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 ...

. She was the first woman to be published in the manga magazine

Garo Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...

and its only regular female comic artist.

History

Tsurita began drawing manga as a teenager and submitting her work to magazine contests, but it was not well received in part because women were expected to create shoujo romance stories, not action stories. One editor wrote "I would recommend you stick with subject matter that you’re familiar with and draw about girls instead.”. She later found success publishing in the

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

manga magazine

. Tsurita died of complications from

lupus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...

in 1985 at the age of 37.

Style and Themes

Many of Tsurita's manga were in

gekiga , literally "dramatic pictures", is a style of Japanese comics aimed at adult audiences and marked by a more cinematic art style and more mature themes. ''Gekiga'' was the predominant style of adult comics in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. It is ...

style. Tsurika's work explores and subverts themes of women's

gender roles A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...

and

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...

ideas of femininity,

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...

, and

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

. Some of her work feature

androgynous Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics i ...

gender nonconforming Gender variance or gender nonconformity is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A gender-nonconforming person may be variant in their gender identity, being transgender or non-bina ...

self-cameos. Tsurika has a varied visual style, ranging from sparse simple drawings that make use of blank space to elaborate scenes inspired by Pop Art and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

Works

This list may not be comprehensive.

Collections in Japanese

* フライト : つりたくにこ作品集 (''Flight: The Works of Kuniko Tsurita''). Seirin Kōgeisha, 2010. * 彼方へ : つりたくにこ未発表作品集 (''Beyond: Unpublished works of Kuniko Tsurita''). Seirin Kōgeisha, 2001. * 六の宮姫子の悲劇 (''The Tragedy of Princess Rokunomiya''). Seirin Kōgeisha, 2001.

Translated Collections

* ''Flight'' has been translated into: ** Italian by V. Filosa.

Coconino Press Coconino Press is an Italian publisher of comic books, founded in 2000 in Bologna, Italy. They are notable for their translations of comic books from around the world, including the Americans Daniel Clowes, Jason Lutes, Simon Hanselmann and Adr ...

, 2019. ** French by Léopold Dahan. Atrabile. 2021 * ''The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud'', translated by Ryan Holmberg. Drawn & Quarterly Publications, 2020.

Notes

External links

* Manga artists Women manga artists Japanese female comics artists Female comics writers 20th-century Japanese women writers 1947 births 1985 deaths {{Manga-artist-stub