Manga artist Tetsuya Chiba, who drew the art for famous boxing manga Ashita no Joe and created Harris no Kaze, has died at the age of 87.
According to his website, Chiba passed on October 22 in a hospital. NHK reports myelodysplastic syndrome (a type of blood cancer) to be the cause of death.
Chiba was born in 1939 in Tokyo. He spent much of his childhood in Shenyang, China (then known as Fengtian and under Japanese occupation) where his father worked in a printing company. He returned to Japan in 1946, the year after the Second World War’s end.
The inspiration to become a manga artist came when Chiba was a student. During that time, there was a publisher in the area that was soliciting manga, with payment offered for manuscripts. “In that instant, I decided I would become a manga artist,” Chiba recounted in an interview with the Kanto Federation of Bar Associations.
In 1950, Chiba participated in the Manga Club, a dojin manga work created by a friend. In 1956, he made his debut with Fukushu no Semushi Otoko. His first serialized manga, Mama no Violin, arrived in 1958. Chiba later contributed the art for Chikai no Makyu, which debuted in 1961 in Weekly Shonen Magazine.
Among Chiba’s other works include 1, 2, 3 to 4, 5, Rock, Yuki’s Sun (Yuki no Taiyo), Shindenkai no Taka, Misokkasu, Ore wa Teppei, and Notari Matsumoto. The titles that inspired anime adaptations include Harris no Kaze, Yuki’s Sun (in the form of a pilot directed by Hayao Miyazaki), Ore wa Teppei, Ashita Tenki ni Naare, Notari Matsumoto, and Kaze no You ni.
Chiba received a number of awards and honors during his life, including being recognized as a Person of Cultural Merit in 2014. In 2024, he became the first manga artist to receive the Order of Culture. Chiba is also the namesake of Kodansha’s Tetsuya Chiba Award, a newcomer award introduced in 1980.
Chiba was the president of the Japan Cartoonists Association at the time of his death.
Source: Tetsuya Chiba website (via Livedoor News)
