was 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 be ...
and writer.
Biography
Nakazawa was born March 14, 1939
Naka-ku,
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
, Japan and was in the city when it was
destroyed by an atomic bomb in August 1945. Most of his family members who had not evacuated died as a result of the explosion after they became trapped under the debris of their house, except for his mother and an infant sister (who died several weeks later whether from malnutrition or radiation from her mother afterward).
In 1961, Nakazawa moved to
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 37.468 ...
to become a full-time cartoonist and produced short pieces for
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 Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
anthologies
In book publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...
such as ''Shōnen Gaho'', ''Shōnen King'', and ''Bokura''.
Following the death of his mother in 1966, Nakazawa returned to his memories of the destruction of Hiroshima and began to express them in his stories.
''Kuroi Ame ni Utarete'' (''Struck by Black Rain''), the first of a series of five books, was a fictional story of
Hiroshima survivors involved in the postwar
black market
A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
. Nakazawa chose to portray his own experience in the 1972 story ''Ore wa Mita'', published in ''
Monthly Shōnen Jump
was a shōnen manga magazine which was published monthly in Japan by Shueisha from 1970 to 2007 under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. It was the sister magazine to ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''.
History
The ''Monthly Shōnen Jump'' magazine started ...
''. The story was translated into English and published as a
one-shot comic book by Educomics as ''
I Saw It
''I Saw It: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima: A Survivor's True Story'', titled in Japanese, is a one-shot manga by Keiji Nakazawa that first appeared in 1972 as a 48-page feature in the magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Jump''. The story was later pu ...
''.
Immediately after completing ''I Saw It'', Nakazawa began his major work, ''Hadashi no Gen'' (''
Barefoot Gen
is a Japanese historical manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a Hiroshima survivor, the series begins in 1945 in and around Hiroshima, Japan, where the six-year-old boy Gen Nakaoka lives wi ...
'').
This series, which eventually filled ten
volumes
Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The defi ...
, was based on the same events as ''I Saw It'' but expanded and fictionalized, with the young Gen Nakaoka as a stand-in for the author. ''Barefoot Gen'' depicted the bombing and its aftermath in extremely graphic detail, with Gen's experiences being even more harrowing than Nakazawa's own. It also turned a critical eye on the
militarization of Japanese society during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and on the sometimes abusive dynamics of the traditional family. ''Barefoot Gen'' was adapted into a trilogy of live action movies, two
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
films, and a live action TV drama.
Nakazawa announced his retirement in September 2009, citing deteriorating
diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
and
cataract
A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...
conditions.
He cancelled plans for a ''Barefoot Gen'' sequel.
In September 2010, Nakazawa was diagnosed with lung cancer; in July 2011, metastasis from lung cancer was found. He died on December 19, 2012.
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Legacy
Nakazawa was the subject of the Japanese documentary, ''Barefoot Gen's Hiroshima'' (2011), directed by Yuko Ishida.
See also
* ''
White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki''
References
Further reading
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External links
Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakazawa, Keiji
Manga artists from Hiroshima Prefecture
People from Hiroshima
Hibakusha
1939 births
2012 deaths
Deaths from lung cancer in Japan