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...

. He is best known as an author of baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

, such as Yakyū-kyō no Uta, Dokaben

Dokaben

is a baseball manga by Shinji Mizushima, serialized in Akita Shoten Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine from April 24, 1972 to March 27, 1981. Chapters of the series published in 48 Tankōbon volumes by Akita Shoten. It was later made into an anime by the same name...

, and Abu-san

Abu-san

is a baseball manga by Shinji Mizushima that has been serialized in seinen manga magazine Big Comic Original since 1973. It tells the story of fictionall baseball player '. Despite enjoying a long serialization spanning over 30 years, it has received no anime or live-action adaptations. In 1977, it...

. He is a two-time recipient of the 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:...

.

Biography

Mizushima began his career in 1958 when his debut work, Shinya no Kyaku, was awarded by a local manga magazine based in Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

. He moved to Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 in 1964, where he began to publish numerous works for the Shōnen King magazine. His first serious work involving baseball came in 1969, when he published Ace no Jyōken. He also began to work for the Shōnen Sunday

Shonen Sunday

, first published on March 17, 1959, is a weekly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan. Contrary to its title, Weekly Shōnen Sunday issues are released on Wednesdays.- History :...

 and Shōnen Champion magazines in 1970, where he published his first major hits in Otoko do Ahou Kōshien and Zenikko. His most iconic work, Dokaben, was first serialized on Shōnen Champion in 1972, and Yakyū-kyō no Uta was published in Monthly Shōnen Magazine the same year. Abu-san began publication on Big Comic Original

Big Comic Original

is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Shogakukan, aimed at an older adult and mostly male audience. It is a sister magazine to Big Comic, the biggest difference being that it goes on sale twice a month in the weeks Big Comic doesn't. Cover artwork usually features a dog or cat, and a haiku...

 in 1973. He received the 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:...

 in 1974 for Otoko do Ahou Kōshien and Deba to Bat, and again in 1977 for Abu-san.

Mizushima's serialized works gained major standing around this period, making him a fixture in the manga industry and the foremost author of baseball manga. In 1975, he published Ikkyu-san; the continuation to Otoko do Ahou Kōshien, for Shōnen Sunday and Kyūdō-kun for Shōnen Big Comic in 1976. In 1977, he started Ikkyū Nyūkon, a magazine specializing in baseball manga, where he serialized Hakkyū no Uta, the counterpart to Yakyū-kyō no Uta set in the Pacific League

Pacific League

The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series...

. In 1981, he began publication of Hikari no Kojirō; an audacious work featuring an entirely original Japanese baseball league and commission.

In 1983, Mizushima published Dai Kōshien; a work featuring characters from Dokaben, Yakyū-kyō no Uta, Otoko do Ahou Kōshien, Ikkyū-san, Kyūdō-kun, and many of the other popular high-school baseball manga he had authored up until then. Mizushima continued to author numerous works through the 1980s, most notably Niji wo Yobu Otoko (1987) and Ohayō K-jirō (1990).

During the 1990s, Mizushima began to build off of his most successful works, starting Dokaben Pro-yakyū hen in 1995 on the Shōnen Champion magazine, and Yakyū-kyō no Uta Heisei hen in 1997 for Mister Magazine. Mizushima continued this trend with Shin Yakyū-kyō no Uta (2000) and Dokaben Super Stars hen (2004), and has also continued to author Abu-san, which has spanned over 90 volumes since its inception in 1973. In 2004, Mizushima auctioned off the right to appear as a character in Abu-san for over 3 million yen as a fundraiser for Mangajapan.

Mizushima marked his 50th anniversary as a manga artist in 2007, and Shōnen Champion placed Dokaben on its front cover along with messages and illustrations from many other manga artists such as Osamu Akimoto

Osamu Akimoto

is a Japanese manga artist born on December 11, 1952 in Katsushika, Tokyo, Japan. He is best known for his long running series Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo, which has been continuously published in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1976...

, Takao Saito

Takao Saito

is a Japanese manga and gekiga artist. He is best known for creating the successful series Golgo 13.-Early life and career:Takao Saito was born on November 3, 1936 in Wakayama Prefecture. During his school days in Osaka he was the best in his class in drawing and fighting, and also considered...

, Mitsuru Adachi

Mitsuru Adachi

is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa...

, Takehiko Inoue

Takehiko Inoue

is a Japanese manga artist, best known for the basketball manga Slam Dunk, which has become a success both in Japan and overseas. Many of his works are about basketball, Inoue himself being a huge fan of the sport, and many Japanese children started to play basketball because they read the manga...

, 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...

, Fujiko Fujio

Fujiko Fujio

was a nom de plume of a manga writing duo formed by two Japanese manga artists. Their real names are and . They formed their partnership in 1951, and used the Fujiko Fujio name from 1954 until dissolution of the partnership in 1987....

, and Hiroshi Takahashi

Hiroshi Takahashi

is a Japanese manga artist.-Manga career:Takahashi mostly known from his manga Crows, Worst and QP. One of his manga was adapted into movies namely Crows ZERO and Crows ZERO II -External links:...

 to celebrate Mizushima's achievements. Other enthusiasts and baseball icons including Sadaharu Oh

Sadaharu Oh

Sadaharu Oh, or Wang Chenchih , is a retired Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager. He batted and threw left-handed and primarily played first base. Oh, who was born in Sumida, Tokyo the son of a Taiwanese father and a Japanese mother, had originally signed with the powerhouse Yomiuri...

, Shigeo Nagashima

Shigeo Nagashima

is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager.Nagashima was by far the most popular figure in Japanese baseball during his career. His contributions to the development of the sport in Japan are immeasurable.-Biography:...

, Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano

is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...

, Hideki Matsui

Hideki Matsui

is a Japanese Major League Baseball designated hitter and outfielder. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed.After playing the first ten seasons of his career for the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, he played the next seven seasons, from 2003–2009, for the New York...

, and Kenji Jojima also contributed messages. Mizushima remains the oldest active manga artist to serialize on weekly publications, 13 years older than the next-youngest artist (Osamu Akimoto).

Works

Mizushima is known as an avid Hawks

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

The are a Japanese baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by the SoftBank Corporation.The team was formerly known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei bought the team from Osaka's Nankai Electric Railway Co., and its headquarters were...

 fan, and the title character of Abu-san spends his entire career playing for the Nankai Hawks team. Mizushima depicts real baseball players, coaches, and managers in many of his manga, and the events taking place within his manga often mirror those of the real Japanese baseball world, with his fictitious characters interacting with real existing players. However, non-Japanese baseball players ceased to appear in his works authored during or after the 1990s (with notable exceptions such as Rodney Pedraza and Bobby Valentine

Bobby Valentine

Robert John "Bobby V" Valentine is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is currently the manager of the Boston Red Sox. He previously managed the Texas Rangers and New York Mets as well as the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan...

, who make very brief appearances), after a non-Japanese player's agent demanded payment for using his client's name and image without permission. Because a single game can sometimes take months of serializations to complete, in certain scenes, Mizushima unknowingly changes the batting order and handedness

Handedness

Handedness is a human attribute defined by unequal distribution of fine motor skills between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous with the right hand is called right-handed and one who is more skilled with the left is said to be left-handed...

 of less important players. Another staple error in Mizushima's manga is consistency in the type of batting helmet used (the helmet covers the left ear for right-handed hitters, and the right ear of left-handed hitters).

List of major works

Listed alphabetically except for series works, which are listed chronologically.

• Abu-san
  Abu-san
  is a baseball manga by Shinji Mizushima that has been serialized in seinen manga magazine Big Comic Original since 1973. It tells the story of fictionall baseball player '. Despite enjoying a long serialization spanning over 30 years, it has received no anime or live-action adaptations. In 1977, it...
  
  
• Ace no Jyōken
• Alps-kun
• Dai-Kōshien
• Dantotsu
• Dokaben
  Dokaben
  is a baseball manga by Shinji Mizushima, serialized in Akita Shoten Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine from April 24, 1972 to March 27, 1981. Chapters of the series published in 48 Tankōbon volumes by Akita Shoten. It was later made into an anime by the same name...
  
  
• Dokaben Pro-yakyū hen
• Dokaben Super Stars hen
• Ganbare Drinkers
• Gokiburi Senpū
• Gokudō-kun
• Hakkyū no Uta
• Heisei Yakyū Soushi
• Hey! Jumbo
• Hikari no Kojirō
• I Love Baseball
• Itadaki yasubē
• Kusa-yakyū retsuden
• Kyūdō-kun
• Nakiwarai Banchō
• Niji wo Yobu Otoko
• Otoko do Ahou Kōshien
• Ikkyū-san
• Ohayō K-jirō
• Senpatsu Kantō
• Shōnen Bangaichi
• Stopper
• Tachimachi Haruta
• Tōchan no Ōshō
• Yakyū Taishō Gen-chan
• Yakyū Doahou-den
• Wakyū-ou Tora
• Yakyū-kyō no Uta
• Yakyū-kyō no Uta Heisei hen
• Shin Yakyū-kyō no Uta
• Zenikko

External links