14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize winners

Yoshihiro Yamada has won the Manga Grand Prix of the 14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for his "Hyouge Mono," a historical manga about the unconventional feudal-era tea master Furuta Oribe.

Sponsored by The Asahi Shimbun, the prize honors the late Osamu Tezuka, an artist who left an indelible mark on the nation's manga culture. It has been awarded annually since 1997.

The Originality Prize, given for fresh talent and novel modes of expression, went to Haruko Ichikawa for "Mushi to Uta" (Insects and songs).

The Short Story Prize went to Mari Yamazaki for "Thermae Romae."

Manga paperbacks published last year were eligible for the awards. For the Manga Grand Prize, eight members of the judging panel each conferred 15 points--no more than five to any one manga--based on recommendations by experts and bookstore staff.

The Asahi Special Prize, given by The Asahi Shimbun based on the panel's recommendations, went posthumously to manga critic Yoshihiro Yonezawa.

The presentation ceremony takes place May 28 at the Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in Tokyo. The Grand Prix winner will receive a bronze statue and 2 million yen ($21,000). Other winners will each receive a bronze statue and 1 million yen.

Manga Grand Prix

"Hyouge Mono" is based on the life of Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), a warlord and tea master who pursued the elegance of the tea ceremony to its extremes.

On one occasion, Oribe allowed an enemy to escape in exchange for an exemplary tea bowl.

On another, he mixed tea in a bowl dating from Jomon Pottery Culture (c 8000 B.C.-300 B.C.), only to be reproached by his teacher, celebrated tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), for "going too far."

Oribe was a true hyouge mono (joker). No one could predict what he would do next.

"When I was writing a manga about a Japanese playing in Major League baseball, I used to ask myself, 'What does it mean to be Japanese?'" said Yoshihiro Yamada, born in 1968.

"I researched whether I could write a manga on the tea ceremony and found myself drawn to Oribe, greedy devil that he was, more than Rikyu, the stoic seeker of truth. I'm greedy myself. It's greed that gives me the energy to work," Yamada said.

The judges were impressed by Yamada's imaginative use of tea ceremony as a window on Japan's civil war period.

His highly charged scenes are filled with twisted poses and exaggerated facial expressions on his characters.

Wry humor apparently reflects the gnarled beauty that Oribe cherished in his tea bowls.

"I really want to achieve something like the dynamic quality Oribe looked for in tea bowls. That's what I have in mind as I work (on this piece)," Yamada said.

"Oribe was an entertainer. When I look at his tea bowls, I think he probably tried to make people laugh at his tea ceremonies."

Yamada freely interpreted the historical record.

For example, his account of the killing of feudal warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) by his retainer was part of a plot concocted by Rikyu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598), who was soon to be the first ruler to unite Japan.

Hideyoshi later ordered Rikyu to commit ritual suicide. In Yamada's version, Oribe acts as his teacher's second and cuts off Rikyu's head after the disembowelment. Moved to tears by Rikyu's courtesy in the face of death, Oribe wields his blade with deadly force.

"I cranked up my tension while writing (this episode)," Yamada said. "It was a great relief to me when I finished. But I returned to normal soon after and went on with the next episodes."

"Hyouge mono" has been running since 2005 as a serial in the weekly "Morning" comic magazine published by Kodansha Ltd.

After Rikyu's climactic death, the story follows Oribe's later years. He devises new variations on the tea ceremony and fashions his own kind of "beauty," which transforms Japanese pottery design.

"From this point on is where Oribe really comes into his own," Yamada explained. "With this award to encourage me, I'll make every effort to carry on through to the end."

Originality Prize

Haruko Ichikawa's first book, "Mushi to Uta," a collection of four short stories featuring various nonhuman creatures, is marked by the subtle way in which she describes their gentle affections.

There is, for example, the love a young boy feels for his "younger sister" born out of his own severed finger.

Then there is "Hina," who started life as a small piece of metal and assumed the form of a girl as she grew, easing the loneliness of a young boy who loves baseball.

Running through all four stories in "Mushi to Uta," published by Kodansha, is how individuals relate to other people.

"I tried to express things like the distance between ourselves and others, thoughtfulness, kindness and good intentions that end up going wrong," says Ichikawa, born in 1980.

She turned out one story a year while working for a publishing company in Sapporo. During her commute to work, she shaped her ideas.

"One time, I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I blundered into a puddle of melting snow and got soaked," Ichikawa said.

Taking her time and working carefully and deliberately, she spun her drifting dream world. She hopes to keep to a similar pace from now on.

"Manga is made up of pictures and words," Ichikawa said. "It's the thoughts that can't be brought out in pictures alone or put into words either that I try to capture in my manga."

Short Story Prize

An engineer in ancient Rome travels in a time warp to modern Japan, where the public baths fill him with wonder.

Fruit-flavored milk drinks, typically sold at public baths, and rotenburo open-air baths shock the serious-minded engineer.

When he returns to his own time and place, he eagerly applies his newfound ideas and goes on to revolutionize Roman baths.

This is the story line of Mari Yamazaki's "Thermae Romae." Readers can't help laughing at the engineer's astonishment as he struggles to assimilate some of the more unusual aspects of Japanese bathing culture.

Where do her quirky ideas come from? Yamazaki, born in 1967, says things she heard from her Italian husband, who knows a lot about ancient Rome, sparked a few images.

Others arose from her preoccupation with bathing that developed during the course of her extended residence in Europe.

"While ancient Rome had huge baths, today there are no public baths at all in Europe," Yamazaki said. "We don't even have a bathtub in our house in Lisbon, where I live now. Every day, I have to squeeze myself into this little child's tub and make the best of it."

Yamazaki was 17 when she first went to Europe to study painting. Her first published work was an essay manga describing her life in Italy.

"Thermae Romae" has been running since 2008 as a serial in the monthly magazine "Comic Beam," published by Enterbrain Inc.

"There were the Romans who left behind such marvelous roads and plumbing, and there are the Japanese, with their rich tradition of human warmth," Yamazaki says. "What they have in common is bathing culture. That's what I'm trying to get across."

Asahi Special Prize

Yoshihiro Yonezawa, who died of lung cancer in 2006 at 53, began his career as a manga critic while at university.

In the early 1980s, he published "Sengo Manga-shi" (A history of postwar manga), made up of three volumes dealing with "young girls," "SF" and "gags."

The books, derived from Yonezawa's extensive reading, provided an overview of the nation's manga culture.

From 1980 on, Yonezawa led a group that organized the "Komike" comic market, where manga artists could sell their own works.

Over the years, Komike evolved into a huge event, bringing together hundreds of thousands of buyers and sellers of manga. From it emerged such novelties as cosplay (costume play) and "boys' love" manga about young men. Many manga artists got their start at Komike.

Another Yonezawa legacy is his collection of some 140,000 manga works.

These publications now fill the stacks of the Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subcultures, founded last October by his alma mater, Meiji University.

At present, the public can access about 70,000 titles, with more to become available as sorting proceeds.

"The collection as a whole is simply beyond my imagination," says Yonezawa's wife, Eiko.

As Yonezawa's collection grew, the couple would move to a bigger home to accommodate it. Life eventually came to seem a perpetual house-hunt.

"The collection may reveal aspects of Yoshihiro Yonezawa I never knew, and I'm looking forward to it," Eiko said. "I'm sure my husband would be very pleased if the library becomes a center for manga research."