Kitaro is Immortal and Mizuki-sensei is Our Treasure

Translation by Harley Acres

I am of the generation that grew up watching the first Kitaro anime series (in black and white). Around the same time, I read Kappa no Sanpei serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday, read Garo in a doctor's office waiting room, and a few years later, I had the opportunity to experience Mizuki's seinen works for young adults through Big Comic, which had just been launched. ^[1] By the time I was over 10 years old, Shigeru Mizuki was already a popular manga artist, and rightly so. I liked his Kappa no Sanpei with its salaryman shinigami and his seinen stories. ^[2]

Needless to say, Gegege no Kitaro is the gold standard of yokai manga, and was probably the first work to show children all over Japan that there are so many different kinds of yokai. ^[3] The fact that it was conveyed through the medium of manga, and not through picture scrolls or novels, is of great significance.



Nowadays, we know of Konaki Jijii (子泣きじじい) and Sunakake Babaa (砂かけばばあ) as if it were a matter of course. Nurikabe (ぬりかべ) and Ittan-momen (一反もめん), azuki arai (小豆洗い) and abura-sumashi (油すまし), these are things that probably had their own territories and were spoken of only in specific regions, mountain roads, and riverside areas. I think this is what Gegege no Kitaro has accomplished. ^[4]

At the time, the "yokai boom" triggered by Kitaro led to the production of yokai movies, and shonen magazines ran numerous special features on yokai in their photogravures. Japanese children were taught the basics of yokai as naturally as drawing breath.

My favorite character in Kitaro is Nezumi Otoko. It was rare to find a character in a shonen magazine who could betray the main character so openly and repeatedly commit acts that could kill him, and still be allowed to continue to do so.

The level of Nezumi Otoko's betrayal in the stories in this volume is low, but among them, "Yokai Castle" (妖怪城/Yokaijo) is my favorite, which features that kind of Nezumi Otoko! This is my favorite of the stories in this volume. Kitaro, too, is unaffected, but he is also quite cruel in his dialogue, and once again, I was impressed by the unique tempo and fun of the story.

In the summer of 2008 (Heisei 20), through an acquaintance, I had the opportunity to visit Mizuki-sensei's workplace. I was extremely nervous. I'm not joking when I say it was like visiting God.

First, we were greeted by Mizuki-sensei's younger brother, who looked just like Mizuki-sensei, and ushered into a reception room filled with Kitaro character goods on display shelves and in glass cases throughout the room. When Mizuki-sensei himself came out into the room, which looked like a toy store from the Showa period, I was elated.



He autographed a copy of Gegege no Kitaro Yokai Daishu Map which had just been published around that time, and we listened to a story from his old acquaintance and Mizuki-sensei told us about how a manga artist must be sure to get enough sleep. ^[5] We also met his two daughters, who took time out of their busy schedule to come out to the back of the building to greet us, and we were able to meet his whole family.

I left the work place, went to the local Kitaro Road, took pictures of the Kitaro and Nezumi Otoko monuments, and went to the character goods corner of the department store in front of the station to buy a hand towel with Medama-Oyaji on it. I was so nervous that the day's events seemed like a daydream.

In 2000 (Heisei 22), I enjoyed watching the NHK TV series Gegege's Wife (ゲゲゲの女房/Gegege no Nyobo), partly because I was so happy to have met this family. ^[6] I was also happy to see that many of the war stories from the rental book era that were mentioned in the drama were released one after another, and I was able to read them. ^[7]

Gegege no Kitaro is a powerful series that is always talked about whenever it is remade into an anime or a movie. The fact that Gegege no Kitaro has been made into movies periodically after the "yokai boom" of the 1960s is an act of the creators who read Kitaro in their childhood and are passing it on to their children again. It is not just a matter of nostalgia for adults. A project is only successful if it is accepted by the children of the time. Children will continue to learn about yokai through Gegege no Kitaro, and it goes without saying that Mizuki's original yokai, such as Nezumi Otoko and Medama-Oyaji, are at the root of the appeal of his works. It is a mysterious, eerie, and fun world.

Gegege no Kitaro, which has been repeatedly revived over the past half century, is a immortal work, and Shigeru Mizuki-sensei, who is still active, is a treasure to us all.

Mizuki-sensei, please take good care of yourself, get lots of sleep, and stay well. We look forward to seeing your next work.

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Footnotes

• [1] Though she does not clarify it here, Takahashi has mentioned in a few interviews reading Garo in the waiting room of an otolaryngologist's office. She has also mentioned reading it in the waiting room of her father's medical practice, so these are likely the same place. She mentions this in "Examining the Source of Masterpieces! Rumiko Takahashi's History," "Ryoichi Ikegami Book," and "Angoulême Festival Interview".
• [2] Kappa no Sanpei (河童の三平) is a manga that follows a young human boy, Sanpei, who resembles a kappa (a mythological Japanese water creature). He befriends an actual kappa named Danpei and the two have various adventures. The series began as a rental manga (貸本版/kashihon) in 1961 and was eventually published a number of times including in Shonen Sunday frpm 1968 to 1969. The "salaryman shinigami" is Shinigami #106, a character that appears in both Kappa no Sanpei, Gegege no Kitaro and his own seinen series (Salaryman Shinigami/サラリーマン死神) in Big Comic in the late 1960s. Perhaps the financial-meets-shinigami world created by Mizuki would have some small influence on Takahashi's Kyokai no RINNE though she has never mentioned it as a particular influence.
• [3] For clarity sake to our readers, when referring to "yokai" (妖怪) in Rumiko Takahashi's work we use Viz's translated term of "demon". Mizuki's work always refers simply to "yokai" and that is the term which it is most strongly associated with. "Demon" is not always a perfect word to use in lieu of "yokai" but generally works well enough for series like Inuyasha where the creatures are plentiful and typically serve as fodder to be slaughtered en masse. However, to our readers who may be confused, the creatures in Mizuki and Takahashi's work are all referred to as "yokai" in the original Japanese.
• [4] Shigeru Mizuki is important not only for his manga, but for cataloging the folklore of Japan. Many, if not most, of the yokai that appear in his work are actual yokai passed down through oral tradition in many small towns and villages throughout Japan. Mizuki researched, noted, and illustrated these creatures and spent many years researching and cataloging these stories. Konaki Jijii (子泣きじじい) is a yokai that resembles a baby in size and shape but has the face of an old man. If you make the mistake of picking him up he'll grow heavier and heavier, clinging to you until you are crushed. Sunakake Babaa (砂かけばばあ) is a yokai that sprinkles sand on people that pass under torii gates. Nurikabe (ぬりかべ) is an invisible wall yokai that misdirects travelers and blocks their path. Ittan-momen (一反もめん) is a haunted strip of cloth. Takahashi created a similar creature in Kyokai no RINNE chapter 77. Azuki arai (小豆洗い) are known for the sound of washing beans in a basin, they are typically heard rather than seen, though for the rare person who has ever seen one they are said to look like little old men. Abura-sumashi (油すまし) is a yokai that is said to be the ghost of someone who stole oil, hence their name, "oil presser".
• [5] Shigeru Mizuki has often spoken of the importance of getting enough rest and states that regardless of deadlines he slept 10 hours a day. Many manga artists find this sort of luxury impossible and have to work for consecutive nights with no sleep. Mizuki wrote a short story entitled The Power of Sleep (睡眠の力) in which he confronted Shotaro Ishinomori and Osamu Tezuka about getting enough rest when both of them told him they had been awake for many days due to their deadlines. Mizuki commented that they both died relatively early (Tezuka was 60 when he died in 1989, Ishinomori was also 60 when he died in 1998). Shigeru Mizuki lived to be 93, passing away in 2015. Rumiko Takahashi has often spoken about her desire to do nothing but sleep when she has free time.
• [6] Shigeru Mizuki's wife, Nunoe Mura, wrote a book entitled Gegege's Wife (ゲゲゲの女房/Gegege no Nyobo) which was later adapted into a television drama and then live action film. The book detailed the couple's life together, their early struggles with poverty and later success.
• [7] Shigeru Mizuki wrote a number of autobiographical manga about his experiences during World War II where he had a hellish life while stationed in New Guinea. Mizuki lost his left arm during the war and upon returning to Japan wrote about his experiences in Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths (総員玉砕せよ!/Soin Gyokusai Seyo!) and Showa: A History of Japan (コミック昭和史/Komikku Showa-shi). Takahashi discusses the influence of Shigeru Mizuki on her own work with mystery writer Natsuhiko Kyogoku which can be read here.

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