was an

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

building in

Toshima, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the eight central wards of the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Located in the northern area of Tokyo, Toshima is bordered by the wards of Nerima, Itabashi, and Kita in the north and Nakano, Shinjuku, a ...

, Japan famous for being the early living-quarters of many prominent

manga artists 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 bef ...

Description

Tokiwa-sō was a Japanese style no-frills apartment building, two stories high, built of wood. It was one of the pre-war buildings which survived the fire bombing of Tokyo 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 became part of the nucleus of the Minami Nagasaki residential area of Toshima ward. It had no baths, only cold water sinks and toilets. Residents went to local

sentō is a type of Japanese communal bathhouse where customers pay for entrance. Traditionally these bathhouses have been quite utilitarian, with a tall barrier separating the sexes within one large room, a minimum of lined-up faucets on both sides, ...

bath houses, the Tsuru-yu and the Akebono-yu (now modern condominiums). The building existed as a sort of

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...

from 1952 to 1982. It was demolished in 1982. It is now the site of Nihon Kajo Publishing.

Notable residents and relation to manga and anime

The second floor of this building housed many young budding artists in the late 1950s to the early 1960s, including

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 ...

between 1953 and 1954. Residents included Hiroo Terada (1953–1957),

Fujiko Fujio was a manga writing duo formed by Japanese manga artists and . They formed their partnership in 1951, and used the Fujiko Fujio name from 1954 until dissolution of the partnership in 1987, upon Fujimoto's illness. The pair was best known ...

(1954–1961), Suzuki Shinichi (1955–1956), Naoya Moriyasu (1956),

Shotaro Ishinomori was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime, and , creating several immensely popular long-running series such as ''Cyborg 009,'' the ''Super Sentai'' series (later adapted into the ''Power Rangers'' series), an ...

(1956–1961),

Fujio Akatsuka was a pioneer Japanese artist of comical manga known as the Gag Manga King. His name at birth is 赤塚藤雄, whose Japanese pronunciation is the same as 赤塚不二夫. He was born in Rehe, Manchuria, the son of a Japanese military pol ...

(1956–1961), Tokuo Yokota (1958–1961),

Hideko Mizuno is one of the first successful female Japanese shōjo manga artists. She was an assistant of Osamu Tezuka staying in Tokiwa-sō. She made her professional debut in 1955 with ''Akakke Kōma Pony'', a Western story with a tomboy heroine. She be ...

(1958) and George Yamaguchi (1960–1962). Tezuka offered a room to the writing duo Fujiko Fujio when he was moving out. Fujiko Fujio would make similar gestures themselves, offering rooms to rookie artists whenever one was made available, including to Akatsuka and Ishinomori. The business of

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 ...

production today in Japan has a prototype in the collaborative activities pioneered at Tokiwa-sō. According to Tam Bing Man (one of the acting duo), who was an assistant of Osamu Tezuka in earliest days, Tezuka first introduced this production system employing many assistants to make manga, in order to meet the deadlines of publishing in weekly manga magazines. This model of several assistants helping a main artist is still used today, providing young manga artists with training.

Related, similar buildings and museum

Toshima City's Culture and Tourism Division built a bronze monument titled in Minami-Nagasaki Hanasaki Koen public park in April 2009. Standing from where the original building stood, it consists of self-portraits and autographs of 10 former Tokiwa-sō residents, with a small model of the building on top. Townspeople initially imagined a monument featuring famous characters created by Tokiwa-sō residents, such as ''

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan by its original name , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 ''tankōbon'' vo ...

'' and ''

Doraemon ''Doraemon'' ( ja, ドラえもん ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. The manga was first serialized in December 1969, with List of Doraemon chapters, its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ' ...

'', but had negotiation troubles with copyrights. In 2012, the publishing house that stands on the original plot installed a stone monument to Tokiwa-sō on its grounds with a replica of the building on top. The Tokiwa-sō Project was started in 2006 to help aspiring manga artists begin their professional careers, including offering housing assistance. By 2016, they have helped more than 60 artists make their debut. Tokiwaso-Manga-Museum

Kyoto's Kamigyō ward refurbished a century-old, two-story

row house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house (British English, UK) or townhouse (American English, US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings party ...

into their own Tokiwa-sō for aspiring manga artists. It was unveiled on August 23, 2013. In February 2015, the

Niigata City may refer to: * Niigata Prefecture, Japan **Niigata (city), the capital of the prefecture * Albirex Niigata, the city's professional football club * Niigata Transys, a Japanese railway vehicle manufacturer * Niigata Stadium, an athletic stadium in ...

government announced plans to open a rent-free house for up-and-coming female manga artists modeled after Tokiwa-sō called Komachi House. Instructors from the Japan Animation and Manga College will give lessons to tenants of the house in Chūō-ku, in return for the artists working on projects led by the city government. In July 2016, the Toshima ward government announced plans to build a replica of Tokiwa-sō in Minami-Nagasaki Hanasaki Koen public park, a three-minute walk from the original, with a museum dedicated to manga and anime inside that was scheduled to open in March 2020. The Toshima government planned to spend between 200 million and 300 million yen (~US $1.98 million to $2.98 million) on the project with plans created by a committee of people involved in the original Tokiwa-sō, led by

Machiko Satonaka is a Japanese manga artist. She made her professional debut in 1964 during her second year of high school with the one-shot ''Pia no Shōzō'' ("Portrait of Pia"). She has since created nearly 500 manga in a variety of genres. Two of her most ...

. Delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Japan Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, the museum officially opened on July 7, 2020 and recreates the original building meticulously, down to fake mold.

Gallery

File:Diagramma Residenti Tokiwaso.png, Diagram of the second floor, noting the rooms of some notable residents. File:Former site of tokiwaso apartment house minaminagasaki.JPG, Alley entrance to the former site of Tokiwa-sō as marked with a sign, 2009

References

External links

Tokiwa-sō Manga Museum official websiteTokiwa-sō Project official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokiwa-so Manga industry Osamu Tezuka Fujiko Fujio Apartment buildings Buildings and structures in Toshima Museums in Tokyo Demolished buildings and structures in Japan Buildings and structures completed in 1952 Buildings and structures demolished in 1982 Museums established in 2020 1952 establishments in Japan 1982 disestablishments in Japan 2020 establishments in Japan