was a Japanese manga artist famous for his

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

, nonsense gag manga.

Career

After initially studying painting, Sugiura became an assistant to the manga artist

Suihō Tagawa , better known by the pen name Suihō Tagawa (田河水泡, ''Tagawa Suihō''), was a Japanese manga artist. Biography Born in Sumida, Tokyo, Nakatarō Takamizawa grew up an orphan: his mother died upon his birth, his father and his uncle (who ...

. He soon began drawing his own manga in 1933 and came to fame after

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 opposing ...

with a series of comedic manga for children based on stories like those of

Sasuke Sarutobi is a ninja who appears in kōdan narrative art and fictional writings. The nickname is generally believed to have been concocted from Meiji to the Taishō period. Some argue he is based on real live personages, such as and . His family name, ...

Jiraiya Jiraiya (自来也 or 児雷也, literally "Young Thunder"), originally known as Ogata Shuma Hiroyuki (尾形周馬寛行), is the toad-riding protagonist of the Japanese folk tale Katakiuchi Kidan Jiraiya Monogatari (報仇奇談自来也説話, " ...

, and ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popul ...

''. Sugiura closely followed popular culture and thus his manga were also influenced by such contemporary fads as

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, and American

science fiction films Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

. The philosophy of his manga "is of ''yukai'', pleasure and amusement, pursuing the path as far from seriousness as possible. . . . The praxis of ''yukai'' is essentially the body in free motion, and Sugiura’s characters are defined by an excess of movement." The result was a visual style that was often surreal and absurd. A craftsman, Sugiura could not keep up with the mass production of manga that the shift to weekly magazines brought at the end of the 1950s, and his subsequent manga became more and more surreal, if not avant-garde, as they came to be directed at an older audience. He enjoyed a second boom in popularity from the 1970s on.

Influence

Sugiura has influenced many artists in a variety of fields, including the gag manga artist Fujio Akatsuka. Enthusiastic fans include such figures as the novelist

Yasutaka Tsutsui is a Japanese novelist, science fiction author, and actor. His ''Yumenokizaka bunkiten'' won the Tanizaki Prize in 1987. He has also won the 1981 Izumi Kyoka award, the 1989 Kawabata Yasunari award, and the 1992 Nihon SF Taisho Award. Writing ...

and the musician

Haruomi Hosono , sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop f ...

. He is cited as the inspiration for the ''tanuki'' in

Isao Takahata was a Japanese director, screenwriter and producer. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he earned international critical acclaim for his work as a director of Japanese animated feature films. Born in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Takahata joined Toe ...

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

film ''

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'' and

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

made a

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inspired by his work.

Select single works

*Appuru Jamu-kun (アップルジャム君) *Bōken Ben-chan (冒険ベンちゃん) *Doron Chibimaru (ドロンちび丸) *Enban Z (円盤Z) *Gojira (ゴジラ) *Misutā Robotto (ミスターロボット) 1959The Ganzfeld - Issue 4 Dan Nadel, Jessi Rymill - 2005 "In the 1950s, his manga were serialized in boys' monthly magazines and published in original manga books; The Last of ... the Mohicans and Monkey King Goes West were humorous manga loosely based on American and Chinese classics, while Sarutobi, the Ninja Boy and Mister Robot reflected Sugiura's yearning for terrae incognitae and the world of fantasy." *Sarutobi Sasuke (猿飛佐助) *Shōnen Jiraiya (少年児雷也) *Shōnen saiyūki (少年西遊記) *''Sugiura Shigeru: Jiden to kaisō'' (杉浦茂ー自伝と回想). Chikuma Shobō, 2002. (autobiography)

Collected works

*''Sugiura Shigeru kessaku senshū'' 『杉浦茂傑作選集怪星ガイガー・八百八狸』. Seirin Kōgeisha, 2006. *''Sugiura Shigeru mangakan''『杉浦茂マンガ館』, 5 vols. Chikuma Shobō, 1993-6. , , , , *''Sugiura Shigeru no chotto tarinai meisaku gekijō''『杉浦茂のちょっとタリない名作劇場』. Chikuma Shobō, 1993.

Notes

External links

Comic Park
First pages of Sugiura reprints available online (in Japanese).

Seigō Matsuoka review of Sugiura manga reprint (in Japanese).
Sugiura Shigeru 101-nen matsuri

Kyoto International Manga Museum The Kyoto International Manga Museum (京都国際マンガミュージアム, Kyōto Kokusai Manga Myūjiamu) is located in Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The museum's collection includes approximately 300,000 items as of 2016, with 50,000 volumes ...

exhibition (in Japanese).
Yomiuri Shinbun television commercial
Produced by

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and h ...

and based on Sugiura manga (in Japanese).
Sugiura Shigeru's Sense of Humor
Manga scholar Ryan Holmberg's exploration of Sugiura's earliest work and influences. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sugiura, Shigeru 1908 births 2000 deaths Manga artists from Tokyo