, better known by the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

, 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 ...

born 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 37.468 ...

, Japan. His

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

came about due to a publisher's error when printing his name, and he continued using the pseudonym after that. His oldest son is classical guitarist Shiki Nagashima.

History

From the time he was in

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

, Nagashima aspired to become a manga artist. After dropping out of school during junior high, he worked as a

paperboy A paperboy is someoneoften an older child or adolescentwho distributes printed newspapers to homes or offices on a regular route, usually by bicycle or automobile. In Western nations during the heyday of print newspapers during the early 20th ...

and a

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super firm ...

salesman. He made his professional debut as a manga artist in 1952 with his story . After becoming acquainted with

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 ...

due to occasionally living at

Tokiwa-sō was an apartment building in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan famous for being the early living-quarters of many prominent manga artists. Description Tokiwa-sō was a Japanese style no-frills apartment building, two stories high, built of wood. It was one ...

, he became Tezuka's assistant. While there, he formed the group Musashi Production with artists including Atsushi Sugimura (who was working under the pseudonym Kontarō), Kyūta Ishikawa and Kuni Fukai (who was working under the pseudonym Hirō Fukai). He soon became friends with several members of the Gekiga Kōbō, including

Yoshihiro Tatsumi was a Japanese manga artist whose work was first published in his teens, and continued through the rest of his life. He is widely credited with starting the gekiga style of alternative manga in Japan, having allegedly coined the term in 1957. Hi ...

and

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 ...

, while living in a

provincial temple were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). History Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in each ...

. After the breakup of Gekiga Kōbō, Nagashima began working for Saitō Production and his work began to reflect a more cinematic and dramatic feel. During this time, he began a somewhat wandering lifestyle living in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

. In 1961, Nagashima published , a story which showed the "other side" of the manga industry and which brought Nagashima to the forefront of that industry. He continued publishing new works in a variety of magazines such as ''

COM Com or COM may refer to: Computing * COM (hardware interface), a serial port interface on IBM PC-compatible computers * COM file, or .com file, short for "command", a file extension for an executable file in MS-DOS * .com, an Internet top-level d ...

'' and ''

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 due to his unusual style began to be called the "father of

seinen manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like ''Weekly Ma ...

". From 1964 to 1966, he worked at

Mushi Production or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Fujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. It previously had a headquarters elsewhere in Nerima. The studio was headed by manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka started it as a rivalry wit ...

working on

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, 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 Japane ...

television series such as '' Jungle Taitei'', and later again worked for Mushi as a character designer on ''

Wansa-kun is a mascot for Sanwa Bank designed by Osamu Tezuka. It was later turned into a manga series by Tezuka and an anime series from 1973. The hero of Wansa-kun was Wansa, a puppy who is sold for a pittance, then escapes, and spends much of the ...

'' (1973). Nagashima won the

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan, Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being ...

for his in 1972. Two years later, he won the

Japan Cartoonists Association Award is an annual award for manga, sponsored by the Japan Cartoonists Association. The prize was first awarded in 1972. Prizes Recipients of the Grand Prize receive a gold plaque, a medal, and a cash prize of ¥500,000. Recipients of the Excellence P ...

for . Beginning in the 1980s, he began releasing fewer series, and went into semi-retirement. He was diagnosed with

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 ...

, which subsequently caused him to begin having

dialysis Dialysis may refer to: *Dialysis (chemistry), a process of separating molecules in solution **Electrodialysis, used to transport salt ions from one solution to another through an ion-exchange membrane under the influence of an applied electric pote ...

treatments in 2000. Nagashima died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

on June 10, 2005 at a

hospital.

Works

* (1956, ''Shōjo'') * (1961–1964, ''Keiji'') * (1962, ''Akahata'') * (1964, ''Atom Club'') * (1967, '' Shōnen King'') * (1967–1970, ''

'', ''

Play Comic Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pl ...

'') * (1967, written by

Ikki Kajiwara , known by the pen names and , was a Japanese author, manga writer, and film producer. He is known for the work about sports and martial arts, with images of heroic young men with the occasional fine details as he moves from one topic to anoth ...

, ''Shōnen King'', was later adapted into a

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

starring Ken'ichi Sakuragi) * (1968–1969, ''Wakamono'') * (1970) * (1971, ''Perfect Liberty'') * (1971–1973, high school course books) * (1971, ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...

'') * (1972, ''Shinfujin'') * (1972, ''Shōnen King'') * (1972–1973) * (1973–1974) * (1996, based on the novel by

Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social acti ...

, NHK Publishing) * (2006, Chikuma Shūpansha)

Essays

* (1981, Daiwa Shobō) * (1983, Kizukisha Bijutsu Shuppan) * (1984, Obunsha)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nagashima, Shinji 1937 births 2005 deaths Manga artists from Tokyo