Keiko Takemiya
Mangaka
Professor of Kyoto Seika University
Monday, August 14
- Female mangaka and professor of Seika Univ.,
- Ms. Keiko Takemiya
- Born 2/13/1950 in Tokushima city.
- In 1967, when she was in a high school, she won monthly shinjin prize in a monthly magazine, Com.
- In 1968, when she was a college student at the department of education, Tokushima national university, she quit the university and started as a professional manga in a new year’s special issue of weekly girls’ manga, Margaret by “Ringo no tsumi (literally means “Sin of Apple”)
- In 1976, published a homo-sexual story of “Kaze to Ki no Uta” based on French Gymnajium in 19th century in Weekly syojo comic.
- In 1977, published a science fiction of “Tera e” from Monthly manga syonen.
- In 1980, won the 25th Shogakukan manga prize by “Kaze to Ki no Uta (means “Song/Poem of Wind and Tree”)” and “Tera e (means “To Earth”).”
- In 2000, she started to teach the theory of story in manga at Kyoto Seika University.
*Look at the page of 103 in Schodt’s book!
Background
- She was a child who enjoyed drawing. Around 5 yr old., she first started to copy a manga of a female mangaka, Masako Watanabe, since she was attracted by her depictions of gorgeous European interiors and the lives depicted in her stories. At the end of middle school, she started to create her own stories with her own characters. Also, she created story manga to let her friends enjoyed more than she enjoy herself. In 8th G., she decided to be a mangaka by reading a handbook of manga of Ishimori (Ishinomori). She applied for a manga competition. It was not successful. She decided to copy a whole manga depicted by a female mangaka, Hideko Mizuno to learn how to create an attractive composition.
About manga
- She believes that manga is the best tool to express the basic human condition which all people have in common.
- She also believes that gifted talent can never be exhausted since the ideas come from one to another like a chain-reaction.
- She has no limitations of the subject matters of manga, such as SF, love, comedy, fantasy, historical story, and so on. (But, she said that she might not be good at expressing girls’ feelings since she has never had emotional feelings including jealousy, envy, and so on, which girls typically have in the process of becoming women.) In addition, she was not afraid to use new themes, as in the homosexual story based on the life of boys who were living in a French domitory during the19th century, since she felt the necessity of depicting the story in reflection of Japanese society (At the end of the 60s. young Japanese people started to enjoy more freedom due to the influence of the US. For example, she enjoyed taking naked pictures of herself with her friends.) However, she did not have confidence that readers were ready to understand the message of the story and she was a little worried about the readers’ reaction to the particular story.
- Due to the diverse subjects she expresses through manga, she was asked to publish a 160 year history of a French fashion company, Elemes. (It is well known as a scarf with the design of harness. The reason the company asked Ms. Takemiya was that the company originally started as a harness company and Ms. Takemiya was the only one who could depict horses well in manga. Also, if the company history was depicted in print only, no one would have read it Manga was more familiar to the French than Americans.)
About the teaching job at university as a professor
- She started to teach how to create and develop the story of manga in the program of manga at Kyoto Seika University, April, 2000. She commutes from Tokyo to Kyoto to teach the class one a week. There are about 40 undergraduate students in her class under two courses of manga: kyakuhongairon (literally means, an introduction of story of manga) and kyakuhonnennsyuu (literally means a practical seminar of story of manga). When she started to teach these courses, no one knows that Ms. Takemiya was the professor. So, next year, more students will apply for taking courses.
About comiket
- She has both negative and positive opinions of the comic market. However, she encouraged her students to go to a comic market which provides only original dojinshi since she does not find any originality from the dojinshi of parody based on famous manga.
About art education
- Launching a curriculum related to manga in secondary schools is welcome. Through the curriculum, children will be given an opportunity to learn the potential for manga and they will learn the infinite possibilities of showing their expression though the characteristics of manga.
