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Bonze Days
You Should Know It’s Just A Manga
Date:16, Nov, 2015
Investigated and Written by Misaka Youhei
About our introductory articles


A Japanese female manga artist, Toko Jun has written and illustrated her essay manga “Bonze Days.” She mentioned about her parental home, a temple of Rinzai Sect. Her elder brother is the Buddhist monk and they give us the real situations in a temple.


The greatest point of the essay manga is supposed to be her objectivity. Toko Jun doesn’t show favor to temples or Rinzai School although born at the temple. “Bonze Days” plainly describes about her family, then. Readers will feel so smooth and comfortable by her objectivity. It is also going to work as a practical manual, since includes how to do at a funeral on Rinzai School.

Manga is manga, however. No matter how objective it tries to stay, no matter how much she collects the news, it becomes trash if cannot make the readers be the prisoners. First of all, manga has to be read easily. In other words, comics must be kind of fascinating. “Bonze Days” is great also as manga.

Now, let me give you an actual example. About Japanese history and temples, a part of the volume 1 mentions. There is described the Meiji Government declared Shinto was set as the Japanese state religion. But Shinto has never been enacted duly. Japan was so much confused totally at the time. Then, I guess she had to make comprehensibility come first.

It is concluded that “Bonze Days” is an excellent piece because it includes something true and also something false. Great is the balance. Needless to say, it also shows a serious problem that most Japanese are not taking an interest in their history and faith.


About Bonze Days

・Written by Toko Jun
・Published by Shinsho-kan
・Period: 2007 - 2011





 

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