Kajiwara Ikki Part 1

Let's get straight into Kajiwara Ikki's Lunatic Period (late seventies). This started when he shifted his focus to seinen-shi magazines aimed at young male readers. From this platform, he launched a series of ultra-violent karate-themed gekiga, including 'Karate: Hell Version' (Karate Jigoku-hen), 'New Karate: Hell Version' (Shin Karate Jigoku-hen) and 'Human Lethal Weapon' (Ningen Kyōki). These works didn't enjoy a warm reception by any means from the average gekiga fans of the time. Comments ranged from "He just recycles the same characters and plots over and over." to "It's too sadistic, and there's too much porn content."

Granted, these gekiga never achieved the immense popularity of his earlier works written for more juvenile readers, like 'Star of the Giants' (Kyōjin no Hoshi) and 'Tomorrow's Joe' (Ashita no Joe). And I have to admit that the storylines are basically all reheated. But, when you really think about it, this later body of work has a special significance precisely because it never sold well. Here, Kajiwara was truly able to express aspects of himself that he'd never done before.

(Technical details: 'Karate: Hell Version' and 'New Karate: Hell Version' were both illustrated by Nakajō Ken and printed in Shūkan Sankei. 'Human Lethal Weapon' was illustrated by Nakano Yosio and published by Nihon Bungeisha in Manga Goraku). 'Star of the Giants' was illustrated by Kawasaki Noboru and published by Kodansha in Shonen Magazine, as was 'Tomorrow's Joe', illustrated by Chiba Tetsuya. Kajiwara wrote this story under the pseudonym Takamori Asao.)

Kajiwara's karate gekiga all share three plot elements in common. Firstly, the heroes are all realistic blends of human strengths and weaknesses, both physical and psychological. (For example, Kiba Naoto in 'Bodyguard KIba' and 'Karate: Hell Version', Mikage Yosito in 'Human Lethal Weapon' and Mumon Onichiyo in 'Slasher Killer' (Zansatsusha). Secondly and by contrast, the heroines are completely different, perfect and indeed semi-divine in character. (Hinohara Nami in 'Karate: Hell Version', Asahina Kaoruko in 'Human Lethal Weapon' and Rosaria Ogin in 'Slasher Killer'. And thirdly, you get male father/teacher figures with overwhelming mental and physical strength - God figures, in other words. These include Daitō Tetsugen in 'Bodyguard Kiba' and 'Karate: Hell Version'; and Ōmoto Retsuzan in ''Human Lethal Weapon'. Both of these characters are based on Ōyama Masutastu. Also, the character Miyamoto Musashi in 'Slasher Killer' is a figure along these lines. ('Slasher Killer' was illustrated by Kojima Gōseki and published in Manga Goraku.)

So, Kajiwara was working through a set of similar themes in all of these works, and it seems pretty clear that he was searching for answers to some problems that had gripped his psyche and simply couldn't be avoided. Personally, I think he was grappling with the commercialization of the manga form, and trying to break out of the narrow confines that commercialization imposed on him.

In plot terms, the problem is posed as the hero trying to recover his family, which has been lost. The plot functions as a kind of Christian redemption drama, with the hero as Prodigal Son seeking reconciliation with his father (read God). But there's also a more esoteric and unorthodox angle to the proceedings, because the heroines are Mother Goddess or Madonna figures, and the hero seeks union and redemption through a Return of the Goddess...So the hero keeps resisting , even while he's being beaten on his knees as he kneels before the harsh Father figure. And he rises from his knees yet again to violate the Goddess figure, no matter how many times she has forgiven him. The hero's a living contradiction, oscillating between extremes. Why? Because he's human. Through these works, Kajihara drew a complete portrait of the human condition - including himself as a human being, oscillating between himself as Kajiwara Ikki and his alter ego Takamori Asao.

Here, I'm not interested in Kajiwara the sex-and-violence artist. I want to look beyond the gore and other fluids that splatter his pages, and search for Kajiwara Ikki the human being hiding behind all this. And I want to search for the message hidden in his work.

'Human Lethal Weapon': Child Gods on the loose...

Kajihara himself referred to 'Human Lethal Weapon' as a "half-autobiography, and in a sense the hero - Mikage Yosito - is indeed Kajihara's alter ego. It's not a very flattering portrait - the hero is a monster of blind ambition and self-centered egotism.

'Human Lethal Weapon' is a very long piece of work, spanning twenty-three volumes in all. The series was originally published by Nihon Bungeisha in the magazine Manga Goraku. It's a transitional work, spanning the closing phase of Kajihara's scandal-ridden Lunatic Period and the dawn of his personal Age of Enlightenment. The story kicks off with the (autobiographical) 'Kodansha Employee Violence Incident'. [In the Incident, Kajihara approached a sub-editor employed by Kodansha, the publishing giant. The Violence part consisted of Kajihara beating the unfortunate to a pulp. This was in 1983. Kajihara was 46 at the time. You might suspect a mid-life crisis, but Kajihara had been a violent right-wing thug forever.]

The publisher's blurb for 'Human Lethal Weapon' makes for heady reading: Mikage Yoshito is a graduate of the (ultra-preppy) Peers' School. In the course of his rise to power in the shadowy world of the underground, he meets Ōmoto Retsuzan - a figure said to be based on Ōyama Masutastu. To turn himself into a human lethal weapon, Mikage Yoshito joins Ōmoto's mafia group, the Kūshin Kai (literally, the Society of the Heart Made Empty). At the same time, he meets the man who will become his lifelong rival - Kikyō Jūhachirō. On his boss's instructions, Mikage travels down to Kyushu to expand the gang's turf. The target is the local don Kyokushō-Ken（Fist of Rising Sun. The bullet is Mikage. In Kyushu, Mikage encounters the beauteous Asahina Kaoruko, a blind woman who is also his rival Kyokushō-Ken's martial arts Master. He also discovers that she has a previous connection with his lifelong enemy Kikyō Jūhachirō. By cowardly means, Mikage takes Jūhachirō out of the picture. Then he kidnaps Asahina Kaoruko with intent to rape her. There follows a wild chase through the mountains, with Mikage fleeing Kyokushō-Ken's mob - each and every one of them panting for revenge. Thankfully, his boss Ōmoto Retsuzan shows up just in time and saves his skin. But Ōmoto is far from pleased with Mikage's performance in Kyushu, and offers him a pair of concrete shoes if things don't rapidly improve. Stunned by his boss's elemental talent for violence - and feeling like a squandered pawn in a bigger game - Mikage turns to his erstwhile kidnap victim, Kaoruko. After living with her for a while, he even fathers her child. To escape both Kaoruko and the child, he flees to the gang's New York Chapter. What awaits him New York? A mind-blowing all-out war of karate champs versus a savage Mafia-backed wrestling team!" Phew! And that just takes us to Volume 3 -

But, mercifully, the main building blocks of the saga are now in place, and so are the main characters. The unholy trinity of Father (gang boss Ōmoto), Holy Mother (blind martial arts master Kaoruko) and Son (Mikage) will occupy center stage throughout. The themes are straight Lunatic Period Kajiwara - Underground Mafia Wrestling Fight Club / Sex Secrets of the Hollywood Superstars / Death Match with the Uncrowned King of Wrestling / Karate Saves the Revolution in Country X / Anti-war Folk Singer's CIA Assassination Conspiracy...very 70s B-movie. In every case, Mikage gets into lethal danger, but Ōmoto charges in to save the day. Every time, the ungrateful Mikage attacks his savior - and gets himself into even bigger danger as a result.

The series was drawn by Nakano Yoshio in a relatively simple and straightforward style, especially compared to another Kajiwara collaborator, Nakajō Ken. In fact, there's no comparison between them. In Nakano's hands, the main characters all become stereotyped in appearance. Still, this means that the readers of 'Human Lethal Weapon' remember the work mainly for Kajiwara's contribution - as a story, not as visual imagery. Another benefit (?) of Kajiwara's simpler style is that the sex scenes look softer.

As the story progresses, Ōmoto becomes more and more godlike, while Mikage shrinks in stature to a Son Gokū （from Dragon Ball）figure 'playing on the palm of the Buddha's hand', as the saying goes (i.e., running around ignorant of his karma). It's very much a story of Mikage running away from what must seem like never-ending forgiveness and redemption - but this was very much the real-life Kajihara, too, during his Lunatic Period. And being Kajihara, things were bound to escalate, both on and off the page. Worse, being Kajihara Ikki and Takamori Asao simultaneously was like kissing the razor's edge. It was bound to lead to trouble. And it did.

[Kajihara went ballistic in 1983. His trial for the Kodansha Employee Violence Incident dug up a lot of nasty stuff about his past - kidnapping, attempted rape and extortion were all on the list. He was now an open target, and the media had a field day. He was even implicated in the untimely deaths of two manga artists working on projects he had supervised. (Their names were Sonoda Mitsuyoshi and Ono Shinji.) Suddenly, Kajiwara became a pariah. His magazines series were cut. His books stopped being printed and his reputation slumped.]

Still, 'Human Lethal Weapon' resumed publication after the media circus died down. But it was a changed work by a changed, more humane Kajiwara. The final episodes look forward to his later Age of Enlightenment. The saga ends with Mikage careening a car into the ocean - in a bid to save his own child's life.

Kajiwara Ikki Part 2

The search for the Dark Side of Kajiwara doesn't stop with his early Lunatic Period. We press onward into his Golden Age for further rich troves of the extreme...

Kajiwara Ikki's 'Conditions of Manhood' (Otoko no Jōken) came out in Shonen Jump during the early 70s. The series was penned by Kajiwara and drawn by Kawasaki Noboru, in a revival of the combo responsible for the smash hit 'Star of the Giants' (Kyōjin no Hoshi). This time round, the story centered on an aspiring manga artist rather than a would-be baseball pro, but all the duo's familiar elements were still there – yakuza mobsters, desperate poverty and extreme plot twists. For all the success of 'Star of the Giants', however, the core readership of Shonen Jump – tender in years and sensibilities – didn't take kindly to the succession of graphic slaps in the face that made up 'Conditions of Manhood'. But the short-lived series had a longer afterlife. In later years, manga fans of a certain stripe re-approached 'Conditions' with fresh eyes, and found that it was an outstanding guidebook to Kajiwara's extreme world in general.

The blurb goes like this: "The hero, Hata Ichitarō, lives in the dorm of the factory where he works. His friend, a manga fan, loses faith in manga altogether when he reads a popular series about a young workingman – the machines have been drawn all wrong, without care or experience. Determined to seek satisfaction for his friend, Hata marches straight into the atelier of the artist, the manga star Aoyama. There, he finds out that the faulty machinery artwork comes from the pen of Aoyama's assistant, Tsukikage Hikaru. Aoyama then has Tsukikage drive him off to Tokyo's glittering Ginza, for an exclusive gala party for star manga artists. Young Hata gives chase. Bursting into an exclusive lounge, he finds Aoyama under attack by threatening yakuza, and he intervenes to drive them off. However, he sustains a serious head injury in the process. Using the blood from his head to draw with, he demonstrates to Aoyama how factory machines should be properly drawn. As a result of the incident, Aoyama asks Hata to join his atelier as his assistant..."

We're already wandering of the rails here, but Kajiwara's only starting to warm up. This is only the introduction, after all –

"After that, Hata starts working for Aoyama, and it is then that he meets a man with a face like Christ – Aoyama's chief assistant, Otani Sōsuke. Otani languishes in obscurity because he refuses to pander to the mass market, but Aoyama reles on him because he realizes just how talented his chief assistant really is. Shaken to the core by the passion of Otani's work, the young Hata breaks his connections with the grubby commercialists Aoyama and Tsukikage. With his newfound mentor, he embarks on journey of manga discovery into the unknown."

Hmmm, okay. So far, so incredible. Now Kajiwara's ready to crank up the storyline to the point where things really start getting comical. Here we go –

"Now penniless, Hata and Otani soon find themselves homeless. Driven to find shelter in a lumberyard at night, they ply the streets for money during the day, as kami shibai artists [see the glossary]. They win huge popularity with the children on the streets of working-class Tokyo, and even major manga publishers start talking about the pair. But the streets are the home of the yakuza, and the yakuza don't tolerate intruders. Hata and Otani are seized by the Kazamaki-gumi gang, and brought before the gang's boss – a girl. A really cute girl. A really cute High School girl."

"The girl is Female Boss Kazamaki Mika, and she has a test for the two artists. Her brother is a man possessed of brute strength and violent contempt for manga. Hata and Otani must create a kami shibai story that will make him laugh. If they can't, they lose their arms. Somehow, they succeed in their trial, and in doing so they win the friendship and trust of Mika and her brother, Chōgorō. At this point the rival Gōtō-gumi gang bursts in with fists at the ready, and Chōgorō suffers a serious head injury. Hata and Otani are now caught up in a yakuza turf war."

"Hata's former boss Aoyama's assistant – the craven Tsukikage – now takes camera pictures of Hata's and Otani's stupendous kami shibai drawings, and passes them off as his own work. In this dark period for the pair, their friend Chōgorō lies heavily wounded, and in addition they find themselves branded as plagiarists. Hata tracks Tsukikage down and confronts him, only to learn that Tsukikage grew up in extreme poverty as an outcaste person. (See the glossary) All his deeds up to now have been part of his struggle to escape poverty and discrimination. Learning this, Hata forgives him."

"The Kazamaki-gumi gang is now defeated and dispersed. With no place else to go, Hata ekes out a living in the slums as a heavy laborer, while still honing his drawing skills. The Kazamakis, Mika and Chōgorō, stake the little money they've rescued from their gang's collapse on a stall selling oden [Japanese hotchpotch, classic workingman's fare]. Hata and Otani join the couple, and all four live together. They decide to draw manga that will comfort and encourage the poor and the rejected of this earth."

"During their life together, the group learns more about Hata's mentor Otani. It emerges that Otani has plunged the depths of pure evil in the past, and embarked on the path of manga to atone for his deeds. His charisma shines all the brighter to them in the light of truth."

The storyline's painful to recount in words. Kajiwara's writes like some kind of manic DJ mixing samples of everything he's ever heard without even trying to match up rhythm or key. Every plotline he's ever made gets stitched onto the next any old how. The series of jolts and jerks gives birth to a weird breakbeat.

Kajiwara's later works feature three main elements – element the first being neverending plot recycling, element the second being obsessive violence, and element the third being sadistic sexuality. The first two are already present in 'Conditions of Manhood". And not just there. The series 'Of Flowers and Storms' (Hana mo Arashi mo) is the same. This work also appeared in Shonen Jump and was also drawn by – wait for it – Kawasaki Noboru. There are three main characters – the son of a Vietnam vet who slaughtered villagers in an incident during the war, the son of a photographer who died rescuing one of the village girls, and the village-girl survivor herself. This triangular tale of love and hate is mainly set in the world of kickboxing. 'Conditions of Manhood' and 'Of Flowers and Storms' appeared in the juvenile-oriented press, so the most sexual material was cut. Now at the peak of his popularity, Kajiwara didn't force the sadism angle as he was later to do. But if you look closely at works of Kajiwara's Golden Age, you can get a foretaste of the darkness approaching.