Tetsuya Mangaka Profile

Chiba • Name: ちばてつや Tetsuya Chiba

• Born: January 11th, 1939, in Tsukiji, Tokyo
• Debut: 1956 (17 years old), with Fukushū no Semushi Otoko (The Vengeful Hunchback).
• Main works: Ashita no Joe (with Asao Takamori), Notari Matsutarō, Ichi Ni San to Shi Go Roku,
Harris no kaze, Shidenkai no taka, Chikai no makyū (with Kazuya Fukumoto), Ore wa Teppei,
Ashita tenki ni naare.
• Awards: 3rd Kōdansha Children’s Manga Award (for Ichi Ni San to Shi Go Roku), 7th Kōdansha
Cultural Publishing Award – Children’s Manga Category (for Ore wa Teppei), 23rd Shōgakukan
Manga Award – General Category (for Notari Matsutarō), 6th Special Award of the Japan
Cartoonists Association (for Notari Matsutarō), Award of the Ministry of Culture and Sci-
ence, Medal With Purple Ribbon Decoration, Special Award for the 100th Anniversary of
Kōdansha – 33rd Kōdansha Manga Award.

• He was raised in occupied Manchuria. He
and his family could return to Japan only af-
ter it had lost the war.
• Two of his three little brothers are also very
well known in the manga industry. Akio
Chiba (1943-1984), was a famous mangaka
who created Captain and Playball (both
serialized in Shōnen Jump), among other
works. Tarō Nami (real name: Shigeyuki
Chiba, 1944), is a manga scriptwriter.
• Like many mangaka of his generation, Tet-
suya Chiba made his debut in the kashihon
(rental book) industry.
• During his first years as a mangaka, Chiba
created shōjo manga and he was the first
manga artist to sign an exclusivity contract
manga, is a warm comedy that features the
story of five children, who have lost their
mother, and their dog Roku (Six).
• ちかいの魔球 Chikai no Makyū (The Prom-
ised Pitch, with Kazuya Fukumoto, 1961-
62) was the first baseball manga to feature
“magic” shots and techniques.
• 紫電改のタカ Shidenkai no Taka (The Shiden-
kai’s Falcon, 1963-65) is the story of a young
pilot of a war plane during World War II.
• ハリスの旋風 Harris no Kaze (The Whirlwind
of Harris, 1965-67) was Chiba’s first sensa-
tional hit. It featured the adventures of a
misfit in the Harris School.
• のたり松太郎 Notari Matsutarō (Laid-back
Matsutarō, 1973-93, 1995-98) is the most

ちば
with a publishing house.
famous manga featuring sumo. Chiba still
• Although he is most
mo known for having creat- publishes new episodes from time to time.
ed the boxing manga
man legend あしたのジョー
• おれは鉄平 Ore wa Teppei (I am Teppei,
Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow’s
(To Joe, 1968-73)
1973-80) is another rendition of Harris no
with script writer Asao Takamori, Chiba has
Kaze.
many other famous works:
also produced ma

てつや
• あした天気になあれ Ashita Tenki ni Naare
• １・２・３と４・５・ロク Ichi Ni San to Shi
(I Wish We Have God Weather Tomorrow,
Masters of Manga Go Roku (One TwoT Three and Four Five
1981-91) is one of the better known golf

#3
Six, 1962). One o
of his better known shōjo
manga in history.

224

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Mangaka interview 漫画家インタビュー ちばてつや Tetsuya Chiba

T
etsuya Chiba is a very busy man despite his age, 71. Even though he has retired from For example, imagine a panel in which manga and we decided to take our sto-
writing manga, he keeps busy giving conferences, participating in symposia, and there is a boy walking. Just by seeing his ries, the same ones we had created for
teaching at Bunsei University of Art in Utsunomiya City, the capital of Tochigi Pre- clothes, you are able to know if the boy fun, to a kashihon manga publishing
fecture. I agreed to meet him one afternoon at the university where he is currently is rich or poor; depending on his posture, company. At first I was worried that they
you can see if he feels down in the dumps might not like my work. They agreed to
teaching manga art, and he had me interview him in front of his students. He thought my
or on top of the world. In short, you can do some “tests” with me, and one day
visit would make an original, inspirational class for them—and it sure did! Chiba is an excel- enter his world and empathize with him I found out that they had already pub-
lent speaker; from his words, more than one lesson on manga history or the creative process at first sight. I thought that paintings and lished my test story as a book. This is
of manga can be learned. Let’s see what he had to say: novels were great, but I found that man- how I made my debut. It was a big sur-
ga was even greater. I started imitating prise for me, because it was easier than
I’ve been creating manga for 53 or 54 years now. The Beginnings other artists and, after a while, I finally I had expected. However, as I tend to
When I began, the kashihon’ya business was in its found my own original style. work very slowly, and because I was still Anmitsu Hime, by Shōsuke

heyday, mainly in the working-class districts of big When I was little I didn’t know that there was a going to school at that time, it took me 3
Kurakane, one of the first shōjo
thing called “manga,” because during World War There are influences of nearly every- manga hits
cities. A kashihon’ya was a kind of rental book- body in me. If I saw something that I months to finish up that 120-page story. © 1949-55 S. Kurakane /
store from which you could take home a 120-page II I had been living abroad in Manchuria. It wasn’t Kōdansha
unti l after the war that I returned to Japan; this liked, I imitated it. At first, I admired
or so book for just three to five yen a day. There Shōsuke Kurakane, author of Anmitsu Shōjo Stories and
means that I got in touch with manga quite late,
were a lot of little publishing houses catering to Hime (Honey Princess). Then, my eye Exclusivity Contracts
these bookstores as well, and many manga artists, at the age of nine or ten.
turned toward Sōji Ushio, who wrote All the veteran mangaka, like Osamu
myself included, made our debut through them. I had always liked painting, creating stories and Osenchi Komachi, and, of course, Osamu Tezuka, Mitsuteru Yokoyama and No-
After working for roughly two years in this indus- composing poetry. I believe that we all feel at- Tezuka, Noboru Baba, and many other boru Baba, were working in the shōnen
try, some of the mainstream publishers—such tracted to something in our childhood. And then, artists after that.
when you read or see something that magazines. Well, I say they were “veter-
as Kōdansha, Shōgakukan or
Later, I realized that Sōji Yamakawa, ans,” but they were just 30 years old or
Shūeisha—began asking me When I discovered makes you feel special, that same thing
who was not really a mangaka, but an so; for a young person like me, anyway,
to work for them. manga, I saw that I had gives rise to some kind of emotion with-
in that makes you wish you could create author of e-mo- they were the big guns. Since it was their
I began writing shōjo manga, everything that was nogatari (illustra-
Shōnen Keniya, by Sōji Ya-
something similar. Paintings and stories that filled the pages of shōnen makawa. It is not a manga, but
mainly for a magazine called needed to create it ted stories) was magazines, it was very difficult for us an illustrated story
Shōjo Club. A little while af- As a result, novels are great, maybe the biggest © 1951-55 S. Yamakawa /
newcomers to get a spot in there. Sankei Shinbun Shuppankyoku
ter that, weekly magazines for boys were issued I dreamt of becom- but manga is influence I ever Then, editors began to realize that girls
as well and I started working for those too. Until ing a painter, even greater had. His stories wanted to read manga too and they de-
that moment, “manga” was something either for then a novelist with young main cided to publish comics in girls’ maga-
children or for grown-ups —but only in the form and finally a characters who have great adventures
poet, but I zines. But all the “important” mangaka
of political strips and satirical jokes. in the jungle had me enthralled. were busy writing comics for shōnen
Shortly after I had started working for Shōnen wasn’t lucky developed a great interest in movies magazines, so they decided to recruit
Magazine, there was a phenomenon: little kids with any of and I began reading e-monogatari, new talent. This is how people like Leiji
that had been raised with comics didn’t leave them those. manga, and novels—basically anything Matsumoto, Shōtarō Ishinomori, Fujio
aside as they grew up. This means that at some When I I could get my hands on. While having Akatsuka and myself began to be asked
point adults had begun reading manga as well. discovered fun, I “digested” and transformed those to draw for shōjo magazines. At the
This whole generation—a big chunk of the popula- manga, notions and influences into manga man- time, there were very few women creat-
tion in Japan, known as “the baby-boomers”—had however, I uscripts. So, at first I did manga just for ing manga, Hideko Mizuno and Miyako Fukushū no Semushi Otoko (The
continued reading comics as they grew older; so saw that I had fun. I had a friend who liked drawing as Maki among them. So, at first, most Vengeful Hunchback), Chiba’s
debut work.
manga had grown with them. Then, naturally, new everything that well. We’d show each other the stories shōjo manga was drawn by men. © 1956 T. Chiba / Shōwakan
magazines—what we call “seinen” manga maga- was needed to we had created and drew long stories Shoten
As I said before, I tend to draw very
zines—were created for and aimed at this genera- create it. I was together as a team. It was a hobby, noth-
drawn into manga slowly, and if they push me to do it fast-
tion. This is when I began working for them too. ing more than that. er my drawings become completely ru-
Finally, 6 years ago I accepted an offer from the because in just one Then we heard that you could ined. I wanted to have the time to con-
Bunsei University of Art to teach manga techniques panel you can create actually earn a living through centrate on only one story at a time. At
to the students enrolled in the Manga Faculty. and convey many things.

225 226

TetsuyaChiba.indd 225-226 23/08/2010 16:05:01

Mangaka interview 漫画家インタビュー
the time, there were not so many manga artists,
so all the publishers were constantly looking out
for new talents. When they saw a story they found
interesting, they would go after that author and
ask him to write for them. I found myself in the sit-
uation in which even though I couldn’t draw a lot
of pages a month, I had many requests from many
publishers. At that time, if an artist dared to say
“no” to a publisher, he was nearly finished. Refus-
ing an offer was like not wanting to have anything
to do with that publishing house ever again.
For instance, the Fujiko Fujio duo (Fujiko F. Fu-
jio and Fujiko Fujio Ⓐ) once went to their homes
in Toyama for New Year’s Eve and they really al-
lowed themselves to soak in the festivities: eating
hot mochi soup, relaxing under the kotatsu stove-
table and enjoying time with their families. Then,
the sheer exhaustion of that year fiercely came
out and they found that they were so relaxed that
they couldn’t even pick up a pen. So they missed all
their deadlines. Publishers got so angry and were
so disappointed in them that, as a punishment,
they weren’t
nsh
a
a, K
ōda
b
hi
C
T.
©
227
TetsuyaChiba.indd 227-228
given any more assignments for an entire year. So,
we were practically forced to accept offers and
finish them on time, even if that meant depriving
ourselves of sleep. You were not only supposed to
write short stories
or long series, but
If an artist dared to say
you were also asked
to do long supple-
“no” to a publisher, he
ments for the mag- was nearly finished.
azines. After a year
of working like crazy, I was really exhausted and
my drawings were horrible.
Then an editor of the first publishing house with
which I had signed an agreement came to me and
suggested that I sign an exclusivity contract with
them. They agreed to pay a basic fee that was
enough to cover minimum expenses. The work for
a mangaka was very unstable, but thanks to this
contract, I could relax and devote myself to only
one work at a time. Apparently, I was the first one
to agree to this type of contract.
Help me, Tokiwa-sō!
I was “canned in” for a long time by an editor
and I was very stressed out. He would come by
thinking that, since the day before I had seven
pages done, I would have at least ten done,
but then he’d find out that I actually had only
three pages ready. I do this all the time: I re-
write my pages, but this doesn’t mean that
I’m back-tracking. I need to be satisfied with
my work. That editor got really mad at me—
painfully so. He started yelling, telling me all
kinds of terrible things, and I had to beg him
for forgiveness.
My little brother Akio, who was helping me,
looked at me from behind the editor and was
making some winks. Then, he caught the editor! I
was very young, maybe 20 or 21, and I badly need-
ed to release some stress. So, I took the editor by
his legs and put my foot in his crotch (laughs).
Of course he was in pain, so he kicked me hard.
When I tried to grab onto something to avoid fall-
ing, I crashed into this big window and got cuts all
over. I got a big cut in my right wrist—I actually
cut a tendon—and all over my face, except for my
eyes, luckily. Of course, I wasn’t able to finish the
ちばてつや Tetsuya Chiba
installment and, what is worse, the manuscript I TV easily, and we can also attend sporting events.
had been working on got stained with blood. But you can’t draw about a sport if you don’t un-
The editor went pale because not only was I hurt, derstand it deeply.
but above all the installment was unfinished and I When I wrote Shidenkai no Taka, the story of
was clearly unable to get it done by the approach- a young pilot during World War II, I had to thor-
ing deadline. So we got together and decided to oughly research about the way young people of
ask the Tokiwa-sō members for help. Shōjo Club the time thought, about what they wore, and
editor Akira Maruyama ran up there and asked even about what they ate. It’s difficult to write
for their help. Shōtarō Ishinomori, Fujiko Akatsuka about historical subjects, and of course jidai-geki
and the others had more or less the same deadline (samurai stories) are no exception. We mangaka
as I had, but they worked faster need to do everything by ourselves,
and had just finished their own Not only was I hurt, but so each story has its own difficulty.
work. They were about to finally above everything the in- There is no easy subject in manga.
sleep after 3 days of working stallment was unfinished I like sports, though, both watching
non-stop when Maruyama told and doing them. I can put more of
them about my accident. They were reluctant at myself into a piece of work when I’m enjoying it,
first, but they finally accepted. I hadn’t met them so maybe this is why I find sports stories “easier”
yet, but as we were working for the same maga- to do than others. Mastering how to draw pos-
zine we had known each other’s names. It was a tures, actions, and body shapes through actually
very difficult job as my drawing style is so different performing the sport is a tremendous help. In the
from theirs, but Akatsuka said that we should help case of sumo, by the way, it’s especially compli-
each other since we were all in the same boat… cated. They fight almost naked, right? And the
and so they did. They spent another 2 days work- fact is that they look very fat, but in reality they
ing non-stop to finish it—I’ll never forget this. are very muscular; it’s a very special type of body,
Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to very difficult to draw accurately and realistically.
pay them back. I went to Tokiwa-sō several times Boxing was easier in that sense, as you can draw a
to visit them and I participated on some small slender body and enhance it with muscles
magazines they published. We would decide here and there. I’m not saying that it is
on a theme and draw about it. This way we completely easy, but it is certainly
could learn new techniques and expres- simpler than sumo. I had to go
sions from each other. to bouts and training ses-
sions more times than
©
So Many Subjects
T.
I can remember, do
C
hiba
many sketches of the
, Sh ō
All subjects are difficult; in manga,
wrestlers, and so on.
gaku
there is no easy subject. Nowadays
ka
n
we can watch many sports through
228
23/08/2010 16:05:13
Mangaka interview
Chikai no Makyū, the first “spe-
cial techniques” baseball manga
© 1961-62 T. Chiba, K. Fuku-
moto / Kōdansha
Shidenkai no Taka, a different
war story
© 1963-65 T. Chiba / Kōdansha
Harris no Kaze, the story of a
little misfit
© 1965-67 T. Chiba / Kōdansha
229
TetsuyaChiba.indd 229-230
漫画家インタビュー
Baseball and Devil Pitches
Chikai no Makyū (The Promised Pitch)
is known to be the first baseball manga
to feature “devil pitches” and special
techniques, a subject that became very
popular during the 60s and particularly
so during the 70’s. The term 魔球 makyū
(devil pitch) had already existed: there
was a player from the Chūnichi Dragons,
Shigeru Sugishita, who had introduced
the “forkball” (splitter) in Japan. He had
very big hands, so he could hold the
ball between two fingers and throw it
without making it spin. Nobody had seen
anything like it before, and so people
started calling it a “devil pitch”.
We simply used this notion in the man-
ga. Some of these ideas were imagined
by the script writer Kazuya Fukumoto,
but I expanded on them considerably
and also introduced my own crazy no-
tions. For example, there is this one
scene in which Fukumoto wrote some-
thing like “the character throws the
ball as a forkball and it suddenly disap-
pears.” The thing is that I took it literally
and really deleted it from the scene. He
liked this and soon we found ourselves
introducing more and more strange
techniques and pitches.
I wasn’t really familiar with baseball so
I didn’t really know the meaning of a ball
“disappearing” in midair. I thought that
having a ball look like it was five balls
would be cool. Had I known more about
baseball, I’m sure I’d have thought that
this was impossible, and I wouldn’t have
dared to create such a strange technique.
At the time, those that wrote manga
scripts were basically novelists or sce-
nario writers, so the scripts came as
texts, as if they were novels. Those
texts were very good, very interesting
by themselves, but if you tried to adapt
them to manga, you would get rather
dull stories.
I always thought of the scripts as the
Ashita no Joe
“ingredients,” and of myself as the
Among the most influential manga works of all time, there are two sports stories that became huge
“chef.” If I got a very good script, that is
hits and have spawned the creation of a whole new genre: the spokon or sports konjō (sporting guts).
to say, good ingredients, I would try to
Their very macho characters will do anything to be the best of their ability—even die, if they have to!
“boil” this, “simmer” that, “fry” that oth-
These works are Kyojin no Hoshi (Hoshi of the Giants / The Star of the Giants) and Ashita no Joe (Tomor-
er thing, “wash”
row’s Joe), and both of them were written by the same man: Asaki Takamori.
some parts, and I always thought
leave others raw. of the scripts as Between 1966 and 1973, Takamori had a incredible creative rush and he wrote, with different pen-
I always want to “ingredients”, names, three series that made history: Kyojin no Hoshi (1966-1971, as Ikki Kajiwara), Tiger Mask (1968-
get the most out and of myself as 1971, also as Ikki Kajiwara) and Ashita no Joe (1968-1973, as Asao Takamori). All of them were pub-
of each ingredi- lished in Kōdansha’s Shōnen Magazine and illustrated by different mangaka. Of course, these were not
the “chef”.
ent, cook them, the only series he created during his career, that abruptly ended in 1987 when he died at the very early
put them onto plates, and serve them in age of 50, but they are by far the most popular.
a way that they are delicious, nutritious, If Kyojin no Hoshi had become a phenomenon at the end of the 60’s, then Ashita no Joe was even more
and easy-to-eat. than that: it became the icon of a whole generation that remembers it with profound nostalgia. Some
polls even give this work, drawn by Tetsuya Chiba, the title of the “best manga ever.”
So, of course, as any good chef, there
were ingredients that I never used and Joe Yabuki is a young, very troublesome orphan who one day shows himself in a slum of Tokyo. There,
others I brought in myself from else- he gets into trouble with the local misfits and starts a flight. Danpei Tange, a drunken, bald, one-eyed
where. I’d add pepper, butter, whatever old man who has a horrible scar on his face, witnesses the whole thing and takes a great interest in Joe.
I thought was necessary. Scriptwriters Tange had seen his own promising boxing career truncated when he lost sight of one eye and thinks
would respect me and let me do my job that Joe can accomplish what he couldn’t. So he tries to convince Joe that he can train him, and Joe,
freely, without boundaries. who couldn’t care less about boxing, responds that he will train only if Tange pays him a daily salary. In
the next scene, Tange is working hard on a road construction site while Joe is busy spending the money
I think I was very lucky as I was able to
find very good “ingredients” from very on pachinko parlors and swindling others, instead of
training as he should be.
good sources, so I could concentrate on
“cooking” them my way. In my career, Then, Joe commits a fraud so big that the police find
this happened with Chikai no Makyū, it hard to ignore what he is doing any longer. They ar-
written by Kazuya Fukumoto, and Ashita rest him and send him to a reformatory. Tange desper-
no Joe, written by Asao Takamori. ately watches as his young, promising boxer is taken
away; but he does not throw in the towel. He sends
Joe a letter in which he gives Joe hints on how to train.
The first letter begins with the sentence “Ashita no
tame ni… (For tomorrow...)”—this is, of course, where
the title comes from. Joe rips the paper up, but later,
because of extreme boredom, he decides to mend the
letter and read it. Then, he discovers that, if he follows
Tange’s advice, he can gain some advantage over the
other inmates.
This marks the beginning of Joe’s amazing boxing
career, in which he will fight against powerful boxers,
© A. Takamori, T. Chiba / Kōdansha
© K. Fukumoto, T. Chiba / Kōdansha
like his sworn rival Tooru Rikiishi or the “last boss”,
the Mexican José Mendoza.
All in all, the 20 original volumes of Ashita no Joe
make up an amazing story that anyone even remote-
ly interested in the classics should read. Be warned:
there is a lot of male machismo that may seem weird
and outdated.
230
23/08/2010 16:05:17

Mangaka interview 漫画家インタビュー
Japanese Youths and the War
I experienced the war, but I was just a child at the
time, so of course I didn’t understand the battle.
Upon my return to Japan from Manchuria I began
researching about what had happened: why did
our country rush to war? Why did Japan become
so poor and ruined? Why did all this happen? I
began reading books and, with time, I understood
the politics and other matters that led the coun-
try to war. Thanks to some writings left by young
people, mainly testaments they wrote to their
parents, I had also grasped their way of thinking.
I’m talking about letters like “Father, mother, I’m
leaving now for the battlefield and I’m sure I’ll die.
But I hope you live long and healthy lives.”
With time, I felt I wanted to write about these
young men’s feelings. So I can’t say I created
Shidenkai no Taka (The Shidenkai’s Falcon) from
experience. I wrote it because I wanted to convey
what young people, who were more or less my
age when I started working on Shidenkai no Taka,
felt and thought when they went to war. Some of
them went so far as to become living bombs who
would crash into enemy ships with their planes!
I had letters, films, memorabilia—a lot of stuff. I
was so immersed in that material that I could to-
tally understand their thoughts and deeds and
felt the urge to write about them. By the way, a
“Shidenkai” was a Japanese war plane known in
the West as “Kawanishi N1K-J Modified.”
No More Mr.
Perfects!
During the
50s and most
of the 60s, the
main characters of
shōnen manga had to
be really handsome, in-
telligent, gentle with their
parents, honest,
and nice to their
friends—they had
to be really good!
sh
a readers if it’s too distant from what they expected
As if they were
an
d
Kō
perfect super-
a/
h ib
T. C
©
231
TetsuyaChiba.indd 231-232
© T. Chiba / Kōdansha
ちばてつや Tetsuya Chiba
men. They of course
needed to be very
good at sports, too.
The Pressure of Doing Manga
I wrote some man-
When I draw manga, I can’t help wondering: “Will readers understand what I’m doing?,” “Will I be able
ga like this: Chikai no
to get across the excitement of the story or the message I want to give?” This kind of pressure is what I
Makyū and Shiden-
usually feel along with the pressure of the deadline itself.
kai no Taka, for ex-
Once, I had a character who was almost as popular as the hero, but he had to die. I’m talking about
ample. But of course
Tooru Rikiishi, Joe’s rival in Ashita no Joe. I worked very hard on the details of that part of the story with
I also had to create
my editor, but when it was published I received countless letters and phone calls—it was amazing! Back
other characters: se-
then, manga magazines used to have the authors’ address in the margin of the pages, so readers from
condary characters
all over Japan called my house, even late at night. They’d say, “Why on Earth have you killed Rikiishi?”
and sidekicks. Some
or “How could you have such a crazy idea?” Everyone would give their thoughts of what they had read.
of them were scatterbrains, a little stupid, not ex-
Then I realized that readers took my works very seriously. Until that moment I had received many fan
actly handsome, full of flaws. I discovered that I
letters, so I was aware that there were people who seriously read what I did. But the reaction caused by
had more fun drawing these types of characters.
Rikiishi’s death was spectacular. They called my home or they even came all the way to my place.
That’s when it occurred to me: Why not create a
From that point on, creating manga made me feel weird. Of course I’ve never taken this job lightly,
manga whose main character was one of these
but in this case, readers were very young and pure of heart—some of them were children, too. These
good-for-nothings? The result was Harris no Kaze
stories were read by innocent, pure people and I realized just how big of an influence the stories were
(The Whirldwind of Harris).
having on them. For some time after, I was afraid of drawing manga.
Kunimatsu, the main character of Harris no Kaze, The publisher even asked me to attend a funeral for Rikiishi. Everybody there was really concerned. Some
eats his lunch as soon as he arrives to school, re- of the fans were even crying; others wore blacks suits, as if it was a real funeral. When I entered the place,
fuses to do his homework, gets into fights, and has a Buddhist monk came in and chanted a few sutras. I felt as if I had actually lost someone very special.
attitude with teachers.
Despite this, you still
can’t hate him because I didn’t have a clue
important if you don’t want to ruin it altogether. Thanks to Mr. Yoshida, that reminded me of
it’s obvious that he has a about how to wrap
Ashita no Joe up Kajiwara was really busy, had to travel a lot, and the scene I had forgotten, everything “clicked” at
very strong sense of jus-
was hardly ever in the country. So I had only one once in my head, and in a split second I imagined
tice that makes him help
chance to talk with him about the end over the the last scene in which Joe appears
people when they’re in trouble. He defies anyone
phone. I told him that I might very well change the completely white and
he thinks is not right, even knowing that he can’t
ending he had thought of. His answer was: “You’ve burned out. I’m
possibly beat him because of his short stature and
been changing things here and there all the time, very grateful to the
lack of muscle. I think that readers identified with
and NOW you ask for my permission!?” (laughs) editor in charge
him, they found him more “normal” and “easier
I didn’t have a clue, however, about how to wrap because, thanks to him, I
to identify with” than other manga characters.
it up. I imagined more than 20 different endings, could create a very
They got the message I wanted to convey all along:
but none of them satisfied me. Then, my editor, good ending for the
“even if you are basically a disaster, if you hang in
Mr. Yoshida, re-read the story from the beginning story, one that I’m
there, you can do anything!”
and he found a scene in which Joe had doubts sure neither me nor
The Ending of Ashita no Joe about why he was boxing. He pointed out that this Kajiwara would
scene might very well be the core of the story: Joe ever have
I was creating Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow’s Joe) come up with
compared his youth, his life, to something that
with scriptwriter Asao Takamori, and we had been on our
can “burn.” He looked at his empty, white hands
working on the story for more than five years. The own.
and said that he didn’t want to spend his life do-
ending of a storyline can very well jeopardize the
ing nothing. At least for one moment, he wanted
rest of the series, as you risk disappointing your
to “burn” fiercely with a red flash, burn himself
out completely to become white ash, and then to
or if they don’t feel satisfied with it, like “What?
ultimately disappear.
And that’s all!?” So I think that the end is really
© A. Takamori, T. Chiba / Kōdansha
232
23/08/2010 16:05:20
 Mangaka interview 漫画家インタビュー ちばてつや Tetsuya Chiba

To Sumo or Not to Sumo
Notari Matsutarō (Laid-back Matsutarō) revolves
around the sumo world. At first I didn’t have any
intention to create a manga about sumo! I was
asked to do a short story for Big Comic, a seinen
magazine. I had never created anything for this
kind of publication before, as I had mainly focused
on shōnen manga. I was, however, very eager to try
it. So when I had found a little time,
I decided to create this short story—
only one chapter, no more. I wanted
to do a story about this big, clumsy,
violent man who is a nuisance to his
family. When it was published, read-
ers liked the character a lot, so the
editors begged me to continue the
story for a little bit, just two or three
been working on it for more than 30 years (laughs).
When a character gets a life of its own, it escapes
the hands of its writer—it doesn’t belong to him
anymore…it belongs to his readers.
The Passion of Golf and Manga
I’ve played golf for many years. I consider it a
fi ght against yourself. Of course you have the
scores to care about, but you don’t
have a rival in front of you wanting
to beat you, as in boxing or other
sports. In this sense, it’s very dif-
ficult to write about golf, or at least
that’s what I thought at first. My
editor told me, however, that golf is
not only about the player, it is also
about man versus nature: the player
So, I agreed to at least research a little on the sub- can choose
ject. We went to PL Gakuen, this famous sports-spe- the best
cialized school in Osaka, because I knew they had a way to
very good golf club. We visited them and watched move
them train for a few days, and I suddenly realized ahead
that I had already got my main character: the club’s and per-
captain was this corpulent guy, who never said a fect what
word, but, curiously enough, people trusted him. they are doing.
I based my main character on him. That little trip It can be said
convinced me that I could write about the world that behind each
of golf, and that there were so many things I could and every manga
convey through this subject. I ended up working masterpiece, there
on Ashita Tenki ni Naare (I Wish We Have Good has always been
Weather Tomorrow) for more than 10 years. a good editor. I
think that this
I have to thank my editor for his insistence and
motivation. Editors are like the caddies in golf: is one of the
secrets behind
they give you pieces of advice, such as “Here, you

a
the success

© T. Chiba / Kōdansh
more episodes, because it was a pity versus the golf course. Good players should use this club” or “here you should hit the
go abroad all the time to take part in ball softer,” and so on. They are the first readers of of manga in
to end the story like that. I refused Japan.
at first because I needed to start the the many tournaments that are held the stories, and if they give good advice, mangaka
next manga after Ashita no Joe, but © T. Chiba / Shōgakukan all over the world. There are many
they finally convinced me to go on. diff erent courses and many rivals of
every imaginable race. There are also many types
Then, I thought that a good ending for the story
would be to have the main character quarrel with
a sumo wrestler. As a result of this, however, the
of clubs: the driver, the spoon, the brassy; irons
from one to nine; and then there is the pitching
wedge, the sand wedge, and more. The characters
Shikishi Time!
manga grew more and more popular. So, of course,
in a story need to master them all. My editor in-
editors wouldn’t let me end the storyline— under
sisted that, with all these elements, I could very
no circumstances! So, what was supposed to be
well create an interesting manga, and I could also
only a short story, first became a four-chapter se-
have fun in the process.
ries, then an eight-chapter series, and now I’ve
© T. Chiba / Shōgakukan

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