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Manga artist Tetsuya Chiba and cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, who is also a specialist in cultural promotion, are among the seven who will receive the Order of Culture for this fiscal year, the government said Friday.
Chiba, 85, and Tsutsumi, 82, are the first specialists in manga and cello to receive the honor.
The other five recipients are environment risk management expert Junko Nakanishi, 86; commercial law specialist Kenjiro Egashira, 77; haiku and tanka poet Mutsuo Takahashi, 86; Japanese-style painter Toshio Tabuchi, 83; and cell and molecular biologist Nobutaka Hirokawa, 78.
The announcement also included the names of 20 people selected as Persons of Cultural Merit for fiscal 2024. Sports promotion specialist Isao Aoki, 82; actress Mitsuko Kusabue, 91; architect Kazuyo Sejima, 67; calligrapher Seiu Takaki, 75; natural language process and artificial intelligence specialist Junichi Tsujii, 75; and haiku poet Nagisao Yajima, 89, are among those selected. Kazuo Sugeno, 81, will be the first labor law specialist to receive the honor.
The average age of the Order of Culture recipients is 82.6, while 78.8 is the average for Persons of Cultural Merit, according to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
Order of Culture recipients will receive the honor at the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Nov. 3. A ceremony to honor Persons of Cultural Merit will be held at The Okura Tokyo hotel in Minato Ward, Tokyo, on Nov. 5.
Manga being recognized
“All the mangaka, from those who came before me to those now, have nurtured manga, which was regarded as something for children, to become something recognized as ‘culture,’” Chiba said, regarding the announcement of becoming the first mangaka who will receive an Order of Culture. “I feel very happy and honored that the creative activities of all those mangaka have been recognized this time.”
Chiba is from Tokyo but spent his childhood in Manchuria — what is now the northeastern region of China — and had an extremely difficult time coming back to Japan. In 1956, when he was 17 and had been back in Japan for a year, he made his debut as a mangaka.
Chiba, who is especially known for “Ashita no Joe” (Tomorrow’s Joe) and “Notari Matsutaro,” has incorporated sentiments of ordinary people, as well as his own memories of World War II, into his works.
He served as a professor in manga, and then became the president of Bunsei University of Art. Currently, he is the head of the Japan Cartoonist Association and remains committed to developing manga and nurturing young professionals.
Chiba is a member of the Japan Art Academy and a Person of Cultural Merit. He has been decorated with the Order of the Rising Sun, as well as the Medal with Purple Ribbon.
In August, Chiba said he would take a break from drawing manga to get his eyes treated. Before his announcement, he had been working on a serialized manga.
Chiba’s creative appetite and thoughts for manga have never waned.
“I hope manga will be loved for many years to come as ‘culture’ that is accessible and endearing to readers,” Chiba said.
