Kuniko Tsurita

Kuniko Tsurita (つりたくにこ, Tsurita Kuniko, (1947-1985) was a Japanese manga artist. She was the first woman to be published in the manga magazine Garo and its only regular female comic artist.[1]

Kuniko Tsurita
BornOctober 25, 1947
DiedJune 14, 1985
NationalityJapanese
Area(s)Manga artist

History

Tsurita began drawing manga as a teenager and submitting her work to magazine contests, but it was not well received in part because women were expected to create shoujo romance stories, not action stories. One editor wrote "I would recommend you stick with subject matter that you’re familiar with and draw about girls instead.”.[2] She later found success publishing in the alternative manga magazine Garo.

Tsurita died of complications from lupus in 1985 at the age of 37.

Style and Themes

Many of Tsurita's manga were in gekiga style.

Tsurika's work explores and subverts themes of women's gender roles and patriarchal ideas of femininity, gender identity, and sexuality. Some of her work feature androgynous or gender nonconforming self-cameos.

Tsurika has a varied visual style, ranging from sparse simple drawings that make use of blank space to elaborate scenes inspired by Pop Art and Art Nouveau.[2][3]

Works

This list may not be comprehensive.

Collections in Japanese
  • フライト : つりたくにこ作品集 (Flight: The Works of Kuniko Tsurita). Seirin Kōgeisha, 2010.
  • 彼方へ : つりたくにこ未発表作品集 (Beyond: Unpublished works of Kuniko Tsurita). Seirin Kōgeisha, 2001.
  • 六の宮姫子の悲劇 (The Tragedy of Princess Rokunomiya). Seirin Kōgeisha, 2001.

Translated Collections
  • Flight has been translated into:
    • Italian by V. Filosa. Coconino Press, 2019. ISBN 9788876184345
    • French by Léopold Dahan. Atrabile. 2021 ISBN 9782889231010
  • The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud, translated by Ryan Holmberg. Drawn & Quarterly Publications, 2020. ISBN 9781770463981[4]

Notes
  1. Churchman, Fi (December 16, 2020). "A Forgotten Manga Artist: Kuniko Tsurita". ArtReview.
  2. Bellot, Gabrielle (August 5, 2020). "The Groundbreaking Female Artist Who Shaped Manga History". The Atlantic.
  3. Liberty, Megan N. (March 10, 2021). "How Kuniko Tsurita Broke the Mold for Women Comic Artists in Japan". Hyperallergic.
  4. "The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud – Drawn & Quarterly".
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