Gajou Sakamoto

In January 1934 he started the serialization of Tank Tankuro in Yonen Club from the Dainippon Yubenkai Kodansha publishing company which made him a popular artist. In 1939 Sakamoto served as a parttime employee for the governments public relations department in Manchuria Northeastern part of China but returned home a year after Japans defeat. After his return he continued his active career as a manga artist working on titles such as Garagara Sensei Baribari Hakase and Genkotsu Osho as well as new stories for Tank Tankuro. Around this time Sakamoto also became interested in the art of suibokuga or nanga inkandwash painting and studied Zen Buddhism. In 1956 the same year as the marriage of his first daughter Sakamoto ended his career as a manga artist to devote himself entirely to Buddhism and suibokuga. In 1969 he received an award for his distinguished service to childrens culture from the Japan Childrens Writers Association. He died on August 8 1973 at 77 years of age.