Murasaki Yamada

Murasaki Yamada (やまだ 紫, Yamada Murasaki, born September 5, 1948), born as Mitsuko Shiratori, was a Japanese manga artist, feminist essayist and poet. She was associated with the alternative manga magazine Garo.

Murasaki Yamada
BornMitsuko Shiratori
(1948-09-05)September 5, 1948
Tokyo, Japan
Died(2009-05-05)May 5, 2009 (aged 60)
Kyoto, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Area(s)Manga artist, essayist, poet
Spouse(s)Chikao Shiratori

Life

She made her debut as a professional manga artist in 1969 in Osamu Tezuka's avantgarde magazine COM and had formal art training before becoming a manga artist.[1] When COM stopped being published, she started working for Garo magazine instead. Her first short story in Garo was "Aa Seken-sama" in 1971. For another short story, "Kaze no Fuku Koro", she won a Honorable Mention at the Big Comic Award associated with the Big Comic magazine.[2]

After this, she put her career on hiatus because of marriage and raising her children. She returned to Garo in 1978 and also started publishing essays, illustrations and poetry in literary magazines.[3] From 1981 until 1984, she published the feminist manga series Talk to My Back in Garo, which dealt with being a housewife, a failing marriage and the pressure of raising children.

Yamada ran for a seat in the 1989 Japanese House of Councillors election as part of the Chikyū Club political organization.

From 2006 on, she taught at Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga.[4] In 2007, she also moved to Kyoto.[3]

Yamada died at Kyoto Hospital on May 5, 2009, age 60, due to intracerebral hemorrhage.[5][3]

Style

Her works are described as being pictorial I Novels.[1]

Impact

Frederik L. Schodt regarded her work as particularly important because of the feminist message, rare in shōjo manga. Yamada influenced Hinako Sugiura and Yōko Kondō, her former assistants.[1] The three of them were referred to as the "Three Garo Girls" (ガロ三人娘 Garo san'nin musume).[6]

Works
Title Year Notes Refs
Aa Seken-sama (ああせけんさま) 1971 One-shot in Garo
Shōwaru-Neko (性悪猫) 1980
Talk to My Back (しんきらり, Shin Kirari) 1981–1984 A slice-of-life story about a mother and wife who realises her marriage is failing.
Serialized in Garo, published in 2 vol.
Translated into English by Drawn & Quarterly
Blue Sky 1992–1993 Follows a woman's life and struggles after she divorces.
Yume no Maigo-tachi: Les Enfants Reveurs (夢の迷子たち) 1995 with Yōko Isaka
Otogizōshi (御伽草子) 1997 A manga adaptation of Otogizōshi, a traditional tale.
Ai no Katachi (愛のかたち) 2004

Sources:[1][4][5]

References
  1. Frederik L. Schodt (1996). Dreamland Japan. Stone Bridge Press. pp. 155–159. ISBN 978-1-880656-23-5. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  2. "やまだ紫,漫画家,マンガ家,女性,詩人,性悪猫,しんきらり,ガロ,COM,年譜". やまだ紫,漫画家,マンガ家,女性,詩人,性悪猫,しんきらり,ガロ,COM,年譜 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  3. "やまだ紫,漫画家,マンガ家,女性,詩人,性悪猫,しんきらり,ガロ,COM,年譜". やまだ紫,漫画家,マンガ家,女性,詩人,性悪猫,しんきらり,ガロ,COM,年譜 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  4. やまだ 紫 (in Japanese). Kyoto Seika University. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  5. "Feminist Manga Creator Murasaki Yamada Passes Away". Anime News Network. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  6. Marca, Paolo La (2018-07-12). "La fidanzata di Minami, di Uchida Shungiku. La svolta pop di "Garo"". Fumettologica (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-01-21.
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