is 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 ...

. He is well known for

science fiction comics Publication of comic strips and comic books focusing on science fiction became increasingly common during the early 1930s in newspapers published in the United States. They have since spread to many countries around the world. History The first ...

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

comics and horror/

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

comics based on

pseudohistory Pseudohistory is a form of pseudoscholarship that attempts to distort or misrepresent the historical record, often by employing methods resembling those used in scholarly historical research. The related term cryptohistory is applied to pseudohist ...

and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. The indirect influence by

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an ...

also appears here and there in his works.

Biography

Morohoshi grew up in

Adachi-ku is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It is located to the north of the heart of Tokyo. The ward consists of two separate areas: a small strip of land between the Sumida River and Arakawa River and a larger area north of the A ...

, Tokyo. After graduating from high school, he worked for the Tokyo metropolitan government for three years. In 1970, Morohoshi made his professional debut with his short story in ''

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 ...

''. In 1974, his short story was selected in the 7th

Tezuka Award The is a semi-annual manga award offered by the Japanese publisher Shueisha since 1971, under the auspices of its ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine. It awarded new manga artists in the Story Manga category. Its counterpart award, Akatsuka Award, a ...

. His breakthrough came, when he started publishing the series in ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...

''. He published , in the same magazine afterwards. In 1979, he published the ''Mud Men'' series in '' Monthly Shōnen Champion Zōkan''. In 1983, he published (The Monkey King and other Chinese Legends) based on ''

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 popu ...

'' in ''Super Action''. This work won him the grand prize of the fourth

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Current ...

in 2000.

Style and themes

Morohoshi takes inspiration from ancient history, mythology and folklore, influenced by the essays of

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa was the pen name of Shibusawa Tatsuo, a novelist, art critic, and translator of French literature active during Shōwa period Japan. Shibusawa wrote many short stories and novels based on French literature and Japanese classics. His essays about ...

. ''Yōkai Hunter'' revolves around archeologists discovering strange incidents around Japan, ''Mad Men'' shows myths from

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

clashing with modernity and ''Saiyū Yōenden'' is based on the classic Chinese fantasy novel ''

''. His drawing style is inspired by Western artists such as

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

, whom he cites as his favaorite painter, but his work also includes references to

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

and

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

Legacy

Because Morohoshi's style of painting was too unique, his assistants said that they didn't know how to assist him. In a roundtable discussion between Morohoshi,

Yukinobu Hoshino is a Japanese manga artist. Life He was born in Kushiro, Hokkaidō and dropped out of Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music after two years of studying mid-semester from the fine arts department. He moved to Tokyo in order to pu ...

and

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 ...

, Tezuka said that he could not imitate Morohoshi's painting. Morohoshi's ''Mud Men'' triggered

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 for ...

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...

, and Hosono wrote "The Madmen" for the album '' Service''. Hosono said that his production company misspelled "Mudmen" with "Madmen". Hayao Miyazaki mentioned that he was strongly influenced by Morohoshi. His 1997 film ''

Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida ...

'' has references to ''Mud Men''. When Kentaro Takekuma interviewed Miyazaki, he said that he actually wanted Morohoshi to draw ''

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind may refer to * Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga), ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' (manga), a manga series by Hayao Miyazaki * Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film), ''Nausicaä of the Valle ...

''. According to

Toshio Okada is an anime producer, author, and lecturer. He is a co-founder and former president of the production company Gainax. He is portrayed by actor Gaku Hamada in the 2014 TV Drama ''Aoi Honō'' based on the autobiographical manga by his fellow Kazuh ...

, who was a former representative director of

Gainax Gainax Co., Ltd. (stylized as GAINAX; ja, 株式会社ガイナックス, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ) is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', ''Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, Roya ...

Hideaki Anno is a Japanese animator, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating the anime series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995)''.'' His style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotio ...

always said that he wanted to apply the scene where a giant appeared in Morohoshi's to his work, and his hope was realized in ''

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known simply as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. ''Evangelion' ...

''.

Awards

, - , style="text-align:center;", 1974 , style="text-align:left;", "Seibutsu Toshi" , The 7th Tezuka Award , , - , rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;", 1992 , style="text-align:left;", ''Boku to Furio to Kōtei de'' , The excellence prize of The 21st

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 ...

, , - , style="text-align:left;", ''Ikairoku'' , The excellence prize of The 21st Japan Cartoonists Association Award , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2000 , style="text-align:left;", ''Saiyū Yōenden'' , The grand prize of the 4th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2008 , style="text-align:left;", ''Shiori to Shimiko'' , Excellent prize of the 12th

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

Manga section , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2014 , style="text-align:left;", ''Uriko-hime no Yoru, Cinderella no Asa'' , Award for the Media Arts division at the 64th Annual

MEXT The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community. ...

Art Encouragement Prizes ,

Selected works

Manga

Novels

* ''Kyōko no Kyō wa Kyōfu no Kyō'' (2004) * ''Kumo no Ito wa Kanarazu Kireru'' (2007)

Illustrations for books

* ''Rōkō ni Ari'' (Author: Ken'ichi Sakemi)

Adaptations

Movies

* ''

Hiruko the Goblin ''Hiruko the Goblin'' () is a 1991 Japanese horror film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto and starring Kenji Sawada. It is based on a manga by Daijiro Morohoshi. Plot Reijiro Hieda is a young and energetic archeologist, albeit a discredited one for ...

'' (1991, Film Director:

Shinya Tsukamoto is a Japanese people, Japanese filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter, Film editing, editor, Film director, director, cinematographer, art director, production designer and actor. With a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad ...

) * ''Kidan'' (2005, Film Director: Takashi Komatsu) * ''Kabeotoko'' (British title: ''The Wall Man'') (2007, Film Director: Wataru Hayakawa)

TV drama

* ''Fukushū Club'' (1991,

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

, in ''Yo nimo Kimyo na Monogatari'') * ''Shiro'' (1992, Fuji Television, in ''Yo nimo Kimyo na Monogatari'') * ''Shiori to Shimiko no Kaiki Jikenbo'' (2008,

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

)

Radio drama

* ''Saiyū Yōenden'' (1989) * ''Zoku Saiyū Yōenden'' (1990) * ''Yumemiru Kikai'' (2000)

OVA

* ''Ankoku Shinwa'' (''The Dark Myth'') Chapter 1/Chapter 2 (1990)

Video games

* ''Ankoku Shinwa: Yamato Takeru Densetsu'' (1988)

References

External links

*
List of works
at ne.jp/asahi

Daijiro Morohoshi Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morohoshi, Daijiro 1949 births Cthulhu Mythos writers Japanese horror fiction Japanese horror writers Living people Manga artists from Nagano Prefecture