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Tetsuya Chiba
Orbiting Rumic World - File 1

By Harley Acres



Tetsuya Chiba, is the last of a golden generation of manga artists


Ashita no Joe
One of the most iconic manga of the 1970s, Ashita no Joe which featured the working class Joe Yabuki.


In order to fully understand Rumiko Takahashi and her contributions to the field of manga as a whole, you have to understand her place within that field, and that involves examining her influences, peers and followers. This is what Orbiting Rumic World is dedicated to exploring.

Born in 1939, Tetsuya Chiba, is the last of a golden generation of manga artists that included many late luminaries such as Osamu Tezuka, Shigeru Mizuki, Shotaro Ishinomori, Takao Saito and Fujiko Akatasuka. This generation of creators, born in the 1920s and 1930s and survivors of World War II laid the foundation for modern manga with their eclectic stories and artwork.

Tetsuya Chiba was born in the Akashi-cho neighborhood of Tokyo before moving in 1941 to Shenyang, Liaoning in Northeastern China which was then under Japanese occupation during the Second Sino-Japanese War. As the war concluded in 1945 the Chiba family (which included Tetsuya’s brothers and future mangaka in their own right Akio Chiba and Shigeyuki Chiba) returned to Japan. [1]

Like many manga artists of his era, Chiba entered the manga field through the kashi-hon (貸本) or “rental book” market. In 1955 at the age of 16, he was asked to illustrate pages from a manuscript given to him by a publisher. The process repeated, which Chiba believed was a test to attain a job. When he turned in the final set of pages the publisher paid him 12, 351 yen, a sum beyond what most recent college graduates were making at the time, and was a shocking amount to Chiba who was still in high school. [2] Many mangaka of this era flourished in the now nearly extinct rental book market which would eventually be overwhelmed as libraries slowly became more common and manga shifted to weekly magazines. The most iconic work to emerge from the rental market was Shigeru Mizuki’s Hakaba Kitaro (墓場鬼太郎/Graveyard Kitaro), the precursor to his iconic Gegege no Kitaro (ゲゲゲの鬼太郎). [3]

Chiba created female protagonists in the many shojo manga he authored
Chiba’s penchant for humble, working-class heroes had not yet coalesced at the beginning of his career. Instead, he created female protagonists in the many shojo manga he authored. In fact, the shojo comics market was deemed the easier market to enter at the beginning of Chiba’s career due to it being less established. [4] Consequently, Chiba transitioned from rental books into the modern age of magazine-based manga through shojo comics at Kodansha’s Shojo Club and Shueisha’s Shojo Book magazines. His most noted shojo work is Misokkasu (みそっかす), which follows the story of Akane, a country girl who returns to the city only to find herself out of step with society leading her to befriend social outcast Hidemaro and the giant St. Bernard named Chibi. Misokkasu would be the first manga of Chiba’s to be adapted into an anime, where it was renamed Akane-chan.

Tetsuya Chiba is an artist Rumiko Takahashi states her admiration for, citing a love of Ashita no Joe (あしたのジョー/Tomorrow's Joe), Chiba’s most iconic work which was created with writer Asao Takamori about the hard-scrabble boxer and his rival Toru Rikishi as they battle their way from poverty and obscurity through the heights of the Bantamweight division. [5] Ashita no Joe would become an iconic series embodying the turbulent 1960s as Japan’s leftist student movements saw Joe as the embodiment of the working-class hero. [6] [7]

After Ashita no Joe, Chiba became known for his sports-themed manga which includes his long-running sumo manga Notari Matsutaro (のたり松太郎/Carefree Matsutaro) which was a mainstay of Big Comic magazine from 1973 to 1998. Another series, Harris no Kaze (ハリスの旋風/Harris' Wind), is the story of a juvenile delinquent who’s rough and ready behavior makes him an ideal fit for his reform school’s various sports teams which come to rely upon him.

Notari Matsutaro
Tetsuya Chiba's Notari Matsutaro which ran from 1973 through 1998.


Ashita Tenki ni Naare (あした天気になあれ/Let’s Hope For Better Weather Tomorrow) was Chiba’s decade long (1981-1991) golf manga which ran in Shonen Magazine and became known for the catchphrase “Char Shui Men” (a seemingly non sequitur line about a noodle dish that helps the protagonist perfect the timing of his golf swing). Alongside Fujiko Fujio A’s Pro-Golfer Saru (プロゴルファー猿), Ashita Tenki ni Naare is often cited as popularizing golf among a younger generation of Japanese children in the 1980s. [8]

Misokkasu
Misokkasu is Tetsuya Chiba's most famous shojo series featuring country girl Akane's adjustment to life in the city.


A household name in the post-war manga world
These and many other hit series made Chiba a household name in the post-War manga world, and he became one of many influential figures in Rumiko Takahashi’s career. In one of her short stories celebrating 55 years of Tetsuya Chiba’s career, Takahashi relates meeting Chiba in 1996 when she was invited to his home. She recalls being overwhelmed by seeing his workspace and the huge painting of Joe Yabuki that adorned his living room. In this story Takahashi draws some of Chiba’s iconic characters that she has loved over the years. [9]

Years later, Chiba would return the favor and draw Renge Shima of Kyokai no Rinne as a tribute to Takahashi on the 35th anniversary of her career.







Footnotes

Harley Acres is an art history professor at Pikes Peak State College in Colorado Springs. Along with his brother, Dylan Acres, he is the co-founder of the Rumic World website.

Cover

Rumic World
Published: June 1, 2022
Author: Harley Acres
Translated by: ---
Archived: ---
ISBN/Web Address: https://www.furinkan.com/ features/articles/orbit1.html
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