is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 manga artist

Mangaka

is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...

. She is included in the Year 24 Group

Year 24 group

refers to one of two female manga artist groups which are considered to have revolutionized shōjo manga . Their works often examine "radical and philosophical issues", including sexuality and gender issues, and many of their works are now considered "classics" of shōjo manga...

. She resides in Kamukura

Kamakura, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...

, Kanagawa Prefecture

Kanagawa Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...

. Takemiya was one of the female authors who in the early 1970s pioneered a genre of girls' comics about love between young men

Yaoi

In careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...

; in December 1970 she published a short story, "In the Sunroom", in Bessatsu Shōjo Komikku, which is possibly the first shōnen-ai

Yaoi

In careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...

manga published and contains the earliest known male-male kiss in shōjo manga.

Among her most noted works are the manga Toward the Terra

Toward the Terra

is a Japanese science fiction manga series by Keiko Takemiya. It was originally serialized in Asahi Sonorama's Gekkan Manga Shōnen magazine, between January 1977 and May 1980...

and Kaze to Ki no Uta

Kaze to Ki no Uta

is a shōjo manga with yaoi themes by Keiko Takemiya. It was first published by Shougakukan from 1976 to 1984 in the magazine Shōjo Comic. In 1979, it was awarded the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen/shōjo manga. The series is widely regarded as a shōnen-ai manga classic, being one of...

, which are noted for being pioneering series of the 1970s and 1980s. She received the 1979 Shogakukan Manga Award

Shogakukan Manga Award

The is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...

 for shōjo manga and shōnen manga respectively for Kaze to Ki no Uta and Terra e..., and the prestigious Seiun Award

Seiun Award

The is a Japanese science fiction award for the best science fiction published in Japan during the preceding year, as voted by attendees of the Japan Science Fiction Convention. "Seiun" is the Japanese word for "nebula", but the award is not related to the American Nebula Award. It was named after...

 for science fiction manga in 1978 for Terra e.... She is regarded as "one of the first successful crossover women artists" to create both shōjo and shōnen manga. Many of her series have been adapted into anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

, including Terra e... in 1980 and 2007, Natsu e no Tobira

Natsu e no Tobira

is a 1975 Japanese manga by Keiko Takemiya. It is an early example of a shōnen-ai manga. It was originally serialized in Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, and it was re-released in 2000 by Kodansha...

in 1981, and Kaze to Ki no Uta

Kaze to Ki no Uta

is a shōjo manga with yaoi themes by Keiko Takemiya. It was first published by Shougakukan from 1976 to 1984 in the magazine Shōjo Comic. In 1979, it was awarded the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen/shōjo manga. The series is widely regarded as a shōnen-ai manga classic, being one of...

in 1987. In 1983, she served as special designer to the Sunrise

Sunrise (company)

is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise. It is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings. Its former name was Nippon Sunrise, and prior to that, Sunrise Studios...

 theatrical film Crusher Joe: The Movie

Crusher Joe

is a series of science fiction light novels by Haruka Takachiho and released by Asahi Sonorama from 1979 to 1983. During the late 1970s one of the founding fathers of Studio Nue, Takachiho decided that besides being a designer he would try his hand at penning novels...

, alongside other noted manga artists Yumiko Igarashi

Yumiko Igarashi

is a female Japanese manga artist and artist. She is a resident of Sapporo, Hokkaido. She is also the cousin of fellow manga artist Satsuki Igarashi; a member of Clamp....

, Fujihiko Hosono

Fujihiko Hosono

is a Japanese manga artist. Hosono was born in Ōta, Tokyo. In 1979, he made his debut with Crusher Joe while he was a student at Keio University. Around the same time, he joined the as an animator...

, Rumiko Takahashi

Rumiko Takahashi

is a Japanese manga artist.Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga she creates are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages...

, Hideo Azuma

Hideo Azuma

is a Japanese manga artist born on February 6, 1950 in Urahoro, Hokkaidō, Japan. Azuma made his professional debut in 1969 in the Akita Shoten manga magazine Manga Ō...

, Hisaichi Ishii

Hisaichi Ishii

is a Japanese manga artist born on 2 September 1951 in Tamano, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. He is best known outside of Japan for his manga series Nono-chan, which was made into the Studio Ghibli anime film My Neighbors the Yamadas. Topics covered by Ishii's manga include baseball , politics,...

, Katsuhiro Otomo

Katsuhiro Otomo

is a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...

, Miki Tori

Miki Tori

, also known as Micky Bird or Mickey Bird, is a Japanese manga artist, character designer, essayist, and screenplay writer. Tori has won multiple awards for his work, including two Seiun Awards and one Bungeishunjū Manga Award...

, Shinji Wada

Shinji Wada

was a Japanese manga artist in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, and best known for the creation of the Sukeban Deka franchise. He has been the cover artist for and had stories published in the bishōjo lolicon manga anthology series Petit Apple Pie....

 and Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama

is a Japanese manga artist and game artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. Toriyama admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art...

.

Since 2000, Takemiya has taught at Kyoto Seika University

Kyoto Seika University

is a private university, located in Seika, Kyoto, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1968, and it was chartered as a university in 1979....

's Faculty of Manga and is its current dean. In 2009, she was a member of the selection committee for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

Selected bibliography

(published in English by Vertical) (published in English by Vertical, Story by Sci Fi author Ryu Mitsuse

Ryu Mitsuse

is a Japanese science fiction writer. In the West he might be best known for manga-related works and the story The Sunset, 2217 A.D. which appeared in Frederik Pohl's Best Science Fiction for 1972.- Biography :...

)

External links

• tra-pro.com - Keiko Takemiya's personal website
• Interview: Keiko Takemiya