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The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924
by
History. Cartoons. Asian American Studies. Originally published in mixed Japanese and English in San Francisco in 1931, "The Four Immigrants Manga" is Henry Kiyama's visual chronicle of his immigrant experience in the United States. Drawn in a classic gag-strip comic-book style, this heartfelt tale -- rediscovered, translated, and introduced by manga expert Frederick L. Sc
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Paperback, 152 pages
Published
October 1st 1998
by Stone Bridge Press
(first published 1931)
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Start your review of The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924
This is a hidden gem: a graphic representation of Japanese immigration in San Francisco from 1904-1924 by someone who was part of the experience. Honest and funny; offering us a glimpse into a world that has vanished long ago - with little commentary from Japanese who lived through the period.
This is a must read. I don't care who you are or what you like to read, you need to read this book.
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In writing The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924 artist and cartoonist Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama was writing for his fellow first generation Japanese American immigrants. This is made clear by the very helpful intro and end notes by translator Frederick L. Schodt. Because the term graphic novel is highly popular Mr Schodt attempts to make the case that the collected volume can be thought of as an early or foundational graphic novel. It is an early Manga. These
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An early example of semi-autobiographical long-form comic telling the story of Japanese immigrants trying to make a living in San Francisco between 1904 and 1924. It gives a first-hand account of events such as the 1906 earthquake, a visit by president Taft, the failure of the Golden Gate Bank, the Panama Pacific International Exposition, WWI, the Spanish Flu, the start of Prohibition, the Alien Land Act, etc. It is worth reading by anyone interested in early San Francisco or the Japanese-Americ
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An interesting look at Japanese immigrant history in San Francisco from 1906-1926 as published in 1931. This English translation edition has educational endnotes on the history of the time as well as explanations of some of the original Japanese jokes. An introduction provides a general overview of the immigrant experience and about the original artist/author and an afterword covers his life afterward. There are a few bits that would not politically correct/polite now, but these are put in conte
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Oct 08, 2014
Zack
added it
Found this in a thrift store and it seemed really interesting. It's a story of the writer and 3 of his friends, and the experiences they had from 1904-1924. They were all immigrants from Japan who moved to the USA. It was published in 1931. It's a fun way to get some background knowledge of the history of japanese immigration to SF around that time, and it's funny at times. Way better than reading a textbook. A very interesting historical document.
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YA, Graphic Novel, Japanese Experience in San Francisco from 1904-1924.
Read this book if you are interested in early 20th century Japanese-American relations, or if you are interested in the history of diary comics. Fascinating and lovingly translated.
3.5 Stars
As a work of fiction, this is just okay. The stories are occasionally humorous, but ultimately most are ridiculous, slap-stick, or some combination of the two.
Where this book's value really lies is in its portrait of the Japanese immigrant experience at the turn of the century in San Francisco. Over the span of a few decades, Kiyama's characters have some connection to nearly every major event that affects California's Japanese community. As a historical record, it is impressive in i ...more
As a work of fiction, this is just okay. The stories are occasionally humorous, but ultimately most are ridiculous, slap-stick, or some combination of the two.
Where this book's value really lies is in its portrait of the Japanese immigrant experience at the turn of the century in San Francisco. Over the span of a few decades, Kiyama's characters have some connection to nearly every major event that affects California's Japanese community. As a historical record, it is impressive in i ...more
A sort of historical fiction, it tells the story of four Japanese immigrants and their struggles trying to make it big in San Francisco.
I learned about this book from this article describing the book's adaptation as a musical. The stories do a pretty good job of conveying the dreams and prejudices experienced by Kiyama and his fellow Japanese immigrants; the various exclusion acts and bans really resonate today. I was intrigued how Kiyama depicted the Japanese immigrants as Westerners rather than with slanted eyes (unlike the Chinese in the comics), possibly to reflect their desire to distance themselves away from Asia and "mode
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What a lovely find in the HKU library today! I found this to be a really interesting glimpse into Japanese American immigrants’ lives in the Bay Area in the early 1900s by a Japanese artist and immigrant, Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama… right around the time that my own relatives would have arrived in California.
What I really loved were the responses to events that I’ve only read about in academic books and oral histories – to see such personal cartoons commenting on things like the Gentleman’s Agreemen ...more
What I really loved were the responses to events that I’ve only read about in academic books and oral histories – to see such personal cartoons commenting on things like the Gentleman’s Agreemen ...more
Sep 11, 2007
Jenny
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
humanists, historians, and poly-sci folk
The first stories in this collection failed to thrill me at first. It was rather mundane business about Japanese students trying to get work-study jobs as domestic servants. Sad and revealing--how they were treated, the segregation and the prejudice of the "keto whiteys" (BTW, what does anyone know what keto means?) F*@#ing? And the gag comic strip style is not terribly appealing to me; however, further along in the series, the stories and dialouges become more interesting. You learn about their
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Apr 07, 2008
Josephus FromPlacitas
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
people interested in immigrant art, San Francisco history
Recommended to Josephus by:
Datsun
Shelves:
favorites
What a fun read. It had a homemade and deeply personal feel, yet seemed almost completely universal in its stories. The character designs worked well and I thought the street-level vision of old San Francisco was really compelling. The intimacy of the storytelling and the format also reached across time and culture barriers. Kiyama's short tales of hard times, hard luck and hard work communicated both the frustration of the experiences but mixed it with the humor, fanciful play and lightness of
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This year, 2011, marks the 80th anniversary of the publication of The Four Immigrants Manga, the story of Henry (born Yoshikata) Kimaya and his four young-ish fellow Japanese who come to America around 1904. Henry's dream is to pursue art, and this book -- truly ground-breaking for its time -- is a 52-chapter autobiography in which he experiences the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and the start of prohibition, and a whole lot in between. The notion of an autobiographical comic, even one
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This is a charming autobiographical story of four young Japanese men who came to San Francisco in 1904, drawn in the 1920s. It's not the typical Japanese manga style, which hadn't evolved yet. Rather, the artist, Henry Kiyama seems to have closely studied "Bringing Up Father", and the art style closely follows that of the early George McManus.
The story was originally bilingual. This edition has translated the Japanese word balloons into printed English and left the original English hand-lettered ...more
The story was originally bilingual. This edition has translated the Japanese word balloons into printed English and left the original English hand-lettered ...more
Jun 18, 2007
Andrea
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Japanese-American history buffs
Shelves:
manga-comics
This book is a collection of manga (comics) from early 20th century San Francisco, originally written in Japanese (with some English, too) by Kiyama, an immigrant from Japan. It follows four Japanese immigrants and their experiences (many humorous), often relating to historical events of the time, such as the 1906 earthquake, the World's Fair, World War I, etc.
The great thing about this book, is that it's history, but it's entertaining. It's like history written by people you actually could know ...more
The great thing about this book, is that it's history, but it's entertaining. It's like history written by people you actually could know ...more
Definitely not a book I would recommend to everyone. While an impressive work, and unique among comics generally and Japanese comics in particular, the writing and drawing can be better appreciated by people who enjoy early 20th Century comic strips like Bringing Up Father, Krazy Kat & Ignatz Mouse, Pollie and Her Pals, etc. If you do read it, I'd recommend reading the whole book as it will give you a much better context for this comic.
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Done for my class, I thought this book a great edition to my reading list. It comes the years that four immigrants spend in America after coming over from Japan. They face any hardship that new immigrants could face and went on through it. Definitely a read for anyone who likes manga or is interested in Japanese-American history.
Comic strips originally published in a newspaper, now collected into a book, and translated from Japanese, this is a wonderful story about Japanese immigrants about whom we rarely hear: students sent abroad to train in Western technology following the Meiji period. These four are students in San Francisco and traverse various sad and funny episodes. Highly recommended.
I read this book while I was looking for representative diversity in graphic novels. There was great humor and persistence with the Japanese-American immigrants. Also interesting information about California during this time period.
a strip i new nothing of, s.f., the earthquake, ww1 all from the viewpoints of japanese immigrants to san francisco. this should be in every san francisco and central valley school library
Dec 08, 2011
Paul
added it
Originally published in San Francisco in 1931 as a bi-lingual comic for Japanese-Americans, the 1931 edition of this book was discovered around 1980 by Kenneth L. Schodt in the card catalog of the East Asian branch of the University of California's library. It turned out to be a rare documentation of Japanese American immigrant history in San Francisco, as well as one of the first book-length graphic novels published in the US. Schodt translated the Japanese text for an English langauge audience
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Fabulous for use as a source for history students. It's episodic and discrete entries make it an easy addition to any class. Less compelling as a graphic story in its entirety. The parts read too much like lengthy comic strip episodes. That being said, the breadth of coverage -- yellow fever, the SF earthquake, bank failures, boom and bust -- make it an interesting read.
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The earlier back you go in time, it becomes much clearer that it took people a LONG ASS TIME to stop being assholes.
Super charming and literally decades ahead of its time. Makes me wonder about the alternate reality where this got more attention when it was made. Very enjoyable.
Extremely interesting piece of work. Fast read and is very historical. It paints a very different picture of immigrant history that most are not aware of since it is written by a first hand Japanese immigrant.
Done as 52 12-panel strips. The first 10 to 12 are gags that were pretty repetitive and didn't work for me. Later stories continued from strip to strip and got a little more interesting. Wasn't a fan of the art.
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Very informative and enjoyable manga!
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Henry Kiyama (born Yoshitaka Kiyama (木山義喬)) was a Japanese immigrant to San Francisco in 1904. He studied at the San Francisco Art Institute. While in San Francisco, he exhibited both his traditional art as well as pages from a semi-autobiographical comic book which he self-published in 1931. He returned to Japan permanently in 1937.
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