is similar to a comic book. the older Manga artworks were in high demand. they were created by woodblock prints and could be made into books. since they were woodblock pints  they were affordable to the middle class in Japan.

Manga has always been used for various topics. they could have been used for humor, drama, fantasy, and even pornography in some circumstances. These topics have been used throughout time and is still used in modern Manga. Manga originally was used for erotic scenes but branched out and started to encompass the different styles and started to show animals and nature too. Manga had shown up on temple walls and they showed afterlife. The very earliest signs of Manga come from the Zen artists and the early scrolls that contained images of animals on them. One example of an animal scroll is choujuugiga.

After the animal scrolls emerged, the next style of Manga that appeared was the Manga from Hokusai. he created ink brushed paintings with captions. These pieces of Manga did not contain any storyline and did not have a plot. these were popular in Japan and were the first woodblock Manga that were created.

In the times closer to modern, such as the 20th century manga was very limited. It was starting to become more of a comic book type art and this was around the time of world war 1. This created major limitations on Manga and art in general. the government only wanted pro-war artworks to be available to the public. during this time many of the manga started to show things that supported war. Due to the censorship many different magazines went out of business in Japan. some artist who did not have manga that supported the war would go to jail. they would still produce it despite the consequences. one of the Manga from the time of censorship is New Treasure Island, created by Tezuka.

Despite the naturally joyous and happy aspects of Manga, during the war it was used for many negative purposes. In the war they often used Manga in the form of leaflets with Japanese cartoons on them to undermine the moral of the allied soldiers. this is how the Japanese used the Manga artworks. On the American side, a Japanese cartoonist by the name of Taro Yashima, who left Japan to come to America started to make Manga for the Americans and they were also used to show that there were corrupt leaders. his comic, the unlucky soldier was found on the dead bodies of Japanese soldier to get this message across. After the war, the censorship was lifted and many of the Manga artists returned to tell their story through Manga.
Website used:
http://www.matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/history.html