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In Japan, adoujin (Japanese:同人,Hepburn:dōjin[a]) is a group of people who share an interest, activity, or hobby. The word is sometimes translated into English as "clique", "fandom", "coterie", "society", or "circle" (as in "sewing circle"). Self-published creative works produced by these groups are also calleddoujin, includingmanga, magazines, novels, music (doujin music),anime, merch, and video games (doujin soft). Printdoujin works are collectively calleddoujinshi.
Doujin works are typically amateur and derivative in nature, though some professional artists participate indoujin culture as a way to publish material outside the regular publishing industry.
Annual research by the research agencyMedia Create indicated that, of the 186¥ billion (US$1.66 billion) in revenue seen by theotaku industry in 2007,doujin sales made up 14.9% (US$274 million).[2][3]
Literary circles first appeared in theMeiji period when groups of like-mindedwaka writers, poets and novelists met and published literary magazines (many of which are still publishing today). Many modern writers in Japan came from these literary circles. One famous example isOzaki Koyo, who led theKenyusha society of literary writers that first published collected works in magazine form in 1885.
After World War II, mangadoujin started to appear in Japan.Manga artists likeShotaro Ishinomori (Kamen Rider,Cyborg 009) andFujio Fujiko (Doraemon) formeddoujin groups such as Fujiko's New Manga Party (新漫画党,Shin Manga-to). At this time,doujin groups were used by artists to make a professional debut. This changed in the coming decades withdoujin groups forming as school clubs and the like. This culminated in 1975 withComiket in Tokyo.
Avid fans ofdoujin attend regulardoujin conventions, the largest of which is calledComiket (aportmanteau of "Comic Market") held in the summer and winter atTokyo Big Sight. Here, over 20 acres (81,000 m2) ofdoujin materials are bought, sold, and traded by attendees.Doujin creators who base their materials on other creators' works normally publish in small numbers to maintain a low profile from litigation. This makes a talented creator's or circle's products a coveted commodity as only the fast or the lucky will be able to get them before they sell out.
Over the last decade, the practice of creatingdoujin has expanded significantly, attracting thousands of creators and fans alike. Advances in personal publishing technology have also fueled this expansion by making it easier fordoujin creators to write, draw, promote, publish, and distribute their works.
In Western cultures,doujin are often perceived to be derivative of existing work, analogous tofan fiction. To an extent, this is true: manydoujin are based on popular manga, anime, or video game series. However, manydoujin consisting of original content also exist. Among the numerousdoujin categories,doujinshi (同人誌) are the ones getting the most exposure outside Japan, as well as within Japan, wheredoujinshi are by tradition the most popular and numerousdoujin products.[citation needed]