(1936 – April 13, 2012) was a Japanese

manga 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

artist. Higurashi was the cover artist for ''

Big Comic is a semimonthly ''seinen'' manga magazine published since 18 February 1968 by Shogakukan in Japan. Publication history It was originally launched as a monthly magazine, but switched to twice monthly on the 10th and 25th beginning in April 1 ...

'', a Japanese manga magazine, for more than forty years, from 1970 until fall 2011. Higurashi was raised in

Matsudo file:Matsudo City Hall 2.jpg, 260px, Matsudo City Hall is a Cities of Japan, city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 499,533 in 242,918 households and a population density of 8,138 persons per km2. The total are ...

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

. He studied at Musashino Art School, now known as

Musashino Art University or is a private university in Kodaira, Western Tokyo, founded in 1962 with roots going back to 1929. It is known as one of the leading art universities in Japan. History In October 1929, was founded. In December 1948, it became , and in ...

, a progressive university with a curriculum in fine arts and industrial design. He became head of character illustration at ''Big Comic'' in 1970. Each issue of ''Big Comic'' during this era featured a large caricature of a famous individual on the cover, typically sports stars, actors and, politicians. All were drawn by Higurashi in his signature style of a large head relative to a small body. His drawings became a trademark of the magazine. Higurashi was well known for his work outside of ''Big Comic''. He and his younger brother, the

Mainichi Shinbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English-language news website called , and publishes a bilin ...

copywriter

Higurashi Shinzō Higurashi may refer to: *'' Tanna japonensis'', a type of cicada native to Japan * Shūichi Higurashi (1936–2012), a Japanese manga illustrator and magazine artist * Akane Higurashi, a fictional character from the anime and manga series ''My-HiME ...

(b. 1944), wrote and illustrated the long-running series ''Shūichi, Shinzō no mōningu jakku'' for the Sunday edition of the newspaper. The series ran from 1981 until 2006. In addition to his illustrations, Higurashi also illustrated for the defunct magazine ''Rapita'',ヒグラシ・ワンダーワールド　日暮修一の世界展
/ref> and worked as a business advertisement

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

. To mark his 25th anniversary as the cover artist with ''Big Comic'', the

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

publisher released a book of his cover illustrations in 1994 titled "''Big na Kao''". In 2000, Higurashi received a special

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is ...

for his lifetime achievement as a manga illustrator. In 2006 Higurashi was the feature of an exhibition of his works at the Matsudo Cultural Hall. Higurashi stepped down as cover illustrator of ''Big Comic'' in fall 2011 due to declining health. He died in Tokyo from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on April 13, 2012, at the age of 75. Higurashi was survived by his wife, Kazuko.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higurashi, Shuichi 2012 deaths Japanese illustrators Manga artists from Chiba Prefecture People from Matsudo 1936 births Deaths from pneumonia in Japan