Shigeru Mizuki Ends Watashi no Hibi (My Everyday)

11 May 2015 4 Comments

by Zack Davisson in From Mizuki Shigeru Tags:

Mizuki_Shigeru_My_Everyday

Translated from Yahoo! Japan News

93-year old manga artist Shigeru Mizuki—creator of Gegege no Kitaro and numerous other comics—announced the sudden end of his comic Watashi no Hibi (My Everyday). The comic was being serialized in Big Comics. The 10th issue of Big Comics will be the final installment.

Mizuki announced the comic on his 91st birthday. Serialization began that year, in December of 2013. With its publication, he became the oldest practicing manga artist. This drew massive media attention. However on May 9th, 2015, Big Comics announced: “It’s an abrupt ending, but with the next volume the story will be coming to conclusion.”

The “abrupt ending” had many worrying about Mizuki sensei’s health, especially due to his advanced age. The editorial department sent out an assurance that this was not the case, and that the ending of the serial had nothing to do with Mizuki’s health.

Mizuki_Shigeru_Watashi_no_Hibi

Watashi no Hibi (My Everyday) is an autobiographical comic that covers Mizuki Shigeru’s life, from his childhood in rural Japan to his wartime experience to his life as a manga artist, as well as stories of his family. Each is told as a short story, with 34 stories in total. They plan to release the complete set of stories in a collected edition this July.

Later, Mizuki Pro Tweeted this:

The Big Comics serial is finished. “Why? Is Mizuki sensei sick?” We want to assure you that is not the case. It is true that he was not feeling so well at the end of last year, and that he is still not completely recovered. But truthfully, Mizuki is finding the demands and mental strain of a serialized story too much at his advanced age. Drawing the manga has kept him in the house, and he would rather be doing other things.

Thanks to everyone for your concern!

Translator’s Note:

Here is another translated new article about the end of Shigeru Mizuki’s most recent comic. There has been a lot of speculation about the reason, so I wanted to make this available, especially Mizuki Pro’s tweet regarding the true reason for the abrupt ending of the series.

Happy 93rd Birthday Mizuki Shigeru!!!

08 Mar 2015 2 Comments

by Zack Davisson in From Mizuki Shigeru Tags:

Mizuki Shigeru Happy Face

 

Mizuki Shigeru is 93 years old today! And if you don’t know who that is, you have been reading the wrong website! He is the man responsible for this websites existence, and for most of the world’s enthusiasm for yokai and Japanese folklore.

And he happens to be one of the coolest guys alive.

Mizuki_Shigeru_Yokai_Mobile

I’ve been writing these birthday greetings for a few years now, and I am always happy when I get to write another. I have gone into Mizuki’s history and importance in Japanese society on several occasions. If you aren’t familiar with this great genius, spend some time reading up on him and seeing why I adore him so much!

Mizuki Shigeru’s French Fry Heaven

Happy 91st Birthday Mizuki Shigeru

Happy 92nd Birthday Mizuki Shigeru

Mizuki Shigeru in Rabaul

Shigeru Mizuki’s The Dunwich Horror

Needless to say, there are few people who have had such a dramatic influence on their native culture. People like Walt Disney, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Osamu Tezuka (Yes, these are all comic book people, but I am a comic book person myself, so you’ll have to forgive me)–they are enough to count on one hand. One of the joys of Shigeru Mizuki is that he is still alive, and we are able to appreciate his work–and show our appreciation–while he is around to enjoy it.  Too often we discover people’s importance posthumously.

Another aspect of Shigeru Mizuki that I love is just how human he is. Someone of his stature and level of honor and respect could demand that people genuflect before him, that he be presented as some sort of living idol or even a type of character from one of his own stories. But with his autobiographical accounts of his own life, and the pictures he posts on his Twitter account, Shigeru Mizuki shows himself as a person without pretension.

chocc

I am also very proud of the work that I have done with Drawn & Quarterly in bringing Mizuki’s work to an English-speaking audience. When I first started, there were three Mizuki comics in print. Now there are six, soon to be nine, and with many more on the way.

Some of my favorite Mizuki translations I have done will appear in the Drawn & Quarterly 25th Anniversary book. There are several brilliant Mizuki works, the kind not ever seen in English before, separate from both Kitaro and his autobiographical work. I applaud Drawn & Quarterly for wanting to show so many sides of Mizuki as an artists.

Drawn & Quarterly: Twenty-five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and Graphic Novels

DQ25 Anniversary

As well as a brilliant biography of this guy right here:

Shigeru Mizuki’s Hitler

Shigeru Mizuki Hitler

And the final volume of Showa: A History of Japan:

Showa 1953-1989: A History of Japan (Showa: A History of Japan)

Showa_History_of_Japan_1953_1989

And lots more to come! I promise that if you keep reading, we will keep bringing you the works of this wonderful, weird, brilliant human being! And I am looking forward to posting next year celebrating his 94th birthday!

Dream on, beautiful dreamer! (Now somebody buy that man a hamburger!)

shigeru

Kosodate Yūrei – The Child-Raising Yūrei

27 Jun 2014 9 Comments

by Zack Davisson in From Mizuki Shigeru, Japanese Afterlife, Yūrei Stories Tags: ,

Kosodate_Yurei_Shigeru_Mizuki

Translated and Sources from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara, Nihon no Yūrei, Inga Monogatari, and Other Sources

To learn much more about Japanese Ghosts, check out my book Yurei: The Japanese Ghost

Yūrei require a tether, something to connect them to the physical world, something strong enough to prevent them from moving on to the next world. Depending on the nature of this bond, a different type of yūrei can manifest. The bond of a mother to her child is one of the oldest and strongest of these tethers.

What Does Kosodate Yūrei Mean?

The kanji for the kosodate yūrei is descriptive. Kosodate (子育て) means child-raising. An alternate term substitutes amekai (飴買い) for the amekai yūrei meaning the candy-buying yūrei. Variations of the story can be found all over Japan, but most kosodate yūrei stories follow a consistent pattern.

The Legend of the Kododate Yūrei

Beisai_Kosodate_Yurei

There are multiple versions of the kosodate yūrei told all across Japan. Most of them follow an identical pattern. This version is told in Nihon no Yūrei by Ikeda Yasaburo as a personal recollection of a story that had been told to him:

“The name Tsukiji nowadays brings to mind a bustling fish market in Tokyo, but it was not always so. In the olden days, the area known as Tsukiji was packed with temples, mostly belonging to the Honkan-ji temple complex. The area was also covered in cemeteries.

Along the banks of the Sumida River that flows near Tsukiji, there were also stands selling fresh fish and the sweet sake for children known as amazake. In one story, late every night a woman clutching a child would come to a certain amazake dealer to buy the sweet sake from him, which she would then give to her child to drink. The sake dealer, sensing something mysterious about this woman, followed her from his stall one night and watched her as she made her way towards the main hall of the temple, where she disappeared like a blown-out candle. When she vanished, the sake dealer could hear the cry of a baby coming from somewhere in the cemetery. Tracking the sound to a freshly-dug grave, the sake dealer enlisted the help of some others to dig up the grave, and when opening the coffin discovered a crying baby nestled in the arms of its mother’s corpse.”

The legend has its origins in China, where it can be traced back to the book Yijian zhi (1198; Records of Anomalies), with the story of the mochikae onna, the rice cake-buying woman:

“One time, a woman who was pregnant died, and was buried in the ground. After that, a nearby rice-cake dealer began to have a strange customer come night after night, an odd woman carrying a baby. The woman always bought a rice cake for the baby. The dealer was suspicious, and stealthily tied a red string to the woman the next time she came in. After she left, he followed the red string and found that it led to a grave hidden under some bushes. After telling the bereaved family, they dug up the grave to find that the woman had given posthumous birth in her coffin. The bereaved family happily took the child to raise, and had the mother’s body cremated.”

Rokumonsen – Six Coins to Pay the River Crossing

Kosodate Yurei Painting

Another part of the kosodate yūrei legends are the use of rokumonsen, the six coins placed with dead bodies in order to pay the toll across the underworld River Sanzu. In many versions of this legend, the kosodate yūrei is using these coins. Often the story continues for five nights, until the body is dug up and the final coin is found resting in her dead hand.

Many other merchants receive even less. In several of the tales, the mother uses the tanuki trick of passing off leaves as coins, and the merchant is left with only a wallet of foliage after the true nature of the woman is discovered.

But coins or leaves, the loving mother rarely buys food for her child, no rice or nourishment, but often the small sweet candies or toys that a child would crave, caring more for the baby’s happiness than its welfare.

Kosadate Ame

Kosodate Ame

Kosodate yūrei remain a popular figure in Japanese folklore. To this day, a small shop in Kyoto still sells kosodate ame—child-rearing candy—and claims to be the very shop where the kosodate- yūrei came to buy candy.

Translator’s Note:

The kosodate yūrei is so similar to another type of ghost—the ubume—that they can almost be considered a different name for the same spirit. There are differences, however. The ubume is closely associated with blood, and with the Buddhist hell of Chi no Ike, the Lake of Blood, where women who died while pregnant were said to be consigned. Ubume also try to get someone to hold their baby, which kosodate yūrei never do.

Countdown to Showa 1939 – 1944 A History of Japan

30 May 2014 3 Comments

by Zack Davisson in From Mizuki Shigeru Tags:

Showa 1939 1944 Cover

Only a few short days until the release of Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan, the second volume of my translation of Shigeru Mizuki’s 4-volume series “Showa: A History of Japan”!!

The first volume, Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan was nominated for an Eisner Award for “Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia.” And this second volume is even more incredible than the first.

Shigeru Mizuki Off to War

Japan is fully mobilized for war now, spreading like a plague across the Asian countries, trying to grab as much land as they can while avoiding the eyes of the Western powers. Chiang Kai-shek attempts to rally China in defense, but finds an undivided country unwilling to compromise even in order to save itself.

Shigeru Mizuki Drafted

Meanwhile, the teenage Shigeru just wastes his time waiting for the inevitable death sentence that is his draft papers. When they finally come, Shigeru proves he is no more a soldier than he was a student. Even as he is sent off to boot camp, the war broadens when Japan finally engages the US with a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. The Pacific War in full swing, Shigeru is transferred down to Rabaul in New Britain where his life will be forever changed. In the tropical jungles, Shigeru experiences horrors beyond his imagination—and wonders.

If you bought the first volume—and I hope you have—you are definitely going to want this second volume! I am extraordinarily proud of it. An amazing piece of comic book art work.

You can preorder it here!!!

And While You’re At It:

Showa History of Japan Volume Three

Don’t forget to order the third volume, Showa 1944-1953: A History of Japan (Showa: a History of Japan)!!!

Thanks to everyone for your support! The more people get interested in the works of Shigeru Mizuki, the more translated releases we can look forward to in the future!

Shigeru Mizuki’s The Dunwich Horror

01 May 2014 13 Comments

by Zack Davisson in Essays on Kaidan, From Mizuki Shigeru Tags:

Shigeru_Mizuki_Chitei_no_Ashioto

Sourced from Japanese Wikipedia and this article

It should come as no surprise that Shigeru Mizuki is well versed in world horror and weird fiction. Beneath his beneficent smile and charming penchant for cheap hamburgers lies the brain of one of the world’s great expects on mythology, folklore, and the weird world of monsters. His love for Western horror comics has been demonstrated (See Mizuki Shigeru and American Horror Comics), and adaptations of classic horror tales pop up all over his work; either shoehorned into his famous comic Gegege no Kitaro or as straight adaptations in their own right.

Mizuki owned the book series Sekai Kyofu Shosetsu Zenshu (世界恐怖小説全集; The Complete Collected Short Fiction of World Horror Stories) which formed much of his education on world horror and weird fiction. The multi-volume series collected horror classics from all over the world, including French and Russian literature as well as American pulp fiction. Mizuki became acquainted with H.P. Lovecraft through this series. He first read the story Dunwich no Kai (ダンウィッチの怪; The Dunwich Mystery) in volume 5, which collected tales of kaiju (怪物; monsters).

Sekai_Kyofu_Shosetsu_Zenshu

The tale stuck with Mizuki, and in 1962, he adapted it for the rental manga market, in a 300+ page comic published by Bunhana Bookshop. Mizuki retitled the story Chitei no Ashioto (地底の足音; Footsteps from the Depths of the Earth). It is a more-or-less straight adaptation, although Mizuki made a few alterations, presumably to make it easier for a Japanese audience.

He reset the story in Japan, and made the characters Japanese. the rural town of Dunwich became the mountain village of Hatsume; Wilbur Whateley is Adachi Hibisuke, and runs around in a kimono to hide his misshapen body; Professor Henry Armitage of the famed Miskatonic University is instead Professor Aoyama from Toritaka University. The Necronomicon became “The cursed Shiro Kaiki (死霊回帰; Book for Calling Back the Dead), written 800 years ago by the mad Arab Galapagos!”

Shigeru_Mizuki_Dunwich_Horror_Wilbur

Perhaps the strangest change of all, however, is that Adachi Hibisuke’s otherworldly father is no longer the dread Yog-Sothoth, but is instead the monstrous—Yokai Yogurt!

Shigeru_Mizuki_Dunwich_Horror_Monster

Along with Lovecraft, Shigeru Mizuki adapted many other classics of world horror and weird fiction. His works include versions of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Narrative of the Ghost of a Hand, HG Wells’ The Crystal Egg, Richard Matheson’s Blood Son, F. Marion Crawford’s The Screaming Skull, and Arthur Machen’s The Novel of the White Powder. All these treasures lie hidden in musty old bookstores in Japan, just waiting for someone to discover them.

Translator’s Note:

My first post in a loooooong time! If you keep up with me on Facebook and Twitter, you know that I have been supremely busy lately and haven’t had time to make new posts for Hyakumonogatari. But I got talking to some people about Mizuki’s adaptation of The Dunwich Horror and figured I could squeeze in a post!

As for what’s been keeping me busy—well, hopefully you all know that my book Yurei: The Japanese Ghost is coming out in a couple of months. I have been working to make the final edits and get the book design perfect, as well as attending various conventions in support of the launch. If you haven’t already pre-ordered it, PLEASE do so! I need as many preorders as I can get to show booksellers that there is an audience for this kind of work.

I also have the next volume of Mizuki Shigeru’s “Showa” series coming out, Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan (Showa: a History of Japan) (a book which you would also PLEASE preorder!). The first volume in the series was nominated for an Eisner Award for this year, which is a VERY BIG DEAL! If you aren’t familiar with them, the Eisner Awards are kind of like the Oscars for the comic book world. Even getting nominated is very exciting.

And finally, as was announced at Sakura Con this year, I am translating Satoshi Kon’s manga for Dark Horse Comics. This is very exciting, as I am a huge fan of Kon’s work! Look for announcements on those comics coming soon!

Oh! And if you are interested in reading Mizuki’s Chitei no Ashioto, it was recently re-released as part of the Mizuki Shigeru Complete Collection. You can buy it off Amazon.co.jp, but its in Japanese only; for the time being, at any rate! Fingers crossed!

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