was a Japanese manga writer/artist. His works belong to the gekiga, or "dramatic pictures", genre of manga. In France he was knighted a Chevalier of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

in 2011.

Career

Taniguchi began his career as an assistant of

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 ...

Kyuuta Ishikawa. He made his manga debut in 1970 with ''Kareta Heya'' (A Desiccated Summer), published in the magazine Young Comic. From 1978 to 1986, he created several hard-boiled comics with the scenarist Natsuo Sekigawa, such as ''City Without Defense'', ''The Wind of the West is White'' and ''Lindo 3''. From 1987 to 1996, Taniguchi and Natsuo Sekigawa produced the 5-volume series ''Botchan no Jidai''. In the 1990s, he came up with several albums, among which were , '', and . From 1980 to 1983, he collaborated with Garon Tsuchiya for the manga , and . He illustrated

Baku Yumemakura is a Japanese science fiction and adventure writer. His works have sold more than 20 million copies in Japan spread across more than 280 titles. He is published in a variety of formats including feature films, television shows, movies and comic b ...

’s works, '' Garouden'' from 1989 to 1990 and ''Kamigami no itadaki'' (

The Summit of the Gods is a manga series written and illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi. Based on a 1998 novel by Baku Yumemakura, it follows Fukamachi, a photographer who finds a camera supposedly belonging to George Mallory, a mountaineer who went missing on Mount ...

) from 2000 to 2003. He later received awards at the

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (french: Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after ...

in 2002 and 2005. For ''Kamigami no itadaki'', he hiked to

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

for research. In 1997, he created the ''Ikaru'' (Icarus) series with texts by Mœbius. Jiro Taniguchi gained several prizes for his work. Among others, the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award (1998) for the series ''Botchan no Jidai'', the Shogakukan prize with ''Inu o Kau'', and in 2003, the Alph'Art of the best scenario at the

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) for ''

A Distant Neighborhood is a Japanese manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japane ...

''. His work has been translated in many languages. Mexican filmmaker

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and '' The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for ...

praised his work, stating that "Taniguchi was a manga poet, the Kieslowski of the page and a serene, profound observer of the world." ''A Distant Neighborhood'' was adapted into a live-action Belgian film in 2010. Taniguchi has cited Hiroshi Hirata,

Takao Saito 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 ...

, Moribi Murano, and Kyuuta Ishikawa as major influences. Taniguchi died on 11 February 2017 in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, at the age of 69.

Bibliography

1980s and earlier

*1979 – Lindo 3! *1980 – Muboubi Toshi *1980 – Ooinaru Yasei *1981/03 – Jiken Ya Kagyou – Trouble is my Business *1982/03 – Blue Fighter (Ao no Senshi) *1982/03 – Hunting Dog *1983/08 – Knuckle Wars – The Fist of Rebellion (Nakkuru Wōzu – Ken no Ran) *1983/03 – Shin Jiken Ya Kagyou – New Trouble is my Business *1983/09 – Live! Odyssey *1984/02 – Seifuu Ha Shiroi *1984/12 – Rude Boy *1985/10 – Enemigo *1986/01 – Hotel Harbour View *1986/10 – Blanca *1987/06 – , based on ''

Botchan is a novel written by Japanese author Natsume Sōseki in 1906. It is one of the most popular Japanese novels, read by many during their school years. The central theme of the story is morality, but the narrator serves up this theme with gener ...

'', a 1906 novel by

Natsume Sōseki , born , was a Japanese novelist. He is best known around the world for his novels ''Kokoro'', ''Botchan'', ''I Am a Cat'', '' Kusamakura'' and his unfinished work '' Light and Darkness''. He was also a scholar of British literature and writer ...

*1988/05 – K *1988/06 – Ice Age Chronicle of the Earth

1990s

*1990/01 – Genju Jiten *1990/09 – Garouden (Hungry Wolves Legend) *1991/06 – Samurai Non Grata *1992/04 – Aruku Hito –(歩くひと, translated in French as ''L'Homme qui Marche'' and English as ''

The Walking Man ''The Walking Man'' (french: L'homme qui marche) is a bronze sculpture by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. This sculpture was made in 1907. The best example of Rodin’s ‘sketchy’ impressionist sculpture also happens to be his most wel ...

'') *1992/09 – Kaze No Sho (translated in English as '' Samurai Legend'') *1992/10 – Inu wo Kau *1993/09 – Keyaki no Ki (translated in French as ''L'orme du Caucase'') *1994/09 – Mori He – Into the Forest *1994/11 – A Journal of My Father *1996/04 – *1996/07 – Blanca II (Dog of God) *1997/10 –

Kodoku no Gourmet is a Japanese cuisine ''seinen'' manga series written by Masayuki Qusumi and illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi. It has been adapted into a Japanese television drama series and a Chinese web series (). A 10-episode original net animation adaptatio ...

*1998/09 – Haruka na Machi e (translated in English as ''

'' – translated in French as ''Quartier Lointain'') *1999/01 – Tokyo Genshi Gyou *1999/12 – The Quest for the Missing Girl

2000s

*2000/11/30 – Ikaru *2000/12 – Kamigami no Itadaki (''

'') *2002/09 – Ten no Taka – Sky Hawk *2004/11 – Toudo no Tabibito – The Ice Wanderer *2005/03 – Seton *2005/12 – – A Bright Blue Sky (translated in French as ''Un ciel radieux'') *2006/03 – Sampo Mono *2007/09 – Mahou no Yama (The Magic Mountain) *2008/03 – Fuyu no Doubutsuen ('' A Zoo in Winter'')

2010s

*2012 – Furari (ふらり) *2013 – Tomoji (とも路) *2013 – My Year *2014 – '' Guardians of the Louvre'' *2014 – Venice (Louis Vuitton Malletier)

References

External links

*
Jiro Taniguchi's Town
(his approved fan-site) {{DEFAULTSORT:Taniguchi Jiro 1947 births 2017 deaths Manga artists from Tottori Prefecture Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres