View source for Shigeru Mizuki

{{Short description|Japanese manga artist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| name_nonEN    = 水木 しげる
| nonUS         = ja
| image         =Mizuki_Shigeru_from_Mizukipro.jpg 
| imagesize     =
| caption       =
| birth_name    = Shigeru Mura
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1922|03|08|mf=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Osaka]], [[Osaka Prefecture]], Japan
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2015|11|30|1922|03|08|mf=y}}
| death_place   = [[Tokyo]], Japan
| manga artist  = y
| alias         =
| notable works = {{ubl|''[[GeGeGe no Kitarō]]''<br/>''[[Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths]]''|''[[Akuma-kun]]''|''[[Showa: A History of Japan]]''|''[[Shigeru Mizuki's Hitler|Hitler]]''}}
| awards        = [[#Awards|See below]] 
}}
{{Nihongo|'''Shigeru Mura'''|武良 茂|Mura Shigeru|March 8, 1922 – November 30, 2015|lead=yes}}, also known as {{nihongo|'''Shigeru Mizuki'''|水木 しげる|Mizuki Shigeru}}, was a Japanese [[manga artist]] and historian. He was known for his ''[[yōkai]]'' manga such as ''[[GeGeGe no Kitarō]]'' and ''[[Akuma-kun]]'', as well as for his war stories based on his own war manga such as ''[[Showa: A History of Japan|Shōwa-shi]]''.

He was born in [[Osaka]], grew up in [[Sakaiminato, Tottori]], then moved to [[Chōfu|Chōfu, Tokyo]], where he remained until his death. His pen-name, Mizuki, comes from the time when he managed an inn called 'Mizuki Manor' while he drew pictures for [[kamishibai]]. 

==Life==
[[File:Shigeru Mizuki at age 18.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Shigeru Mizuki at age 18, c. 1940]]
Mizuki was born '''Shigeru Mura''' in the city of Osaka, the second of three sons. He was raised in the coastal city of Sakaiminato 境港, where he spent much of his childhood as a 'scrapper': picking fights and participating in childish warfare with the neighbouring children.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=December 9, 2015 |title=The Life and Death of Shigeru Mizuki, 1922-2015 The Comics Journal |url=http://www.tcj.com/the-life-and-death-of-shigeru-mizuki/ |access-date=January 8, 2016 |website=www.tcj.com}}</ref> He displayed from an early age a particular talent for art. During his time in elementary school, Mizuki's teachers were so impressed by his skills with a pencil that they organised an exhibition of his work, and he later went on to be featured in the Mainichi newspaper as something of an artistic prodigy.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to this penchant for the artistic, Mizuki had an interest in the supernatural - something that was fueled by listening to ghost stories told by a local woman named Fusa Kageyama,<ref name=":0" /> but whom the young Mizuki nicknamed "Nononba".<ref name=":0" /><ref name="japant">{{cite news | url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2005/02/06/to-be-sorted/drawing-on-experience-2/#.UyZb5_ldWZU | title=Drawing on experience | author=Otake, Tomoko | date=February 6, 2005 | work=[[The Japan Times]] | access-date=March 16, 2014}}</ref>

However, [[Battle of Rabaul (1942)|in 1942]], he was drafted into the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] and sent to [[New Britain]] Island in [[Papua New Guinea]]. His wartime experiences affected him greatly, as he contracted [[malaria]], watched friends die from battle wounds and disease, and dealt with other horrors of war. Finally, in an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[airstrike|air raid]], he was caught in an explosion and lost his left arm. Regarding this life-changing event, a November 30, 2015, NHK announcement of his death showed excerpts of a video interview with him at age 80, in which he said that as the only survivor of his unit, he was 'ordered to die' — a prospect he considered ridiculous. The result of Mizuki's wartime experience was a concurrent sense of pacifism and goodwill. In the same interview, he explained that his Yōkai characters can be seen only in times of peace, not war, and that he purposely created these supernatural creatures to be of no specific ethnicity or nationality as a hint of the potential for humanity. While in a Japanese [[field hospital]] on [[Rabaul]], he was befriended by the local [[Tolai people|Tolai]] tribespeople, who offered him land, a home, and citizenship via marriage to a Tolai woman.<ref name="Mizuki2014">{{cite book|last=Mizuki|first=Shigeru|title=Showa 1944-1953: A History of Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_1_DngEACAAJ|series=[[Showa: A History of Japan]]|volume=3|date=2014|publisher=Drawn & Quarterly Publications|isbn=978-1-77046-162-8|page=284}}</ref> Mizuki acknowledged that he considered remaining behind, but was shamed by a military doctor into returning home to Japan first for medical treatment to his arm and to face his parents, which he did reluctantly.<ref name="japant"/>

Upon arriving home, Mizuki had initially planned to return to New Guinea; however, the [[occupation of Japan]] changed that. His injuries did little to help, nor did the fact that his older brother, an artillery officer, was convicted as a [[War crime|war criminal]] for having prisoners of war executed. After his return to Japan he worked at a variety of jobs including as a fish salesman and kamishibai artist.

Mizuki's pen name came from a superior insisting on calling him "Mizuki", based on the location of his residence, even after he explained that his surname was Mura. Mizuki decided that he liked "Mizuki" as a pen name.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://drawnandquarterly.com/news/ryan-holmberg-celebrates-mizuki-at-100/|title=Ryan Holmberg Celebrates Mizuki at 100|publisher=Drawn and Quarterly|access-date=2024-02-09}} - [https://drawnandquarterly.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/SHOWA3.interior54.jpg From this comic] (read right to left)</ref>

In 1957, Mizuki released his debut work, ''Rocketman''. He published numerous works afterwards, both dealing with the military and with yōkai. He has also written many books on both subjects, including an autobiography about his time on New Britain Island and a manga biography of [[Adolf Hitler]] in 1971.<ref name="japant"/> This book was published in English in 2015 by [[Drawn & Quarterly]].

Mizuki began a [[rental]] manga adaptation of the [[kamishibai]] {{nihongo|''Hakaba Kitarō''|墓場鬼太郎||lit. "Kitarō of the Graveyard"}} in 1960. In 1965, it was renamed ''Hakaba no Kitarō'' and began serialization in ''[[Weekly Shōnen Magazine]]'', before being renamed again to ''[[GeGeGe no Kitarō]]'' in 1967.

In 1972 he publishes the [[gekiga]] graphic novel {{ill|NonNonBa|ja|のんのんばあとオレ}} about his childhood friendship with old maid and his nanny, who impressed him with the yokai stories.

In 1991, he released a short work titled ''War and Japan'' ([[Sensō to Nippon]]) published in ''The Sixth Grader'', a popular [[edutainment]] magazine for young people, detailing the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army during their rampage in [[Nanjing Massacre|China]] and [[Korea]] and is narrated by [[GeGeGe no Kitarō|Nezumi Otoko]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japanfocus.org/-Matthew-Penney/2905|title=War and Japan: The Non-Fiction Manga of Mizuki Shigeru|last=Penney |first=Matthew|work=The Asia-Pacific Journal |publisher=Japan Focus |date=September 21, 2008 |access-date=December 1, 2015}}</ref> The work serves as a counterpoint to [[Historical revisionism (negationism)#Japanese war crimes|revisionist]] manga like the works of [[Yoshinori Kobayashi]] and by extension a way for Mizuki to express his anger at those responsible for all of Japan's victims. From 1989 until 1998 he worked on ''[[Showa: A History of Japan]]'', which follows the same approach and conveys Mizuki's view of the [[Shōwa era]] through a mixture of personal anecdotes and summaries of major historical events. His character [[Nezumi Otoko]] often appears as the narrator in these works.

When not working in either field, he painted a number of subjects, though these works are not as well known as his literary ones which have made him a [[celebrity|household name]]. In 2003, he returned to Rabaul to rekindle his friendship with the locals, who had named a road after him in his honor.

In 2005, Mizuki appeared in a cameo role in ''Yōkai Daisenso'' ("[[The Great Yokai War]]") directed by [[Takashi Miike]], a film about Yōkai inspired by his work as well as the work of [[Hiroshi Aramata|Aramata Hiroshi]]. He appears towards the end of the film in the role of the ''Great Elder Yōkai'': a pacifistic character who condemns the warring ways of the film's antagonist and reaffirms the role of Yōkai as peaceful, playful creatures.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 41510934|title = Haunted Travelogue: Hometowns, Ghost Towns, and Memories of War|journal = Mechademia|volume = 4|pages = 164–181|last1 = Foster|first1 = Michael Dylan|year = 2009|doi = 10.1353/mec.0.0026|doi-access = free}}</ref> A brief explanation about his works also is mentioned in the film. In 2010, [[NHK]] broadcast an [[asadora]] about his married life, ''[[GeGeGe no Nyōbō|Gegege no Nyōbō]]'', based on his wife's autobiography.

Throughout most of his life, Mizuki's work was relatively unknown outside Japan due to not having been translated. This changed in the 2010s when translations in several European languages of his Showa, Kitaro, Nonnonba and Hitler series began to appear, leading to an increasing interest in Mizuki and his work (and that of his [[gekiga]] peers) among Westerners.

On November 30, 2015, Mizuki died of heart failure in a Tokyo hospital after collapsing at his home from a heart attack.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-11-29/kitaro-nonnonba-manga-creator-shigeru-mizuki-passes-away/.95919 |title=Kitaro, NonNonBâ Manga Creator Shigeru Mizuki Passes Away |publisher=[[Anime News Network]] |date=November 29, 2015 |access-date=December 1, 2015}}</ref> His [[Dharma name]] is '''大満院釋導茂''' ('''Daiman-In-Shaku-Domo'''). He is buried at {{Interlanguage link|Kakusho-ji|ja|覚証寺 (調布市)}} in [[Chōfu|Chofu, Tokyo]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hosokawa |first=Masahiko |title=覺證寺について |url=https://kakushoji.or.jp/about.html |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=kakushoji.or.jp |language=ja}}</ref>

==Bakeichōnosei==

[[File:Buson Bake-icho-no-rei.jpg|right|thumb|200px|"Kamakura Wakamiya Hachiman Teru no Kibana" from [[Yosa Buson|Yosaebu Village]] "[[Buson yōkai emaki|Kabmura Yokai Emaki]]"<ref name="yumoto">{{Cite book|author=湯本豪一編著|title=妖怪百物語絵巻|year=2003|publisher=[[国書刊行会]]|isbn=978-4-336-04547-8|pages=113}}</ref>]]
Bakeichōnosei (ばけいちょうのせい, ''monster ginkgo spirit'') or "Bakeichōnorei"(ばけいちょうのれい) is a Japanese [[Yōkai|monster]] written by the yokai manga artist Shigeru Mizuki.

It is said that the limbs and face are [[yellow]], wearing a kimono dyed with [[inkstick]] and striking a [[Shōko (instrument)|gong]]. [[Ginkgo biloba]] have long been ominous, and planting them at home is said to cause ominous things.<ref name="mizuki">{{Cite book|author=水木しげる|author-link=水木しげる|title=図説 日本妖怪大全|year=1994|publisher=[[講談社]]|series=講談社+α文庫|isbn=978-4-06-256049-8|pages=375}}</ref>

Mizuki draws this monster picture based on "Kamakura Wakamiya Hachiman Teru (Ginkgo) Teru no Kibana" in [[Yosa Buson]] "[[Buson yōkai emaki|Kabmura Yokai Emaki]]".<ref name="mizuki" /> According to yokai researcher [[Goichi Yumoto]], the Kabumura sculpture is said to be an icon of an old tree spirit.<ref name="yumoto" />

==Sakaiminato==
[[Image:境港本町アーケード商店街2.JPG|thumbnail|160px|Mizuki Road]]
[[Image:境港水木ロードPA098314.JPG|thumbnail|160px|Mizuki Road]]
[[Image:境港水木ロード妖怪神社PA098302.JPG|thumbnail|160px|Mizuki Road]]

[[Sakaiminato, Tottori|Sakaiminato]], Mizuki's childhood home, has a street dedicated to the ghosts and monsters that appear in his stories. One hundred bronze statues of the story's characters line both sides of the road. There is also a museum featuring several of his creations and works.

==Awards==
Mizuki has won numerous awards and accolades for his works, especially ''GeGeGe no Kitarō''. Among these are:
* '''1965''' Received [[Kodansha Jido Manga Award]] for ''[[Terebi-kun]] (テレビくん?)''.
* '''1990''' Received [[Kodansha Manga Award]] for ''[[Komikku Shōwa-Shi]]''.<ref name="KodanshaHahn">{{cite web | url=http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/kodansha.shtml | author=Joel Hahn | title=Kodansha Manga Awards | work=Comic Book Awards Almanac | access-date=August 21, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070816031310/http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/kodansha.shtml <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = August 16, 2007}}</ref>
* '''1991''' Received Shiju Hōshō Decoration.
* '''1995''' For the 6th Annual Tokyo Peace Day, he was awarded with an exhibition of his paintings, entitled "Prayer for Peace: Shigeru Mizuki War Experience Painting Exhibition"
* '''1996''' Received Minister of Education Award.
* '''1996''' His hometown of Sakaiminato honored him with the Shigeru Mizuki Road, a street decorated with bronze statues of his ''Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro'' characters and other designs relating to his works.
* '''2003''' Received [[Order of the Rising Sun|Kyokujitsu Shō]] Decoration.
* '''2003''' [[Sakaiminato]] honored him again with the Shigeru Mizuki International Cultural Center.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2003-03-03/shigeru-hall-to-open|title=Shigeru Hall to Open|date=March 3, 2003|publisher=Anime News Network|access-date=February 13, 2013}}</ref>
* '''2003''' [[Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize]] Special Award for his works.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2003-04-24/2003-tezuka-award-winners|title=2003 Tezuka Award Winners|date=April 24, 2003|publisher=Anime News Network|access-date=February 13, 2013}}</ref>
* '''2007''' Received the [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book|Best Comic Book]] award for ''NonNonBā'' at the [[Angoulême International Comics Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-02-08/non-non-ba-to-ore-wins-best-comic-book-award|title=Non Non Ba to Ore Wins "Best Comic Book" Award|date=August 2, 2007|publisher=Anime News Network|access-date=February 13, 2013}}</ref>
* '''2008''' [[Asahi Prize]] for contribution to the manga comic culture through portrayals of the horrors of war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asahi.com/shimbun/award/asahi/english.html|title=The Asahi Prize|work=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|access-date=June 26, 2019|quote=For his contribution to the manga comic culture through his wide range of original works featuring specters and portrayals of the horrors of war.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asahi.com/shimbun/award/asahi/2008prizewinner.html|title=妖怪の世界、愛し愛され 水木しげるさん（８６） 漫画家|trans-title=The Beloved World of Yōkai – Shigeru Mizuki (86), Mangaka|work=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|access-date=June 26, 2019|language=ja}}</ref>
* '''2010''' Received the [[Person of Cultural Merit]] award.<ref name="JTO2010">{{cite news|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/10/27/news/nobelists-suzuki-negishi-get-order-of-culture/#.Vl3NC79PNlk |title=Nobelists Suzuki, Negishi get Order of Culture |work=The Japan Times |date=October 27, 2010 |access-date=December 1, 2015}}</ref>
* '''2012''' Received the [[Eisner Award]] for ''[[Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths]],'' in the category [[Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia|Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia]]. The award was shared with translator [[Zack Davisson]]<ref>{{Cite web|title = About Me|url = http://hyakumonogatari.com/about/|website = 百物語怪談会 Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai|access-date = January 7, 2016|language = en-US|date = July 8, 2010}}</ref>

==Selected works==
===in English===
* {{nihongo|''[[GeGeGe no Kitarō]]''|ゲゲゲの鬼太郎||1960–1969}}
* {{nihongo|''[[Hitler (manga)|Hitler]]''|劇画ヒットラー|Gekiga Hittorā|1971}}
* {{nihongo|''[[Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths]]''|総員玉砕せよ!|Sōin Gyokusai Seyo!|1973}}
* {{nihongo|''{{ill|NonNonBa|ja|のんのんばあとオレ}}''|のんのんばあとオレ|Nonnonba to Ore|1977}}
* {{nihongo|''[[Showa: A History of Japan]]''|コミック昭和史|Komikku Shōwa-shi|1988–1989}}
* Tono Monogatari

====Not printed====
* ''War in Japan'', 1991 (online readable in the tail of [https://apjjf.org/-Matthew-Penney/2905/article.html this article by Matthew Penney])
* ''3, Street of Mysteries'' (online)
* ''Wakusei'' (online)
* "Garo" ''Keisai Sakuhin'' (online)

===Manga in Japanese===
{{Incomplete list|date=December 2022}}
* Rocketman (1957), published in 1958 by [[Togetsu-Shobō]]
* ''Baby Z'', for sci-fi magazine [[Uchū Shonen]]
* ''Hakaba Kitaro'' (1960–1964)
* {{nihongo|''Kappa no Sanpei''|河童の三平||1961–1962}}
* ''[[Akuma-kun]]'' (1963–1964)
* {{nihongo|''Terebi-kun''|テレビくん||1965}}
* Kaiten, the human torpedo (1967)
* {{nihongo|''The Miraculous Notebook''|不思議な手帖|Fushigina Techō|1973}} —  a one-shot published in the magazine ''Comic Mystery'' about a notebook that killed whoever's name was written in it. The same idea was used in the smash hit manga ''[[Death Note]]'' by [[Tsugumi Ohba]] and [[Takeshi Obata]]. Although this fact is a coincidence, Ohba has stated he did not have any particular inspiration for his story.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://comipress.com/article/2007/01/08/1287 |title=The Origin of Death Note? |work=ComiPress |date=January 8, 2007 |access-date=December 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://comipress.com/news/2007/01/15/1330.html |title=Tsugumi Ohba Talks about Inspiration for Death Note and Justice |work=ComiPress |date=January 15, 2007 |access-date=December 1, 2015}}</ref>
* Watashi no Hibi (わたしの日々), ("My Days)" (2013, unfinished)<ref>{{cite web |last=Ashcraft |first=Brian |url=https://kotaku.com/is-this-the-oldest-working-comic-book-artist-in-the-wor-1480219952 |title=Is This the Oldest Working Comic Book Artist in the World? |work=[[Kotaku]] |date=December 10, 2013 |access-date=June 26, 2019}}</ref>

===Books===
* ''Colorized Yōkai Gadan'', 1992, published by Iwanami Shinsho
* Shigeru Mizuki's Yōkai Artbook: Mujara, 1998
* Mizuki, Shigeru. 水木しげるの日本妖怪めぐり ([[Hepburn romanization|Hepburn]]: ''Mizuki Shigeru no Nihon Yōkai Meguri'', lit. "Shigeru Mizuki's Japanese Ghost Tour".)
* ''Rabauru Senki'' (''Memories of Rabaul'')
* Mizuki, Shigeru. "Graphic World of Japanese Phantoms". 講談社, 1985. {{ISBN|978-4-06-202381-8}} (4-06-202381-4)
* Yokaï, [[Éditions Cornélius]], 2017, full color, hardcover, 80 pages. Illustration book.
* À l'intérieur des yôkai, 2018, bi-color, hardcover, 80 pages. Éditions Cornélius. {{in lang|fr}}
* À l’intérieur de Kitaro, [[hors d'oeuvre]] publication, bi-color, 16 pages, 2018. Éditions Cornélius. {{in lang|fr}}

===About Mizuki===
* '''40th Artistic Anniversary''', 1990, published by Kagomesha

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Shigeru Mizuki}}
*[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20050206x1.html "Drawing from Experience"], ''[[Japan Times]]'', February 6, 2005, retrieved March 22, 2012.
*[http://www.mizukipro.com/ Mizuki Production Official Website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050421175651/http://www.sakaiminato.net/site2/page/foreign/eng/kitaro/ Sakaiminato: The town where you can meet Kitaro]
*[http://www.katavila.com/japan/shigeru-mizuki-road.html Shigeru Mizuki Road, Shigeru Mizuki Museum], photos
*[http://www.japanfocus.org/-Matthew-Penney/2905 Japan Focus: War and Japan: The Non-Fiction Manga of Mizuki Shigeru]
*{{cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/house-of-1000-manga/2012-05-03|title=Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga Shigeru Mizuki|author=Thompson, Jason|date=May 3, 2013|publisher=Anime News Network}}
* {{cite web |last1=Alt |first1=Matt |title=Shigeru Mizuki’s War-Haunted Art and Life |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/shigeru-mizukis-war-haunted-creatures |website=The New Yorker |access-date=July 6, 2024 |date=December 10, 2015}}

{{Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mizuki Shigeru}}
[[Category:Shigeru Mizuki| ]]
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:Japanese writers]]
[[Category:Manga artists from Tottori Prefecture]]
[[Category:Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General)]]
[[Category:Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Japanese amputees]]
[[Category:Japanese pacifists]]
[[Category:Winner of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Special Award)]]
[[Category:Persons of Cultural Merit]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon]]
[[Category:GeGeGe no Kitarō]]