If you've hung around this site over the years-first, thank you, and second, you'll know that when my birthday comes a knockin' it's the fans who get the gift. This time, we have a translation of an interview held with one of the Sunday masters, Kazuhiro Fujita! The timing is perfect as volume two of his current work Silver Mountain, will be out a few days after my day of birth. Silver Mountain is doing really well in Japan, and is definitely worth a read. For more info on that, check out our initial preview of the series!
F: I loved drawing as a child, so I often drew Ultraman and Kamen Rider on the back of fliers and things in crayon. I believe I kept on drawing due to the nature of living in Hokkaido. Winters in Hokkaido are long, and back then in Ashikawa, there was always snow somewhere for half the year. It may even be that way now, but in such a frigid place, naturally, one would stay inside and draw.
In any case, please enjoy the interview. As always, please do not repost without express permission. Thank you.
Due to this interview's length, I'll be splitting it into three parts. I hope to have the next one up in a week or so.
Originally posted here
Since debuting in 1988, Kazuhiro Fujita is a manga artist who has spawned several masterpieces such as Ushio and Tora, Karakuri Circus, and Black Museum: Ghost and Lady. One after another. He not only has a fandom among readers but other mangaka such as Rumiko Takahashi, Kazuhiko Shimamoto, Koji Kumeta, and Hiroyuki Nishimori. He's known as the master of dark fantasy and manga master by fans rather than a master of literature. To commemorate the start of his new series Silver Mountain in Weekly Shonen Sunday, we conducted a lengthy interview with him at his workplace in Toshima, Tokyo, and spoke with him about the secrets of creation.
Cover for Volume #1 of Ushio and Tora (Bunkoban)
Born in Ashikawa City Hokkaido, in 1964, Fujita sensei started his career working as an assistant to mangaka Yoshito Asari, after which he debuted as a solo artist in 1988 with his work Renrakusen Kitan. (Mysterious tale of a ferryboat) Arguably, his most famous work Ushio and Tora won the Shogakukan Manga Award in the male category. He went on to author other shonen titles such as Karakuri Circus, Gekkou Jorei (Moonlight Act), and Souboutei Kowasubeshi (Souboutei Must be destroyed). He is also known for his seinen works, such as Black Museum, Black Museum: Ghost and Lady, which was made into a musical by the Shiki Theater Company 2024. He also co-authored a book on manga theory, “Readers need to actually read (lol)” that's aimed at young manga artists alongside Ichishi Iida.
Journalist (To be Known as J): This is the workplace where the main characters, including the library committee, visited in the last chapter of Gekkou Jourei!
Fujita (To be Known as F): That's right. You know your stuff. By the way, this doll here is Shirogane, the heroine of Karakuri Circus. Her outfit is custom-ordered, and is the one she wore in the final battle. But please sit down and relax.
J: Oh, is that a poster for the “Silence is forbidden” rule that was in Readers need to actually read”?
F: I may go quiet sometimes, but I want my assistants to feel open to having friendly chats with each other. We're co-workers and colleagues, after all! That's the only rule I have in the workplace.
J: I'm here to get the entire scoop. From your childhood up until your current series, Silver Mountain.
F: That's fine, but I can't say I've led a particularly unique life.
J: You've mentioned your inspirations range from Roger Zelanzy, the author of Highway to Hell to mangaka such as Monkey Punch, Go Nagai, Rumiko Takahashi, Fujihiko Hosono, Satoshi Yoshida, Daijiro Morohoshi, and Ken Ishikawa. Today, however, I want to delve even deeper. Can you tell me what inspired you to draw manga and why you decided to become a manga artist?
Cover for the first "Mangaka hon: Kazuhiro Fujita Bon"
F: I loved drawing as a child, so I often drew Ultraman and Kamen Rider on the back of fliers and things in crayon. I believe I kept on drawing due to the nature of living in Hokkaido. Winters in Hokkaido are long, and back then in Ashikawa, there was always snow somewhere for half the year. It may even be that way now, but in such a frigid place, naturally, one would stay inside and draw.
J: Monkey Punch, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and Hiromu Arakawa are also from Hokkaido, right? As are Ryoko Yamagishi and Hideaki Sorachi, so it feels like there's a great number of mangaka from Hokkaido.
F: So true. Often the vibe is “It's snowing today, so let's draw inside!” Beyond that, I was also a very sickly child who frequently was too ill to go to school. While I was bedridden, the only thing I could do was read textbooks, manga, and picture books.
J: It certainly feels like your stories come from a wide range of esoteric knowledge. That stems from you reading a lot as a child, right?
F: The stories I write, including Ushio and Tora and Gekkou Jourei include things I wrote for myself when I was ill. I feel like I'm a reader first and foremost. When I'm sick and am in bed, I don't want to read darker or depressing stories.
J: I get it. That's why the message Ushio and Tora convey is staying “cheerful”. I think all of your stories radiate a sense of giving readers strength to stay positive.
Only “entertaining” things can save us.
F: There was a point when I was in middle school and hospitalized with appendicitis. At that time, I really didn't want to read dark or depressing stories since I was already going through it. I asked my mom to bring me a book to read, and she came back with Hermann Hesse's Beneath the Wheel. (Laughs)
J (Laughs): Oh, right, a story where Hans, a genius, gives up on life, immerses himself in his studies, and eventually drowns in a river...
F: Exactly. It was so frustrating. You already have a stomach ache and want to distract yourself somehow, and yet get stuck with a story that makes one think, “Man, this is boring.” One could make the argument that Entertainment has no real usefulness in society, but I think it does have a powerful use, that is, it warps time. Like when you're at a ramen place and reading manga to kill time until your food arrives, and then it's there before you know it. That's what's amazing about entertainment. But with Hesse's book, it just felt like time dragged on by, and then that ending, I mean, seriously?!
J: Beneath the Wheel's hook is its strong message of being dissatisfied with society.
F: When I'm drawing my manga, I don't do it to criticize society or question its logic. I don't think it matters. For sickly elementary, middle, and high school students like myself, there are likely going to be sad things, and days that do not go the way you want them to, and logic isn't going to be a refuge during those times. What will assuage that sense of bitterness is entertainment. As long as something is entertaining, then that's all that matters. I don't think it matters if it's “correct”. I personally believe that there are times when people need a character or a story that's interesting or refreshes them.
From Ushio and Tora © Kazuhiro Fujita/SHOGAKUKAN
J: Creating something “entertaining” is quite difficult.
F: I believe it's my job to provide relaxation to my readers, so I work hard.
J: That you've continued to serialize manga without a long break for 35 years since Ushio and Tora reflects your stance and determination well.
F: Obviously, I draw manga because I want everyone, myself included, to read these stories. Though the other reason I wanted to become a manga artist is that when I was in high school, I had a friend who loved Rumiko Takahashi's series. We read and exchanged copies of Maison Ikkoku, and we were really close, but they passed away during school holidays. They underwent several brain surgeries and had brought Maison Ikkoku and other works by Takahashi-sensei during their hospital stay, which had brought them some comfort.
Maison Ikkoku Volume #1 cover (Bunkoban)
J: I'm sure you must have been filled with anxiety.
F: It's said that entertainment has no real power, but there are undoubtedly people who seek and gain strength from reading manga. This is an aside, but I thought for my friend that I'd definitely meet Takahashi-sensei and get her autograph. When at long last I got her autograph and returned to Asahikawa to put the autograph on my friend's altar, I saw that the autograph was already there.
J: Wait, what? Why was that?
F: When I asked my mom what happened, she said my friend's parents wrote a letter to Shogakukan's Sunday editorial department explaining that their son had been cheered up by Takahashi-sensei's work during his lifetime and thanked them for it. Takahashi-sensei then sent a remarkably kind autograph from Kyoko (the heroine of Maison Ikkoku). Now my friend has two autographs from Takahashi-sensei on their altar, and I still think she's an incredible person! This is why, in turn even when I receive letters that could be life-threatening, I still respond to them.
J: I think your friend was overjoyed knowing that you and Takahashi-sensei were thinking of them.
F: Entertainment does have power. The novelist Seiichi Morimura wrote in one of his books that entertainment may not be necessary for survival, but he stated that creativity is necessary for humans to be human. It's something that isn't necessary for survival, like eating or sleeping, but it is necessary to live. Consider how soldiers voraciously read during wartime, or that theaters burned down during the Tokyo Air Raids were quickly rebuilt. I think that's proof that entertainment is a necessity.
J: I fully agree. Entertainment is necessary for humans to live.
F: Morimura states that this is why novelists need to write what readers claim is necessary for living. I cling desperately to those words (lol) and want to continue drawing manga that is necessary for life.
Humans are Utterly Pathetic.
J: After you graduated from high school in Asahikawa, you went to Nihon University in Tokyo.
F: During my time at Nihon University, I was in manga and animation study groups and other such clubs. I had a strong desire to create stories, so I wrote novels as well. However, since I could draw, my friends asked me if I could draw for them, and that's when I had the thought. “What if I made my artwork speak directly? (lol)
J: Did you start submitting your work to publishers while you were in university?
F: People are utterly pathetic.
J: Wait, what just happened? (laughs)
F: Nihon University is in Suidobashi, and Shogakukan's office is about 10 minutes away. I kept putting off actually submitting my work to them, however. Finally, in my second year of university, I applied for a Shogakukan manga award. But I still didn't walk a submission in. Rather, I just mailed it. (laughs) I was too scared of being told to my face that I have no aptitude for manga. (laughs)
J: They say that to everyone, though. Even Kenichi Kitami, the author of Tsuribaka Nisshi (Diary of a Fishing Fool), was turned away by Shogakukan twice.
F: If they said that to Kitami-sensei, then I was probably doomed from the start. I had zero self-confidence. More than being nervous, I felt like I was trying to scale a skyscraper. People sure are faint-hearted, aren't they? (laugh) Ultimately, the work I submitted to Shougakukan was rejected in the third round of review. I did try to shop around other places, but Shogakukan is ultimately where I set my heart on being. Takahashi-sensei, whom I have immense respect for, was serialized there, and WSS is the magazine I read the most. I finally submitted my work directly to Shogakukan after I graduated from university.
Cover For Readers actually have to read (lol)
J: I met your editor named Masaaki Musha. He also appears in Readers actually have to read (lol). He's incredibly strict about manga, but he not only brought the world Fujita-sensei, but Takuya Mitsuda, who draws Major, and Kenta Yarisu and Koji Kumeta, the author behind Katte ni Kaizou and Ike!! Nangoku Ice Hockey bu.
F: I had written 18 notebooks worth of storyboards for Shinken Hakai, which would later become the inspiration for Ushio and Tora. I had to redo them over and over again, which was rough.
J: Was that just enough to make it? Having to redo something that many times would definitely break one's spirit. I remember reading in the afterward of a Ushio and Tora volume that you were working part-time at Family Mart to make ends meet.
F: I remember I was working late at night, mopping floors alone, when Misato Watanabe's song My Revolution came on the radio. It's true, you shouldn't cry when chasing your dreams.
J: Oof, that's heavy.
F: Back then, I wanted someone to tell me, "All manga artists are going through the same thing." All of the artists at Sunday in the 90's, be it Katsutoshi Kawai of Obi wo gyutto ne! and Monkey Turn, or Ryoji Minagawa, the author of Spriggan and ARMS, were all suffering through tough times. If you know others are going through it with you, it's easier to endure, right? It's only when you think that you're the only one struggling that one begins to feel discouraged. I feel like manga editors should introduce new talent to others in the same situation to encourage them not to give up.
Kazuhiro Fujita hard at work.
J: Yes, having friends and rivals helps one stay positive and in the game.
F: And it's empowering to hear that from your editor.
J: Mr. Musha never told you that everyone is going through the same thing?
F: He never said anything (laughs), though perhaps I'm just an optimist at heart, as I concluded that he was deliberately putting me and my manuscripts through hell to test my mettle. I thought I was doing good work and didn't want to give up, and brought this up to him countless times. Just when I thought I had passed his tests, he'd turn around and say, "Yeah, you should redo this," and I was flabbergasted. "You mean this one isn't good either?"
J: You had drawn enough to fill 18 notebooks!
F: Though ultimately doing those storyboards wasn't a waste. The character designs for Tora were born from it, and so was the depiction of the great demon blade as well as its destruction as well as the forging of its inheritor, the "Beast Spear," came from this as well. So it became fertile soil so to speak. If I were told to redo "Destroying the sacred sword," now I'd probably feel like I used up all of that material --so even if a storyboard I drew doesn't get used, it might still have use in manga I draw afterward.
The Underlying commonality of loneliness
J: You mentioned that you're an optimist at heart, but when I read Tantou Buddha (Included in Kazuhiro Fujita's Short Story Collection Volume 2: Dawn's Song), which you wrote when you were 21, I felt like that compared to now it has a much more hopeless atmosphere and evokes a feeling of quietness and loneliness.
Cover for Kazuhiro Fujita's short story collection 2: Dawn's Song
F: Perhaps that may be true, but I'm an optimist. I'm not saying this in a joking matter-more so that I think every human being has different faces to them. This is how I'm able to create so many characters from the listless assassin Eiryou Ashihana in Karakuri Circus to the violent former monk Kyoura from Ushio and Tora, as well as the heroines from that series-Asako and Mayuko.
J: Aha, yes, that's what human strength is about.
F: I'm glad you think that of me, but I'm a flawed person. For example, I'm short-tempered. (laughs)
J: It's true, in the afterwards of your manga, there are plenty of scenes of people getting pissed off. (laugs) But I think that's a strength of yours.
F: That being said, loneliness may be a theme that is in all of my works. I tend to keep to myself, but as I said earlier, I want my assistants to enjoy themselves. I'm particularly drawn to the idea of having fun with my friends. Thinking about it now, I believe I can trace it back to my evenings in Hokkaido. It gets dark at around 4pm there in the winters, so when I was playing in the snow on my own,, pulling a plastic sled, I thought to myself, "Wow, this sure is lonely" (laughs), so that's perhaps why I've yearned to be among others having fun.
J: A sense of loneliness can become a profound schism between humans and nature, or on the contrary, a deep passion for friendship and affection. It's as if both sides are connected somehow. So to begin with, I'd like to ask about your views on nature. Your manga features monsters, ghosts, and dolls that are human-like or even monstrous. What are your thoughts on nature and the supernatural?
F: I feel like all of us have deep feelings and connections to nature. Just because one was born in the city doesn't mean one lacks that connection. Asahikawa, where I grew up has quite a bit of urban sprawl, and I got a taste of the countryside in Etanbetsu, where my maternal grandparents lived, but I believe deep down everyone has a connection toward nature and fear the unknown.
J: Ushio and Tora are based on stories such as Toono Monogatari by a folklore specialist Kunio Yanagita, and it felt like your knowledge of nature and tradition was put to good use.
F: Correct. I have a very deep fascination for ancient places that transcend history. I was talking with Hiromu Arakawa, the author of Fullmetal Alchemist and Silver Spoon, the other day, and we were psyched that Hokkaido doesn't have the same history as, say, Europe, which is why we were so interested in old things such as alchemy. (laughs)
J: Alchemy is a major element in your series Karakuri Circus. In fact, that's where the story begins.
From Karakuri Circus © Kazuhiro Fujita/SHOGAKUKAN
F: Us Hokkaido natives don't have the experience of finding an old Japanese sword or haori in our grandparents' attic. If you're a buff for old places that transcend history like me, then you'll find yourself drawn to other worlds and mysterious objects. That kind of fantastical space appeals to me. (laughs.)
J: Fujita-sensei, you've also been a big fan of science fiction since you were a child, such as Highway to Hell.
F: Yes, that's right. And I think this story is connected to that.
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