Visiting manga artist

World-famous manga artist (or mangaka – 漫画家) Akiko Hatsu (波津 ・彬子) visited London this week, giving a talk at the British Museum in the Japan Galleries.  Known for her work in the genre of shojo-manga (少女漫画), Akiko Hatsu was very influential in the development of the genre and also instrumental in coining the term Yaoi.

Hatsu was born on December 16th, 1959, in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan (石川県・金沢市) . During her time in high school she was assistant to her older sister Yukiko Kai, who was a professional manga artist. After high school, she began working for a printing company in Kanazawa, but soon quit in order to assist her sister full-time. She also began to assist other professional artists, most notably Moto Hagio (萩尾・望都). At the time Hatsu was starting out in the world of manga, famous artists like Keiko Takemiya (竹宮・惠子) , and others from the “Year-24 Group” (shojo-manga movement in the late 1970’s) inspired her.

Shojo-manga refers to the genre of manga written for women. However, shojo-manga up until the 1970’s had generally been written by men. Hatsu and other members of the Year-24 group were pioneers in turning the shojo-manga genre over to female authors. Shojo-manga tends to focus on the thoughts and emotions of the protagonists, and tends to try and convey the idea of “pure love”. This idea was later developed into the Yaoi genre (homosexual manga) by Hatsu and other mangaka around her.

Akiko Hatsu’s professional debut was in the Magazine ALLAN with the short story Elegy of the Waves (波の挽歌  nami-no-banka). Some of her most well-known work includes Uryudo Dream Tales (雨柳堂夢咄 uryudo-yume-banashi), the story of a young man called Ren who works in an antiques store. Ren can communicate with the spirits of ancient objects (付喪神 tsukumogami). The collection of short stories was published in the magazine Strange Stories for Sleepless Nights (眠れぬ夜の奇妙な話  nemurenu-yo-no-kimyo-na-hanashi). Another famous series of manga by Hatsu include the Beautiful England Series (うるわしの英国シリーズ  uruwashi-no-eikoku-shirizu), set in Victorian England. Victorian England is a common setting for shojo-manga stories, Hatsu herself was always fascinated by Victorian England.

Hatsu’s talk at the British Museum was introduced by Tim Clark, Head of the Japanese Section and the interviewer was Paul Gravett .  The talk was a fantastic event with the rare opportunity to host and meet a renowned mangaka in the UK!