Keiji Nakazawa

Keiji Nakazawa (中沢 啓治) is a Japanese manga artist and writer.

He was born in Hiroshima and was in the city when it was destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945. All of his family members who had not been evacuated died in the bombing except for his mother, and an infant sister who died several weeks after the bombing. In 1961, Nakazawa moved to Tokyo to become a full-time cartoonist, and produced short pieces for manga anthologies such as Shōnen Gaho, Shōnen King, and Bokura.

Following the death of his mother in 1966, Nakazawa returned to his memories of the destruction of Hiroshima and began to express them in his stories. Kuroi Ame ni Utarete (Struck by Black Rain), the first of a series of five books, was a fictional story of Hiroshima survivors involved in the postwar black market. Nakazawa chose to portray his own experience directly in the 1972 story Ore wa Mita, published in Monthly Shōnen Jump. The story was translated into English and published as a one-shot comic book by Educomics as I Saw It.

Immediately after completing I Saw It, Nakazawa began his major work, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen). This series, which eventually filled ten volumes (six volumes in the English translation), was based on the same events as I Saw It but fictionalized, with the young Gen as a stand-in for the author. Barefoot Gen depicted the bombing and its aftermath in graphic detail but also turned a critical eye on the militarization of Japanese society during World War II and on the sometimes abusive dynamics of the traditional family. Barefoot Gen was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama.

Nakazawa announced his retirement in September 2009 citing deteriorating diabetes and cataract conditions. He has cancelled plans for a Barefoot Gen sequel.

Works

 * Ano Machi Kono Machi (あの街この街)
 * Kuroi Chinmoku no hate ni (黒い沈黙の果てに)
 * Itsuka Mita Aoi Sora (いつか見た青い空)
 * Okinawa (オキナワ)
 * Kuroi ame ni Utarete (黒い雨にうたれて)
 * Geki no Kawa (ゲキの河)
 * Chinchin Densha no Shi (チンチン電車の詩)
 * Maboroshi no 36 Go (幻の36号)
 * Yūkari no Kinoshita de (ユーカリの木の下で)
 * I Saw It (おれは見た)
 * Kuroi Kawa no Nagare ni (黒い河の流れに)
 * Kuroi Hato no Mure ni (黒い鳩の群れに)
 * Ītama Ippon (いいタマ一本)
 * Aru Nichi Totsuzen ni (ある日突然に)
 * Chie to Danbira (チエと段平)
 * Aru Koi no Monogatari (ある恋の物語)
 * Ohayō (おはよう)
 * Yakyū Baka (野球バカ)
 * Ano Machi Kono Machi (あの街この街)
 * Guzu Roku Kōshinkyoku (グズ六行進曲)
 * Genkotsu Iwata (げんこつ岩太)
 * Hiroshima Kāpu Tanjō Monogatari (広島カープ誕生物語)
 * Aku Tarō (悪太郎)
 * Okonomi Yachi-yan (お好み八ちゃん)
 * Itsuka Mita Aoi Sora (いつか見た青い空)
 * Otoko Nara Shōri no Utawo (男なら勝利の歌を)
 * Karē Baka (カレーバカ)
 * Warera Eien ni (われら永遠に)
 * Susume!! Donganden (進め!!ドンガンデン)
 * Bōken Jijimu (冒険児ジム)
 * Kaijū Shima no Kessen Gojira no Musuko (怪獣島の決戦 ゴジラの息子)
 * Kuro Gaita Natsu (クロがいた夏)
 * Murasaki Shoku no Pika (むらさき色のピカ)
 * Barefoot Gen (はだしのゲン)