page 1 of 2
| HOME | Go to Shigeru Mizuki Road, page 2 |
|
Shigeru Mizuki Road page 1 of 2 |
| Doge na kaina* *"Hello. How are you?" in Hamaben, a dialect of Sakaiminato. If you say this anywhere else in Japan, they will look at you very strangely. Shigeru Mizuki Road Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, 684-0025, JAPAN Tel. 0859-42-2171, Fax 0859-42-2172 (10-15 min. walk from JR Sakaiminato Station; 3-1/2 hours from Hiroshima or Osaka) Map of Sakaiminato (source: Sakaiminato Guide Book for Sight Seeing [sic] pamphlet, © 2005 Sakaiminato City[?].) Layout of Shigeru Mizuki Museum (source: back of museum flyer) Born March 8, 1922, Shigeru Mizuki (birth name Shigeru Mura) is best known for his drawings of yōkai (nature spirits and demons). This is especially amazing when you think he had to retrain himself to draw with his right hand (he was a lefty) after his left arm was blown off during a World War II air raid in Papua New Guinea. Besides his best-known manga GeGeGe no Kitarō, he has drawn other manga such as Akuma-kun (Devil Boy), Kappa no Sanpei (Sanpei the Kappa) (source: Amano, Manga Design, p. 488), and NonNonBā. He has received a number of awards, including Shiju Hosho Decoration (1991), Minister of Education Award (1996), Kyokujitu Sho Decoration (2003) (source: Sakaiminato Guide Book for Sight Seeing [sic]), and Best Comic (2007) for NonNonBā, the first manga to be the overall winner at France's prestigious Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême. GeGeGe no Kitarō used to be called Hakaba no Kitarō (Kitaro of the Graveyard). Kitarō was raised by the reanimated eyeball of his late father, and he grows up helping humans against evil monsters. Mizuki's stories were first drawn as kami-shibai, which before TV came along were picture card shows narrated by a storyteller who sold candy to the listeners. Later, the stories moved into rental (kashi-hon) manga, then into boys' (shōnen) comic magazines and animation (Natsuhiko Kyogaku, afterword to GeGe-no-Kitarō, by Shigeru Mizuki, trans. Ralph F. McCarthy, [Tokyo: Kodansha, 2002]). A live action movie opened April 28, 2007, and a second live action movie will be opening in summer of 2008 (Anime News Network, January 7, 2008). As you walk along Shigeru Mizuki Road, you might see costumed GeGeGe no Kitarō characters up and about. Take a picture with them. (Don't be shy like I was.) They also can be found at the Shigeru Mizuki Museum. The museum itself is small but fun. I don't remember if photos are allowed in the yōkai part of the museum (I don't have any), except maybe in the outside garden and in a room where there are photo ops with character cutouts. One room displays Shigeru Mizuki's collection of souvenirs from his travels around the world. If I were to revisit the natural port city of Sakaiminato where Shigeru Mizuki Road is, I would stay at least one night there to better enjoy the statues and to relax in the hot springs. According to a Sakaiminato sightseeing pamphlet, there is the historical/cultural Sea and Life Museum housed in a former sake brewery not far from the Shigeru Mizuki Museum. At Shofukuji Temple near City Hall, there is a bronze statue of Shigeru Mizuki, as well as a painting titled Hell and Paradise that aroused the manga artist's interest in yōkai as a boy. Then, I would buy something made from the region's traditional indigo-blue Kasuri fabric. LINKS Official Information Sakaiminato Guide for Sight Seeing [sic]. http://www.sakaiminato.net/site2/page/foreign/eng/ (English), http://www.sakaiminato.net/mizuki (Japanese) Sakaiminato Information Office for Tourists. Tel. 0859-47-0121. Shigeru Mizuki official Web site. http://www.mizukipro.com/ (Japanese only) Shigeru Mizuki Road map. (Click on black dots for photos of some of the yōkai along the route. The name of the yōkai is the last word in the file name. The numbers on my photos correspond with the numbers on this map, but I also have photos their map doesn't have.) http://www.sakaiminato.net/main/map/mizuki.html# Yonago Airport general information office. Tel. 0859-45-6123. Articles From "My Travelogue Manga of Japan (Sans Drawings)," by Kat Avila, Sequential Tart, May 2006: Thursday, 30 March 2006 Overnight lodging: Moroyoseo Youth Hostel (It has a kotatsu, which is like a table heater with a quilt covering.) From the train window, I see snow falling. SNOW?! In Sakaiminato, on the west coast of Japan, there is a road dedicated to Shigeru Mizuki, the creator of the supernatural manga GeGeGe-no-Kitarō. I remember watching the anime as a child. There are 100 bronze statues of "yōkai" (nature spirits) from the manga within the city. At a related museum, which is very entertaining, a kind staff lady snaps my picture in the garden with deep pink "sakura" blossoms behind me (a weeping willow-type of cherry tree). "Demon of a cartoonist: Fallen war comrades inspire my work," by Kenji Furudate, orig. pub. Shukan Asahi magazine, Asahi Shimbun, July 1, 2002. http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1202&Itemid=182 "Drawing on Experience" (Shigeru Mizuki interview), The Japan Times, February 6, 2005. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/member/member.html?fl20050206x1.htm "GeGeGe no Kitaro Live-Action Sequel to Open in Summer," Anime News Network, January 7, 2008. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-01-07/gegege-no-kitaro-live-action-sequel-to-open-in-summer NonNonBa manga review, The Comics Reporter, April 5, 2007 http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/eurocomics/8322/ "Shigeru Mizuki's Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro." http://www.anthja.com/aam2.html Related Info Gegege no Kitarō anime, list of TV seasons and movies. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1328 |
| YONAGO RAILWAY STATION (where you board the train to Sakaiminato) | |||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 kappa |
 fox (kitsune) |
 |
 Ratman (Nezumi-otoko) on vending machine |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
 train ceiling |
 |
 |
 |
||
| SAKAIMINATO RAILWAY STATION and SHIGERU MIZUKI ROAD | |||||
 entering Sakaiminato Railway Station from train |
 Shigeru Mizuki with Daddy Eyeball, Ratman, & Kitarō just outside the train station |
 Shigeru Mizuki with GeGeGe no Kitarō characters |
 1. Sanpei the Kappa (Kappa no Sanpei), kappa, and tanuki |
||
 2. Kitarō on mailbox |
 map of region |
 original drawing by Shigeru Mizuki |
 15. sandal spook (bakezōri) on a base of black granite |
||
 16. tofu shop boy (tōfu kozō) in the foreground |
 20. tsurube otoshi |
 |
 | ||
 38. long-necked monster woman (rokuro-kubi) |
 38. long-necked monster woman (rokuro-kubi) |
 sidewalk tile |
 40. dorotabō |
||
 51. Ratman (Nezumi-otoko) at Taisho River |
 51. Ratman (Nezumi-otoko) at Taisho River |
 49. Kitarō at Taisho River |
|||
 |
 barbershop along the road |
 |
 dragon (ryū) |
 sandal spook (bakezōri) |
 GeGeGe no Kitarō toy masks |
| HOME | Go to Shigeru Mizuki Road, page 2 |
Photos copyright © 2006 Kat Avila. All rights reserved.
