Osamu Tezuka (1928 – 1989) Japanese manga artist and cartoonist

Osamu Tezuka featured image
Osamu Tezuka featured image

Osamu Tezuka (手 塚 治 虫) (1928 – 1989), who was revered as the “god of manga and anime,” watched Bambi eight times until he had memorised every frame and dreamed of equaling or surpassing Disney realism in his animation production.

Man Responsible for Manga

Osamu Tezuka is the man most responsible for the rise of manga to its dominant role in postwar Japanese pop culture.

Tezuka had an insatiable intellectual curiosity encompassing science, history, religion, and space exploration.

Instead of stainless superheroes, Tezuka depicted fallible individuals who wrestled with guilt and responsibility, doubt and faith, death and rebirth. In the process, he proved that, through the manga medium, he could handle weighty themes and create complex characters as well as any novelist.

By decompressing storylines, Osamu Tezuka helped change the art of comics in Japan. Tezuka began drawing novelistic manga that was hundreds, even thousands, of pages long, and he incorporated different perspectives and visual effects—what became known as “cinematic techniques.” He was influenced by American animation in particular. Instead of using ten or twenty pages to tell a story as was common before, he began drawing novelistic manga that was hundreds, even thousands, of pages long. Other American artists, such as Will Eisner, had used cameralike effects a decade before, but mixing them with the decompression of story threads was a first.

Astroboy and family
Astroboy and family

Tezuka, however, was not only an uplifter but a populariser. A fan of Walt Disney animation–he saw Snow White fifty times and Bambi eighty times until he had memorised every frame–Tezuka adopted the round, cutesy Disney looks for his creations.

Background

Born in Osaka in 1928, Tezuka came of age in the U.S. – occupied postwar Japan. Raised in Takarazuka, the Hyogo Prefecture city where the famed TAKARAZUKA Revue Company is headquartered, Tezuka was also inspired by the troupe’s gaudy romanticism and spectacular staging. He later said that his Ribbon no Kishi (The Ribbon Knight), a pioneering manga for young girls, “describes my whole experience with Takarazuka.”

Tezuka, a physician from Osaka, published his first cartoon in 1946 while a medical student at Osaka University.

New Treasure Island

In 1947, Tezuka illustrated “New Treasure Island,” a story by Sakai Shichima about a boy on a Treasure Hunt. The manga book sold 400,000 copies, helping to spark a boom for the genre in Japan that persists to this day when a third of all books published are manga.

Creator of Astroboy and Kimba the White Lion

First serialised in 1952, Astro Boy, the Pinocchio-like robot, is set in the future world of the 21st century. The manga depicts the trials and tribulations of a robot boy, beginning with his creation in the Science Ministry located in Takadanobaba, where Tezuka Productions has been established since 1976. Astroboy attempted to reconcile humans and their warring machines. The animated film version was shown on Japanese TV in the 1960s and the 1980s. It was also shown in the United States.

Kimba White Lion Wall Painting
Kimba White Lion Wall Painting

Jungle Taitei told the story of a young lion named Kimba. Kimba, the orphaned lion, sought peace between man and the animal world. He goes into exile after the murder of his Father and later returns to overthrow his father’s killer, his Uncle. Disney, however, denied ripping off the manga and the TV show, which was broadcast in the United States in 1966. Ironically, Tezuka borrowed heavily from Disney. One of his favourites was Disney’s round faces.

Integration between comics and television

Tezuka started experimenting with ongoing integration between comics and television, with significant implications for the development of computer animation. He reduced the number of drawings per second to a maximum of five, and he both simplified and speeded up the whole montage process, putting for the first time into practice the multi-media approach employed today.

“Tezuka’s philosophy was expressed in all his works,” “He revered life. Astro Boy always fights for what’s right. Kimba is a lion form of Astro Boy; he’s against the law of the jungle. He says we need to have peace.” A message that is so desperately needed in the world today.

Sources

Schodt, F. L. (2012). Dreamland Japan: Writings on modern manga. Stone Bridge. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3nxT0wm.

Japanese Design & Culture

  • Japonisme – a French interpretation of a Japanese aesthetic

    Japonisme – a French interpretation of a Japanese aesthetic

    A French term used to describe a variety of European borrowings from Japanese art was Japonisme. With the opening of trade with Japan following the expedition of the American Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853. The interest in Japanese art in the West, particularly in France, had started to develop. The artist Félix Bracquemond, a friend…


    Learn More →

  • Masakichi Awashima (1914 – 1979) Japanese Glassware Designer

    Masakichi Awashima (1914 – 1979) Japanese Glassware Designer

    After studying design at the Japan Art School in Tokyo, Awashima worked for artisan Kozo Kagami, who had studied Western glass methods in Germany from 1935 to 1946. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Naoto Fukasawa ( b.1956) Japanese product designer

    Naoto Fukasawa ( b.1956) Japanese product designer

    Fukasawa is well-known for his designs and design theories, endowed with a quiet strength that represents people’s dreams and expectations. Conveying them using such terms as “design dissolving in behaviour”, “centre of consciousness”, “normality”, “outline”, and “archetype”, he continues to put these philosophies into practice in his designs.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Makio Hasuike Japanese (b.1938) Japanese Industrial Designer

    Makio Hasuike Japanese (b.1938) Japanese Industrial Designer

    Hasuike founded his firm in Milan after studying architecture and industrial design in Tokyo and working for Seiko for a year. He has designed for various well-known brands, including Gaggia coffee machines, Panasonic electronic items, Villeroy & Boch sanitary ware and tableware, Grand Gourmet kitchen knives (1994), and WMF cookware. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Introducing Kazuhide Takahama (b.1930) Japanese Designer

    Introducing Kazuhide Takahama (b.1930) Japanese Designer

    At the X Milan Triennale exhibition in 1954, he met the furniture manufacturer, Dino Gavina, who subsequently invited Takahama to work for him in Italy. Takahama’s first design for Gavina was the geometrically severe Naeko sofa-bed (1957). Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Japanese Flower Arranging

    Japanese Flower Arranging

    The arrangements of flowers offer far more than a pattern employing flowers and foliage neatly distributed in an appropriate container. Not only is it a form of relaxation, but flower arrangement reawakens an awareness of nature upon which a philosophy – that of restraint and simplicity — is based.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Hello Kitty a Japanese media franchise

    Hello Kitty a Japanese media franchise

    When the Japanese company Sanrio first launched “Hello Kitty” in 1974 as a greetings card for children, this patented brand cartoonlike image of a cat (a lucky emblem in Japan) was applied to over 1,000 products ranging from domestic appliances, computer keyboards, personal stereos, and credit cards to sweet wrappers, T-shirts, and eyelash curlersRead More…


    Learn More →

  • Noguchi lamp space without clutter

    Noguchi lamp space without clutter

    Isamu Noguchi designed the first of his lamps to be produced by traditional construction methods in Gifu, Japan, known for its manufacture of lanterns and parasols made from mulberry bark paper and bamboo. Akari is handcrafted with washi paper from the inside bark of the mulberry tree and bamboo ribbing stretched across sculptural moulded wood…


    Learn More →

  • Fujina – Japanese Folk Pottery

    Fujina – Japanese Folk Pottery

    Fujina pottery is made at Matsue, Shimane. 19th-century products include bluish-green tea bowls and white, yellow, or bluish-green domestic pottery. Later urban work promotes folk art.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017), Japanese textile designer and producer

    Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017), Japanese textile designer and producer

    Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017) was a Japanese textile designer and producer born in Kiryu, Gunma. As the sixth generation of a mill-owning family, Arai grew up with fabrics being woven for obis and kimonos. He held traditional weaving methods in high regard and the skills that only the human hand can have in the…


    Learn More →

  • Oki Sato (b.1977) – Explores all Facets of Design

    Oki Sato (b.1977) – Explores all Facets of Design

    Oki Sato, a Canadian-born Japanese designer, was born in 1977 in Toronto, Canada. He received his M.Arch. from Waseda University, Tokyo, in 2002 and established his design studio, Nendo, in 2002. Nendo is renowned for its minimalist products that challenge user preconceptions of what an object should be or look like. The Sawaru lamp is…


    Learn More →

  • Arata Isozaki (b. 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer

    Arata Isozaki (b. 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer

    Arata Isozaki is a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Hayama’ bar cabinet inspired by Japanese Kimonos

    Hayama’ bar cabinet inspired by Japanese Kimonos

    Featuring the same oblique form and lacquered finish as the sideboard, the bar cabinet sports cannete-effect doors, a mirrored interior that gives greater depth to the space, a glass shelf for bar accessories, and two drawers and two side compartments, which are perfect for storing cocktail paraphernalia.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Osamu Tezuka (1928 – 1989) Japanese manga artist and cartoonist

    Osamu Tezuka (1928 – 1989) Japanese manga artist and cartoonist

    OSAMU TEZUKA, who was revered as the “god of manga,” watched Bambi eighty times, until he had memorised every frame, and dreamed of equaling or surpassing Disney realism in his own animation.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Exploring the Life and Legacy of Shiro Kuramata (1934 – 1991)

    Exploring the Life and Legacy of Shiro Kuramata (1934 – 1991)

    Shiro Kuramata is a Japanese interior and furniture designer who has executed many interiors for Issey Miyake shops. His best-known pieces are his glass chair (1976) and homage to Hoffmann, Begin the Beguine (1985). His interior designs make use of expanded lattice metal and moiré effects. His portfolio includes furniture in irregular forms and large…


    Learn More →

  • The Timeless Beauty of Traditional Japanese Furniture

    The Timeless Beauty of Traditional Japanese Furniture

    Traditional Japanese Furniture Traditional Japanese furniture is known for being simple and useful. It is often used for eating, teaRead More →


    Learn More →

  • Shoji Hamada (1894 – 1978) Japanese Potter

    Shoji Hamada (1894 – 1978)  Japanese Potter

    Shoji Hamada, along with Bernard Leach, was one of the key figures in the development of studio pottery in the 20th century. His influence both in England and the US as well as in his native Japan cannot be underestimated. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Ikko Tanaka (1930 -2002) 🇯🇵 Graphic Design blend of East and West

    Ikko Tanaka (1930 -2002)  🇯🇵 Graphic Design blend of East and West

    Ikko Tanaka was a Leading Graphic Designer in Japan. He had an enormous impact on the post-war visual culture in Japan.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • RIP – Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer, dies 84.

    RIP – Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer, dies 84.

    Issey Miyake died on August 5, 2022, in a Tokyo hospital of liver cancer. He founded the Miyake Design Studio in 1970.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Masakazu Kobayashi (b.1944) Japanese textile designer

    Masakazu Kobayashi (b.1944) Japanese textile designer

    Masakazu Kobayashi studied at the University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan. He manifested traditional textile techniques and aesthetics in his work. Between 1966 and 1975, he worked as a textile designer for Kawashima. His 1982 fabric evoked komon, a textile dyeing technique which uses paper patterns with small motifs.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Japan Advertising Artists Club pioneer of Japanese Graphic Design

    Japan Advertising Artists Club pioneer of Japanese Graphic Design

    In the 1960s, the JAAC’s philosophy came under fire for being overly reliant on exhibitions as a platform for innovative ideas. Furthermore, during the turbulent 1960s, a perceived emphasis on aesthetics at the expense of social significance, combined with allegations of elitism, led to the organisation’s disbandment in 1970.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Yoshitomo Nara (b.1959) Japanese Artist and Designer

    Yoshitomo Nara (b.1959) Japanese Artist and Designer

    Nara grew up in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, about 300 miles north of the Tochigi Prefecture. His exposure to Western music on the American military radio station Far East Network in Honshu influenced his artistic imagination early. Later, he would provide cover art for bands including Shonen Knife, R.E.M., and Bloodthirsty Butchers.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Poster for Nikon (1957) by Yusaku Kamekura

    Poster for Nikon (1957) by Yusaku Kamekura

    Yusaku Kamekura’s poster emphasises the brilliance and clarity attained with the Nikon lens and the technical perfection of his client’s camera by using brilliant optical patterns and powerful, white letter-forms against an intensely dark background. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Soichiro Sasakura (b.1949) Japanese Glassware Designer

    Soichiro Sasakura (b.1949) Japanese Glassware Designer

    He worked for Sasaki Glass, for which he designed the 1988 San Marino glassware range.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929 – 1995) Japanese Textile Designer

    Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929 – 1995) Japanese Textile Designer

    Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929- 1995) was a Japanese textile and graphic designer: born in Kyoto. He was considered the first Japanese textile designer to be recognised for contemporary design rather than for traditional art and craft. The main characteristic of his work was over sized motifs.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Ukiyo​-e, Pictures of the floating world

    Ukiyo​-e, Pictures of the floating world

    Ukiyo-e, translated as “pictures of the floating world,” has captured wisps of the natural beauty that one sees every day. These prints are a record of 18th and 19th-century life in Japan and had a profound effect on the great Western artists of the time.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Hiroshi Yamano – Exquisite Japanese Glass Designs

    Hiroshi Yamano – Exquisite Japanese Glass Designs

    Kiroshi Yamano is a Japanese Glass Designer. He studied at the Tokyo Glass Crafts Institute to 1984 and Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, to 1989. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Toshiyuki Kita (b.1942) Japanese Furniture and Interior Designer

    Toshiyuki Kita  (b.1942) Japanese Furniture and Interior Designer

    He set up his own design office in Osaka in 1964; in 1969, he began designing furniture for Italian and Japanese firms; he collaborated with Silvio Coppola, Giotto Stoppino, and Bepi Fiori for Bernini. He is best known for the 1980 Wink articulated armchair produced by Cassina, which took four years to design; Read More…


    Learn More →

  • Katsuji Wakisaka ( b.1944 ) 🗻 Japanese Textile Designer

    Katsuji Wakisaka ( b.1944 ) 🗻 Japanese Textile Designer

    Katsuji Wakisaka is a Japanese textile designer. Between 1960 -1963 he studied textile design in Kyoto.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) American sculptor and designer.

    Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) American sculptor and designer.

    Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), was an American sculptor and designer. He was born in Los Angeles and professionally active in New York. He was influential and well-received in the twentieth century. He produced sculptures, gardens, furniture and lighting designs, ceramics, architecture, and set designs throughout his lifetime of creative experimentation. His work, both subtle and bold,…


    Learn More →

  • Suehari Fukami (b.1947) Japanese Studio Potter

    Suehari Fukami (b.1947) Japanese Studio Potter

    Suehari Fukami (b.1947) is a Japanese studio potter based in Kyoto. He works in the bluish-white porcelain known in Japanese as seihakuji, developed in the Song dynasty JINGDEZEN wares. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Netsuke – Small Mythological carvings from Japan

    Netsuke – Small Mythological carvings from Japan

    Netsuke: A little Japanese sculptured item of ivory, wood, or porcelain that ranges in height and width from one-half to three inches. Mythological images, flowers, animals, gods, and goddesses are among the carvings. Netsuke pieces were initially employed as toggles in the fourteenth century. A cord was slipped under and over the obi and through a…


    Learn More →

  • Listening to Stone (paperback) – Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi

    Listening to Stone (paperback) – Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi

    A master of what he called “the sculpturing of space,” Isamu Noguchi was an essential figure for modern public art. Noguchi, born to an American mother and a Japanese father, never felt at home anywhere and spent his life creating identities through his sculptures, monuments, and gardens. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Susumu Ilkuta Japanese Ceramicist

    Susumu Ilkuta Japanese Ceramicist

    He worked as a fashion designer in Tokyo. In 1958, he moved to New York at the invitation of hatter Lilly Daché. He studied ceramics in night classes in New York. In 1973, he returned to Japan, where he studied with Kohbei and painted on unfired porcelain.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Black Wire Chair by Oki Sato

    Black Wire Chair by Oki Sato

    Oki Santo designed this chair; it was a part of a series called Thin Black Lines. The series includes a chair and clothes rack intended to appear as sketches in the air or calligraphy symbols. Thin black lines like the traces of sketches drawn in the air made transparent surfaces and volumes appear, which we…


    Learn More →

  • Etsuko Nishi (b.1955) Japanese Glass Designer

    Etsuko Nishi (b.1955) Japanese Glass Designer

    Etsuko Nishi is a Japanese Glass Designer. She is a leading expert in pâte de verre, one of the oldest and most difficult glass-making forms. The desired shape is first made of clay, which is used as the basis for the mould. The glass powder is then mixed with a special type of paste, and…


    Learn More →

  • Teruo Yamada (b.1945) Japanese Glassware Designer

    Teruo Yamada (b.1945) Japanese Glassware Designer

    His work was shown at 1980 ‘Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition,’ Tokyo; 1981 and 1990 ‘Glass in Japan,’ Tokyo; 1985 ‘New Glass in Japan,’ Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe; 1987 ‘The Art of Contemporary Japanese Studio Glass,’ Heller Gallery, New York; 1991 (V) Triennale of the Japan Glass Art Crafts Association, Heller Gallery.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Dorodango Japanese polished dirt balls

    Dorodango Japanese polished dirt balls

    The hand-rolling of this soil-based mixture can be relaxing and comfortable to do. Dorodango is not without its difficulties and needs a high degree of skill, patience and concentration. Given the fragility and inclination of the dorodango to break, the perfectly formed ball is elusive. It can also be a challenging process to achieve the…


    Learn More →

  • Yūsuke Aida (1931 – 2015) – Japanese ceramics & industrial designer

    Yūsuke Aida (1931 – 2015) – Japanese ceramics & industrial designer

    Yūsuke Aida (1931-2015) – Japanese ceramics designer and industrial designer. He studied town planning at Chiba University and ceramics under Ken Miyanohara. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Yuri Masaki Japanese glass designer

    Yuri Masaki Japanese glass designer

    Yuri Masaki is a Japanese glass designer she was president of the Masaki Glass and Art Studio. Her work was included in 1987 and 1990…Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Sori Yanagi – Japanese Industrial Designer

    Sori Yanagi – Japanese Industrial Designer

    Sori Yanagi (1915-2011) was an industrial designer from Japan. Although previously trained as a fine artist and worked in an architectural studio, Yanagi went on to study industrial design in 1947.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Fujiwo Ishimoto Japanese born textile & ceramic designer

    Fujiwo Ishimoto Japanese born textile & ceramic designer

    The natural world and its phenomena influence Ishimoto’s works. His designs have basic forms that are coupled with vibrant exterior constructions and lavish ornamentation. Ishimoto has won the State Industrial Arts Prize, the Kaj Franck Design Prize, and Honourable Mentions at the Finland Designs show in 1983, 1989, and 1993, among other awards. He was…


    Learn More →

  • Jiro Kosugi (1915 – 1981) Japanese Industrial Designer

    Jiro Kosugi (1915 – 1981) Japanese Industrial Designer

    After WWII, he worked as an independent designer, designing a series of three-wheeled trucks for the Toyo Kogyo Company (now Mazda) in Hiroshima, which he worked on from 1948 until 1960. These designs were trendy since they were both practical and reasonably inexpensive to purchase. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Kansei Engineering Applied to Design

    Kansei Engineering Applied to Design

    A conceptual dimension in web design, development and thinking is called “Kansei engineering” a deeply held philosophy that every web site should be designed and developed to provide strong emotional as well as functional satisfaction to its user.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Harue Koga delightful illustrations and paintings ♥︎

    Harue Koga delightful illustrations and paintings ♥︎

    . He dropped out of junior high school to pursue a career as a painter, and in 1912, he relocated to Tokyo. He studied at the Taiheiyoga-institute kai’s and then the Japan Watercolor Painting Society’s institute. Koga became a priest in 1915 and studied Buddhism at Taisho University. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Photos of Japan’s Okayama Castle Showcase Its Enchanting Beauty

    Photos of Japan’s Okayama Castle Showcase Its Enchanting Beauty

    From its ancient temples and breathtaking nature to its colorful city life, Japan is full of wondrous beauty. Photographer Yukari Mitani travels around his home country snapping and sharing photos of some of its most charming locations. His most recent adventure brought him to the historic Okayama Castle in the city of Okayama, where he captured its beauty…


    Learn More →

  • How High the Moon armchair (1986) by Shiro Kuramata

    How High the Moon armchair (1986) by Shiro Kuramata

    Shiro Kuramata’s inventive transformations of everyday industrial materials, including steel mesh, terrazzo, corrugated aluminium, and steel cables, pushed material technology to new design limits. Read More >Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Yohji Yamamoto (b.1943) Japanese Fashion Designer

    Yohji Yamamoto (b.1943) Japanese Fashion Designer

    Yohji Yamamoto fashion is exemplified by ease and wearability. READ MORE about this innovative radically different Japanese Designer.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Japanese Shower Curtain – Sakura Bloom Design

    Japanese Shower Curtain – Sakura Bloom Design

    The cherry blossoms, known as sakura in Japan, are well known for their radiant, delicate, and fleeting beauty. However, the sakura are more than just beautiful trees; they have deep roots in Japanese history, culture, and identity.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Hinoki Wood Bath Mat

    Hinoki Wood Bath Mat

    Turn your bath into a zen retreat with this handcrafted hinoki wood bath mat. Native to central Japan, hinoki wood is known for its light hue, incredibly soft feel, and aromatic scent. You heard right – when wet, hinoki wood releases a scent that’s both therapeutic and calming. Trust us, and the scent is heavenly.Read…


    Learn More →

  • 6 Works That Explain Yayoi Kusama’s Rise to Art World Stardom

    6 Works That Explain Yayoi Kusama’s Rise to Art World Stardom

    In 1965, Kusama erected the first of her now-famous immersive environments. Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field (Floor Show) fused her interests in repetition, sexual exploration, psychology, and perception by filling a roughly 25-square-meter mirrored room with a thick carpet of soft, twisting phalluses camouflaged in the artist’s signature polka dots.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Japanese Cast Iron Teapots

    Japanese Cast Iron Teapots

    Iron kettles are used to boil water for tea preparation in the Japanese Way of Tea. Iron kettle casting with sand moulds has a long tradition in Japan, dating back to the Heian and Kamakura times.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Osamu Tezuka book collection – the godfather of Japanese Manga comics

    Osamu Tezuka book collection – the godfather of Japanese Manga comics

    Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) is widely regarded as the godfather of Japanese manga comics. He originally wanted to be a doctor and earned his degree before turning to what was then a children’s medium. Among his many early masterpieces was the Astro Boy series, which was popular in the United States.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Japan from Anime to Zen: Quick Takes on Culture, Art, History, Food . . . and More

    Japan from Anime to Zen: Quick Takes on Culture, Art, History, Food . . . and More

    This user-friendly guide demystifies more than 85 facets of ancient and modern Japan in a succinct yet informative manner. Depending on the situation, it can be read in order or only dipped through. Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Ukiyo-e inspired gifts – available now

    Ukiyo-e inspired gifts – available now

    Ukiyo-e is a Japanese art form that flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of female beauties, kabuki performers, and sumo wrestlers, historical and folk tale scenes, travel scenes and landscapes, flora and fauna, and erotica, among other subjects. “Pictures of the Floating Planet” is how the word…


    Learn More →

  • Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master (DESIGN)

    Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master (DESIGN)

    Tanaka Ikko (born 1930 in Nara) is a well-known master of graphic design. His work combines influences from the East and the West, acknowledging the vocabulary of European Modernism while remaining distinctively Japanese.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Utagawa Hiroshige Art that Impressed the Impressionists

    Utagawa Hiroshige Art that Impressed the Impressionists

    It is a tribute to the sheer loveliness of “Hiroshige: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo,”  These luscious ukiyo-e prints of 19th-century Japan that coloured the course of French Impressionism, and thus, Western art. The prints are ensconced in pink, blue and white galleries that use arboreal motifs blossoms and branches.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Japan Style: Architecture + Interiors + Design (hardcover)

    Japan Style: Architecture + Interiors + Design (hardcover)

    Japanese homes speak to the soul and provide a contemplative environment from which to experience the world.Read More →


    Learn More →

  • Kimono, Vanishing Tradition: Japanese Textiles of the 20th Century

    Kimono, Vanishing Tradition: Japanese Textiles of the 20th Century

    Kimono, Vanishing Tradition: Japanese Textiles of the 20th Century. The lovely design of this revised 2nd edition also renders it a “coffee table worthy” purchase or gift. The subject is particularly timely now—since although people have been talking about the Japanese “vanishing” kimono tradition” for years, the most wondrous of the vintage garments from 1970s…


    Learn More →

You may also enjoy

Japan from Anime to Zen: Quick Takes on Culture, Art, History, Food . . . and More – Encyclopedia of Design

by David Watts Barton This user-friendly guide demystifies more than 85 facets of ancient and modern Japan in a succinct yet informative manner. Depending on the situation, it can be read in order or only dipped through. From geisha to gangsters, haiku to karaoke, the sun goddess to the shogunate…

Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks: 1680 – 1900 – Encyclopedia of Design

A picture is worth a million words… At least that is how people feel when viewing illustrations by a mysterious Japanese performer Avogado6 . The illustrator and movie editor doesn’t share many personal facts about his life.

Erwin Komeda (1904 – 1966) Austrian Automobile Designer

Erwin Komenda (1904 – 1966) was a Austrian automobile designer for Daimler Benz, responsible for car body development. In 1934, he joined Ferdinand Porsche’s design bureau in Stuttgart and began work on the styling of the Volkswagen, the people’s car. Porsche designed the vehicle itself.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.