is a Japanese

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist bef ...

, whose works include the science-fiction/horror series ''

Parasyte is a Japanese science fiction horror manga series written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki and published in Kodansha's ''Morning Open Zōkan'' and ''Monthly Afternoon'' magazine from 1988 to 1995. The manga was published in North Amer ...

''. The Mixx editions of ''Parasyte'' romanize his name as "Hitosi Iwaaki", while the Del Rey Manga editions use "Hitoshi Iwaaki".

Career

During high school, he was reading a lot of manga by

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

, which inspired him to begin drawing manga himself. He began working as an assistant for manga artist

Kazuo Kamimura was a Japanese manga artist, best known as the illustrator of '' Lady Snowblood'', which was adapted into film in 1973. Hitoshi Iwaaki, a manga artist was his assistant. Kamimura died at age 45 of a pharynx tumor A neoplasm () is a type of ...

in 1984. In 1985, his short story "Gomi no Umi" won the newcomer award Tetsuya Chiba Award and was published in a special edition of ''

Morning Morning is the period from sunrise to noon. There are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and night) because it can vary according to one's lifestyle and the hours of daylight at each time of year. However, morning s ...

'' magazine. Since then, he has worked mainly for

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', '' Afternoon'', '' Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' ...

, especially ''Afternoon'' magazine. In 1993, Iwaaki received the

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially ...

for ''Parasyte''. In 2010, '' Historie'' took the grand prize in the manga division of the Japan Media Arts Festival. ''Historie'' also earned him the 2012

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Curre ...

Grand Prize. Iwaaki won the 2020

Saito Takao Award was a Japanese manga artist, although he rejected the term and considered his work gekiga. He was best known for ''Golgo 13'', which has been serialized in ''Big Comic'' since 1968, making it the oldest manga still in publication. ''Golgo 13 ...

for his work on ''Reiri''.

Works

* "Gomi no Umi (ゴミの海, ''Morning Open'', 1985) * ''Fuuko no Iru Mise'' (4 volumes, ''

'' 1986–1988) * ''Hone no Oto'' (1 volume, short stories, ''Morning'' 1990, large format edition, 2003) * ''

'' (10 volumes, '' Afternoon'' 1990–1995, Perfect Edition: 8 volumes, 2003) First published in English by Mixx (Tokyopop), republished in English by Del Rey Manga * ''Tanabata no Kuni'' ("The Country of Tanabata") (4 volumes, ''Big Comic Spirits'', Perfect Edition: 2 volumes, 2003) * ''Yuki no Touge, Tsurugi no Mai'' (2001) * ''Heureka'' (2002, '' Young Animal Arashi'') * '' Historie'' (2003–present, 11 volumes as of July 2019, ''Afternoon'') * ''Reiri'' (2015–2018, ''Bessatsu Shonen Champion'') – writer only, illustrated by Daisuke Muroi

References

External links

* 1960 births People from Tokyo Manga artists from Tokyo Living people Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General) {{manga-artist-stub