Alan Watts | Artyfarty

Alan Wilson Watts (1915-1973) was a English writer, speaker, and "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a Western audience. He often said that he wished to act as a bridge between the ancient and the modern, between East and West, and between culture and nature. Watts's books frequently include discussions reflecting his keen interest in patterns that occur in nature and that are repeated in various ways and at a wide range of scales—including the patterns to be discerned in the history of civilizations. He also might have been in a polycule had he been born in this century.

Watts was born to middle-class parents in Chislehurst, Kent on 6 January 1915, living at Rowan Tree Cottage, 3 (now 5) Holbrook Lane. Watts's father, Laurence Wilson Watts, was a representative for the London office of the Michelin tyre company. His mother, Emily Mary Watts (née Buchan), was a housewife whose father had been a missionary. With little money, they chose to live in the countryside, and Watts, an only child, learned the names of wild flowers and butterflies. Probably because of the influence of his mother's religious family, Watts became interested in spirituality. Watts was interested in storybook fables and romantic tales of the mysterious Far East. He attended The King's School Canterbury where he was a contemporary and friend of Patrick Leigh Fermor.

Watts later wrote of a mystical dream he experienced while ill with a fever as a child. During this time he was influenced by Far Eastern landscape paintings and embroideries that had been given to his mother by missionaries returning from China. The few Chinese paintings Watts was able to see in England riveted him, and he wrote "I was aesthetically fascinated with a certain clarity, transparency, and spaciousness in Chinese and Japanese art. It seemed to float ..." By his own assessment, Watts was imaginative, headstrong, and talkative. He was sent to boarding schools (which included both academic and religious training of the "Muscular Christian" sort) from early years. Of this religious training, he remarked "Throughout my schooling, my religious indoctrination was grim and maudlin."

Watts spent several holidays in France in his teen years, accompanied by Francis Croshaw, a wealthy Epicurean with strong interests in both Buddhism and exotic, little-known aspects of European culture. Watts felt forced to decide between the Anglican Christianity he had been exposed to and the Buddhism he had read about in various libraries, including Croshaw's. He chose Buddhism, and sought membership in the London Buddhist Lodge, which was then run by the barrister and QC Christmas Humphreys (who later became a judge at the Old Bailey). Watts became the organization's secretary at 16 (1931). The young Watts explored several styles of meditation during these years.

Watts won a scholarship to The King's School, Canterbury, the oldest boarding school in the country. Though he was frequently at the top of his classes scholastically and was given responsibilities at school, he botched an opportunity for a scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford by styling a crucial examination essay in a way that he said was read as "presumptuous and capricious". When he left King's, Watts worked in a printing house and later a bank. He spent his spare time involved with the Buddhist Lodge and also under the tutelage of a "rascal guru", Dimitrije Mitrinović, who was influenced by Peter Demianovich Ouspensky, G. I. Gurdjieff, and the psychoanalytical schools of Freud, Jung and Adler. Watts also read widely in philosophy, history, psychology, psychiatry, and Eastern wisdom.

By his own reckoning, and also by that of his biographer Ms.Furlong, Watts was primarily an autodidact. His involvement with the Buddhist Lodge in London gave Watts opportunities for personal growth. Through Humphreys, he contacted spiritual authors, e.g. the artist, scholar, and mystic Nicholas Roerich, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and prominent theosophists like Alice Bailey.

Watts, Alan W. (1932) An Outline of Zen Buddhism, London: Golden Vista Press.

Watts, Alan W. (1936) The Spirit of Zen: A Way of Life, Work, and Art in the Far East, London: John Murray.

In 1936, aged 21, he attended the World Congress of Faiths at the University of London, where he met the scholar of Zen Buddhism, D. T. Suzuki, who was presenting a paper. Beyond attending discussions, Watts studied the available scholarly literature, learning the fundamental concepts and terminology of Indian and East Asian philosophy.

Watts's fascination with the Zen (Ch'an) tradition developed because that tradition embodied the spiritual, interwoven with the practical, as exemplified in the subtitle of his Spirit of Zen: A Way of Life, Work, and Art in the Far East. "Work", "life", and "art" were not demoted due to a spiritual focus. In his writing, he referred to it as "the great Ch'an (emerging as Zen in Japan) synthesis of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism after AD 700 in China." Watts published his first book, The Spirit of Zen, in 1936. Two decades later, in The Way of Zen he disparaged The Spirit of Zen as a "popularisation of Suzuki's earlier works, and besides being very unscholarly it is in many respects out of date and misleading."

Watts married Eleanor Everett, whose mother Ruth Fuller Everett was involved with a traditional Zen Buddhist circle in New York. Ruth Fuller later married the Zen master (or "roshi"), Sokei-an Sasaki, who served as a sort of model and mentor to Watts, though he chose not to enter into a formal Zen training relationship with Sasaki. During these years, according to his later writings, Watts had another mystical experience while on a walk with his wife. Watts married three times and had seven children (five daughters and two sons). He met Eleanor Everett (1918–1976) in 1936, when her mother, Ruth Fuller Everett, brought her to London to study piano. They met at the Buddhist Lodge, were engaged the following year and married in April 1938. 

Watts, Alan W. (1937) The Legacy of Asia and Western Man: A Study of the Middle Way, London: John Murray.

In 1938 they left England to live in the United States. A daughter was born in 1938 and another in 1942. 

Watts, Alan W. (1940) The Meaning of Happiness: The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East, New York: Harper and Row. (2nd ed.; 1968), New York: Harper and Row.

Watts became a United States citizen in 1943.

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (1944) Theologia Mystica: Being the Treatise of Saint Dionysius pseudo-Areopagite on Mystical Theology, Together with the First and Fifth Epistles. Translated from the Greek and with an introduction by Alan W. Watts. West Park, NY: Holy Cross Press. (2nd ed.; 1971), Sausalito, CA: The Society for Comparative Philosophy.

Watts left formal Zen training in New York because the method of the teacher did not suit him. He was not ordained as a Zen monk, but he felt a need to find a vocational outlet for his philosophical inclinations. He entered Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, an Episcopal (Anglican) school in Evanston, Illinois, where he studied Christian scriptures, theology, and church history. He attempted to work out a blend of contemporary Christian worship, mystical Christianity, and Asian philosophy.

Watts was ordained an Episcopalian priest on Ascension Day 1945, which he justified by writing it was the only occupation in which he could "begin to fit". He struggled to find Christian authority for his Buddhist beliefs, resulting in his 1947 book Behold the Spirit: A Study in the Necessity of Mystical Religion which resulted in him being awarded a master's degree in theology. 

Watts, Alan (1947) Behold the Spirit: A Study in the Necessity of Mystical Religion, London: John Murray. (2nd ed.; 1971), New York: Random House.

Their marriage ended in 1949, but Watts continued to correspond with his former mother-in-law. According to his daughter Anne, in The Collected Letters of Alan Watts, Watts told his parents that Eleanor was getting a divorce in Reno, when in actuality, "she was granted an annulment, something that would have been difficult for his parents to understand."

Watts, Alan (1950) Easter: Its Story and Meaning, New York: H. Schuman.

Watts, Alan (1950) The Supreme Identity: An Essay on Oriental Metaphysic and the Christian Religion New York: Pantheon Books. (2nd ed.; 1971), New York: Random House.

Watts believed that marriage did not fit his non-monogamous nature. As this became increasingly manifest, his wife Eleanor sued for annulment on grounds that Watts "contracted a monogamous marriage under false pretenses". Watts responded to his Bishop's "letter of inquiry" about the matter with a letter of resignation as a priest in August 1950.

In 1950, Watts married Dorothy DeWitt (1921–2020). He moved to San Francisco in early 1951 to teach. They had five children. 

Watts, Alan (1951) The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety, New York: Pantheon Books.

In early 1951, Watts moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. Here he taught from 1951 to 1957 alongside Saburo Hasegawa (1906–1957), Frederic Spiegelberg, Haridas Chaudhuri, lama Tada Tōkan (1890–1967), and various visiting experts and professors. Hasegawa taught Watts about Japanese customs, arts, primitivism, and perceptions of nature. During this time he met the poet Jean Burden, with whom he had a four-year love affair.

He also maintained relations with Jean Burden, his lover and the inspiration/editor of Nature, Man and Woman. In regard to their affair, Burden has said that Watts "was a very difficult man to be in love with. He was a rogue. He drank too much. Women were catnip to him. I finally couldn't reconcile his moral hypocrisy." And yet, she called him, "one of the most fascinating men I have ever met."

Watts credited Burden as an "important influence" in his life and gave her a dedicatory cryptograph in his book Nature, Man and Woman, mentioned in his autobiography (p. 297). Besides teaching, Watts was for several years the academy's administrator. One student of his was Eugene Rose, who later went on to become a noted Eastern Orthodox Christian hieromonk and controversial theologian within the Orthodox Church in America under the jurisdiction of ROCOR. Rose's own disciple, a fellow monastic priest published under the name Hieromonk Damascene, produced a book entitled Christ the Eternal Tao, in which the author draws parallels between the concept of the Tao in Chinese religion and the concept of the Logos in classical Greek philosophy and Eastern Christian theology.

Watts also studied written Chinese and practised Chinese brush calligraphy with Hasegawa as well as with Hodo Tobase, who taught at the academy. Watts became proficient in Classical Chinese. While he was noted for an interest in Zen Buddhism, his reading and discussions delved into Vedanta, "the new physics", cybernetics, semantics, process philosophy, natural history, and the anthropology of sexuality.

Watts, Alan (1953) Myth and Ritual in Christianity, London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-8070-1375-7.

Watts later published Myth & Ritual in Christianity (1953), an eisegesis of Christian traditions that made use of his knowledge of Asian philosophy and religion to provide insight into medieval Roman Catholic mythology, mysticism, and ritual, which he lamented had provided meaning that had been lost in the development of modern Christian practices.

In 1953, he began what became a long-running weekly radio program at Pacifica Radio station KPFA in Berkeley. Like other volunteer programmers at the listener-sponsored station, Watts was not paid for his broadcasts. These weekly broadcasts continued until 1962.

Watts was a heavy smoker throughout his life and, after the mid-1950s, drank heavily.

Watts, Alan (1957) The Way of Zen, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-375-70510-4.

He introduced emerging counterculture to The Way of Zen (1957), one of the first best-selling books on Buddhism. 

In 1957 Watts, then 42, published one of his best-known books, The Way of Zen, which focused on philosophical explication and history. Besides drawing on the lifestyle and philosophical background of Zen in India and China and Japan, Watts introduced ideas drawn from general semantics (directly from the writings of Alfred Korzybski) and also from Norbert Wiener's early work on cybernetics, which had recently been published. Watts offered analogies from cybernetic principles possibly applicable to the Zen life. The book sold well, eventually becoming a modern classic, and helped widen his lecture circuit.

In 1958, Watts toured parts of Europe with his father, meeting the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and the German psychotherapist Karlfried Graf Dürckheim.

Watts, Alan (1958) Nature, Man and Woman, New York: Pantheon Books. He considered Nature, Man and Woman (1958) to be his best work. 

He also explored human consciousness and psychedelics in works such as The New Alchemy (1958).

Some of Watts's writings published in 1958 (e.g., his book Nature, Man and Woman and his essay "The New Alchemy") mentioned some of his early views on the use of psychedelic drugs for mystical insight. Watts had begun to experiment with psychedelics, initially with mescaline given to him by Oscar Janiger. He tried LSD several times in 1958, with various research teams led by Keith S. Ditman, Sterling Bunnell Jr., and Michael Agron. He also tried cannabis and concluded that it was a useful and interesting psychoactive drug that gave the impression of time slowing down. Watts's books of the '60s reveal the influence of these chemical adventures on his outlook. He later said about psychedelic drug use, "If you get the message, hang up the phone. For psychedelic drugs are simply instruments, like microscopes, telescopes, and telephones. The biologist does not sit with eye permanently glued to the microscope; he goes away and works on what he has seen.@

Watts, Alan (1959) Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen, San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books.

Upon returning to the United States, Watts recorded two seasons of a television series (1959–1960) for KQED public television in San Francisco, "Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life". The couple separated in the early 1960s after Watts met Mary Jane Yates King (called "Jano" in his circle; b. 1928) while lecturing in New York.

Watts, Alan (1960) This Is It: And Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-71904-2.

In the 1960s, Watts became interested in how identifiable patterns in nature tend to repeat themselves from the smallest of scales to the most immense. This became one of his passions in his research and thought. Watts also came to feel acutely conscious of a growing ecological predicament. Writing, for example, in the early 1960s: "Can any melting or burning imaginable get rid of these ever-rising mountains of ruin—especially when the things we make and build are beginning to look more and more like rubbish even before they are thrown away?" These concerns were later expressed in a television pilot filmed at Druid Heights in 1971. Titled Alan Watts: Conversation with Myself, the film was produced by KQED for National Educational Television and shown across the country on PBS channels in 1975.

Watts, Alan (1961) Psychotherapy East and West, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-71609-4. In Psychotherapy East and West (1961), he argued that psychotherapy could become the West's way of liberation if it discarded dualism.

Watts, Alan (1962) The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness, New York: Pantheon Books.

After a divorce in 1962, he married King. The couple divided their time between Sausalito, California, where they lived on a houseboat called the Vallejo, and a secluded cabin in Druid Heights, on the southwest flank of Mount Tamalpais north of San Francisco. King died in 2015.

Watts, Alan (1963) The Two Hands of God: The Myths of Polarity New York: George Braziller.

Watts, Alan (1964) Beyond Theology: The Art of Godmanship, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-71923-9.

Watts, Alan (1966) The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-72300-5.

Watts, Alan (1967) Nonsense (illustrations by Greg Irons), San Francisco, CA: Stolen Paper Review Editions.

Though never affiliated for long with any one academic institution, he was Professor of Comparative Philosophy at the American Academy of Asian Studies, had a fellowship at Harvard University (1962–1964), and was a Scholar at San Jose State University (1968). He lectured college and university students as well as the general public. His lectures and books gave him influence on the American intelligentsia of the 1950s–1970s, but he was often seen as an outsider in academia. When questioned sharply by students during his talk at University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1970, Watts responded, as he had from the early sixties, that he was not an academic philosopher but rather "a philosophical entertainer."

Watts, Alan (1970) Does it Matter? Essays on Man’s Relation to Materiality, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-71665-5.

Watts continued to give numerous talks and seminars, recordings of which were broadcast on KPFA and other radio stations during his life. These recordings are broadcast to this day. For example, in 1970, Watts's lectures were broadcast on Sunday mornings on San Francisco radio station KSAN; and even today a number of radio stations continue to have an Alan Watts program in their weekly program schedules. Original tapes of his broadcasts and talks are currently held by the Pacifica Radio Archives, based at KPFK in Los Angeles, and at the Electronic University archive founded by his son, Mark Watts.

Watts, Alan (1971) Erotic Spirituality: The Vision of Konarak (photographs by Eliot Elisofon), New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.

Watts, Alan (1972) In My Own Way: An Autobiography 1915–1965, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-1577315841.

Unabashed, Watts was not averse to acknowledging his rascal nature, referring to himself in his autobiography In My Own Way as "a sedentary and contemplative character, an intellectual, a Brahmin, a mystic and also somewhat of a disreputable epicurean who has three wives, seven children and five grandchildren".

Watts, Alan (1972) The Art of Contemplation: A Facsimile Manuscript with Doodles, New York: Pantheon Books.

Watts, Alan (1973) Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown: A Mountain Journal, New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-71999-9.

In his writings of the 1950s, he conveyed his admiration for the practicality in the historical achievements of Chan (Zen) in the Far East, for it had fostered farmers, architects, builders, folk physicians, artists, and administrators among the monks who had lived in the monasteries of its lineages. In his mature work, he presents himself as "Zennist" in spirit as he wrote in his last book, Tao: The Watercourse Way. Child rearing, the arts, cuisine, education, law and freedom, architecture, sexuality, and the uses and abuses of technology were all of great interest to him. Regarding his intention for living, Watts attempted to lessen the alienation that accompanies the experience of being human that he felt plagued the modern Westerner, and to lessen the ill will that was an unintentional by-product of alienation from the natural world. He felt such teaching could improve the world, at least to a degree. He also articulated the possibilities for greater incorporation of aesthetics (for example: better architecture, more art, more fine cuisine) in American life. In his autobiography, he wrote, "... cultural renewal comes about when highly differentiated cultures mix".

Though known for his discourses on Zen, he was also influenced by ancient Hindu scriptures, especially Vedanta and Yoga, aspects of which influenced Chan and Zen. He spoke extensively about the nature of the divine reality that Man misses: how the contradiction of opposites is the method of life and the means of cosmic and human evolution, how our fundamental ignorance is rooted in the exclusive nature - the instinctive grasping at identity, mind and ego, how to come in touch with the Field of Consciousness and Light, and other cosmic principles.

Watts sought to resolve his feelings of alienation from the institutions of marriage and the values of American society, as revealed in his comments on love relationships in "Divine Madness" and on perception of the organism-environment in "The Philosophy of Nature". In looking at social issues, he was concerned with the necessity for international peace, for tolerance, and understanding among disparate cultures. Regarding his ethical outlook, Watts felt that absolute morality had nothing to do with the fundamental realization of one's deep spiritual identity. He advocated social rather than personal ethics. In his writings, Watts was increasingly concerned with ethics applied to relations between humanity and the natural environment and between governments and citizens. He wrote out of an appreciation of a racially and culturally diverse social landscape.

In several of his later publications, especially Beyond Theology and The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, Watts put forward a worldview, drawing on Hinduism, Chinese philosophy, pantheism or panentheism, and modern science, in which he maintains that the whole universe consists of a cosmic Self-playing hide-and-seek (Lila); hiding from itself (Maya) by becoming all the living and non-living things in the universe and forgetting what it really is—the upshot being that we are all IT in disguise (Tat Tvam Asi). In this worldview, Watts asserts that our conception of ourselves as an "ego in a bag of skin", or "skin-encapsulated ego" is a myth; the entities we call the separate "things" are merely aspects or features of the whole.

Watts has been criticized by Buddhists such as Philip Kapleau and D. T. Suzuki for allegedly misinterpreting several key Zen Buddhist concepts. In particular, he drew criticism from Zen masters who maintain that zazen must entail a strict and specific means of sitting, as opposed to being a cultivated state of mind that is available at any moment in any situation (which traditionally might be possible by a very few after intense and dedicated effort in a formal sitting practice). Typical of these is Roshi Kapleau's claim that Watts dismissed zazen on the basis of only half a koan.

In regard to the half-koan, Robert Baker Aitken reports that Suzuki told him, "I regret to say that Mr. Watts did not understand that story." In his talks, Watts defined zazen practice by saying, "A cat sits until it is tired of sitting, then gets up, stretches, and walks away", and referred out of context to Zen master Bankei who said: "Even when you're sitting in meditation, if there's something you've got to do, it's quite all right to get up and leave".

However, Watts did have his supporters in the Zen community, including Shunryu Suzuki, the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center. As David Chadwick recounted in his biography of Suzuki, Crooked Cucumber: the Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki, when a student of Suzuki's disparaged Watts by saying "we used to think he was profound until we found the real thing", Suzuki fumed with a sudden intensity, saying, "You completely miss the point about Alan Watts! You should notice what he has done. He is a great bodhisattva."

In October 1973, Watts returned from a European lecture tour to his cabin in Druid Heights, California. Friends and relatives of Watts had been concerned about him for some time over his alcoholism. On 16 November 1973, at age 58, he died in the Mandala House in Druid Heights. His body was discovered at 6:00 a.m. and quickly cremated on a wood pyre on Muir Beach at 8:30 a.m. by Buddhist monks before any authorities could attend to the scene. His ashes were split, with half buried near his library at Druid Heights and half at the Green Gulch Monastery.

After his death, his lectures remained popular with regular broadcasts on public radio, especially in California and New York, and found new audiences with the rise of the internet. Watts's biographers saw him—after his stint as an Anglican priest—as representative of not so much a religion but as a lone-wolf thinker and social rascal. In David Stuart's biography, Watts is seen as an unusually gifted speaker and writer driven by his own interests, enthusiasms, and demons. Elsa Gidlow, whom Watts called "sister", refused to be interviewed for the biography, but later painted a kinder picture of Watts's life in her own autobiography, Elsa, I Come with My Songs. According to critic Erik Davis, his "writings and recorded talks still shimmer with a profound and galvanizing lucidity."

His daughter, Anne Watts, has noted that some people have "knocked him [Alan] off the pedestal" upon discovering that her father was an alcoholic and a womanizer, but she maintains that "the work that he did stands on its own and that people all over the world write to us all the time to say how his work has transformed their lives in some way."

Alan Watts was reported to have been under treatment for a heart condition. His son Mark Watts later investigated his father's death and found that he had planned it out meticulously. Mary Jane Watts later wrote that Watts had told her, "The secret of life is knowing when to stop". Watts' father, Laurence Wilson Watts, died in 1974, just one year after his son. A personal account of Watts' last years and approach to death is given by Al Chung-liang Huang in Watts' posthumous work Tao: The Watercourse Way.

Watts, Alan (1975) Tao: The Watercourse Way (with Chungliang Al Huang), New York: Pantheon Books. 

Alan Booth | Artyfarty

Alan Booth (1946-1993)  was an English writer who wrote about his journeys on foot through the Japanese countryside. 

Booth was born in Leytonstone, London, and studied drama at Leyton County High School for Boys. While he was still at school he formed and directed the Leyton Youth Theatre Company, for which Leyton Borough Council provided a grant and free use of public buildings for performances, including productions of Hamlet and Othello.

Booth studied drama at the University of Birmingham, where he became a prominent member of its Guild Theatre Group (GTG). Among the plays he directed for the GTG were Hamlet (First Quarto), done in Booth's version of Noh style, and his own translation of Racine's Phèdre, set in a samurai milieu. He also directed an open-air production of Marlowe's Faustus in Cannon Hill Park. He was a regular contributor to Mermaid, the university's magazine of students' verse, and won the Birmingham Post's Annual Poetry Prize.

In 1970 Booth moved to Japan to study Noh theatre, but soon began writing. For the next 20 years he lived in Tokyo and worked for the Macmillan Press, and as a film reviewer for the Asahi Evening News. He also appeared in the BBC Learning Zone programme Japanese Language and People, episode 6, "On the Road", in which he was interviewed about aspects of life in Japan.

The better-known of his books, The Roads to Sata, published in 1985, is about his travels in 1977 from Cape Sōya, the northern tip of Hokkaidō, to Cape Sata, the southern tip of Kyūshū. 

The second, Looking for the Lost, was published posthumously in 1995. Booth also wrote a guidebook to Japan, as well as numerous articles on Japan and other topics.

Alan Booth died of colon cancer in 1993, leaving his second wife, Su-chzeng Ong, and their daughter, actress Mirai Booth-Ong.

Aquirax Uno | artyfarty

Aquirax Uno, is the alias of Akira Uno (宇野 亜喜良 | Uno Akira | 1934 to posting ) a Japanese graphic artist, designer, illustrator and painter. His signature is Aquirax , which is a Francophonic-style spelling of Akira. The name collection of his works are in Kariya City Museum.

Born March 13, 1934, in Nagoya City , Aichi Prefecture, his work is characterized by fantasized portraiture, sensuous line flow, flamboyant (and occasionally grotesque) eroticism, and frequent use of collage and bright colours. He is known for his distinctive style of drawing figures with pen and other tools. He has worked on stage and promotional art for Shuji Terayama, among other projects. In addition to being an illustrator, he has also worked as a curator , stage designer , and artistic director.

His father ran an interior decoration business, and influenced by this, he began drawing at a young age, studying under the painter Haru Miyawaki. He graduated from the design department of Nagoya Municipal Industrial High School in 1952 .

After graduating from high school, in 1953 he won an award at the 3rd Japan Advertising Art Association competition and became a member of the Nagoya branch of the Japan Advertising Art Association. In 1955 he won first prize at a design contest held by Kowa Pharmaceutical , along with Makoto Wada. In 1956 he moved to Tokyo to join Calpis Foods Co. , Ltd., where he was involved in the company's advertising and publicity. In his personal life, he has been married three times. 

In 1960 , he joined the Japan Design Center , which was co-founded by Yusaku Kamekura and others, and remained there until 1964. Numerous works, including "The Little Girl of the Sea" (text by Yusuke Kaji , authored by Tadanori Yokoo , 1962 , Asahi Shuppansha ) are published. In 1964, Uno, along with Harada Ikuo and Yokoo Tadanori , formed the design studio "Studio Ilfil" (which disbanded the following year). In 1965 , he left the Japan Design Center and, together with other leading illustrators and graphic designers of his generation such as Yokoo Tadanori , Wada Makoto , Yamaguchi Harumi , and Nadamoto Tadahito, established the Tokyo Illustrators Club (which disbanded in 1970). He also created posters for Terayama Shuji's " Tenjo Sajiki " theater with Yokoo and others. Picture book "That Girl" (text by Shōji Imaeda , 1966 , Rironsha ) and "Sunday at Sea," written by Yoshitomo Imaeda ( 1966 , Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha ).

In the 1970s , the style of shaving off one's eyebrows became popular and was known as the "Akira Uno style." Uno was prominently involved with the Japanese underground art of the 1960s–1970s, and is particularly notable for his collaborations with Shūji Terayama and his experimental theater Tenjō Sajiki. His current wife is Saeko Shu , a former actress who worked as a gravure model from the late 1960s to the early 1970s and appeared in television dramas such as Key Hunter and Playgirl , as well as Toei films. [ 12 ] They married in June 1973, when Uno was 39 and Shu was 24, and it was her first marriage. 

"Akira Uno Masquerade" ( 1974 , Bijutsu Shuppansha ) and "The World of Akira Uno" ( 1974 , Rippu Shobo ) were also published.

In 1982 , they received the Illustration Award at the 13th Kodansha Publishing Culture Awards and did the Tomoyasu Hotei's " GUITARHYTHM " album cover ( 1988 , Toshiba EMI ).

In 1992 , they won the 6th Akai Tori Illustration Award for "The Seagull's House" by Akio Yamashita . In the same year, they became the chairperson of the Tokyo Illustrators Society (1992, 1994-1997). Picture book "Angel's Pavane" ( 1992 , Hakusensha ) was published. There was a BAD MESSIAH 'DISCO ARMADILLO' album cover ( 1994 , Sony Music Entertainment ). In April 1999 , he was awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon. Since that year, he has been in charge of designing posters and fans for the Azabu Juban Summer Festival. 

"Akira Uno Complete Essays: Memories of Roses" ( 2000 , Tokyo Shoseki / 2017, Rittosha Bunko) were also first released. "Akira Uno's 1960s Poster Collection" (2003, Blues Interactions ), "I Want to Dance, But I Can't" by Shuji Terayama (2003, Arton) "The Bird in the Bottle," text by Shuji Terayama (2003, Arton), "The Heavenly Sled Goes On," written by Toshiko Kanzawa ( 2003 , Fukuinkan Shoten ), "MONO AQUIRAX: Akira Uno Monochrome Works Collection" (2003, Aiikusha), "Jamipan" (text by Kaori Eguni , 2004, Arton), "Senbei Samurai" (text by Yoshitomo Imaeda, 2004, Kosei Publishing ), "Shanghai Foreigner's Brothel," based on a novel by Shuji Terayama ( 2004 , Arton), " Beauty and the Beast ," based on the novel by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont ( 2005 , Arton), "Love (L'amour)" by André Breton and Paul Éluard , translated by Mayako Teramura (2006, Écrit ), "SAMURAI AQUIRAX: Akira Uno's Collection of Illustrations for Historical Novels" (2006, Aiikusha), "The Dawn of the Escargot," written by Mimi Hachikai ( 2006 , Arton ) were also released.

They then did " Dazzling Soup/Silk " Maxi Single Jacket ( 2006 ), " Monologue " Maxi Single Jacket (2006), Album cover for " The Soup of Truth Mixed with Lies " ( 2007 ) and in 2008 , they won the 13th Japan Picture Book Award for "The Devil's Apple," a story written by Katsuhiko Funazaki and  "Letters from the Day I Was Made to Stand" by Toshiko Kanzawa ( 2008 , Rironsha ) “Uogami” written by Akane Chihaya ( 2009 , Shueisha ), " I'm the one who runs the world ," written by Rei Nakanishi ( serialized daily for 9 months in the Sankei Shimbun in 2009, published by Kadokawa Shoten ) and "MONO AQUIRAX+ Akira Uno Monochrome Works Collection" (2009, Aiikusha)was also released.

In 2010, they were awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette. In 2015, he received the Special Jury Prize at the 22nd Yomiuri Theater Awards for his art design for Shinjuku Ryozanpaku 's "Jaguar's Eye" and for his puppet design for Yuki-za 's "Old Refrain". He has written a serialized column called "A Side Step in the Story". In addition, he is collaborating with Kunihiko Murai, Michio Yamagami , and Daisuke Hinata on a project called "How About a Song?". This project publishes a short, newly written song each month, with Uno in charge of the illustrations.

He then did the Album cover for BUCK-TICK " RAZZLE DAZZLE " album cover ( 2010 , Ariola Japan ), YU-A " Don't Approach Me with a Gentle Face " YU-A album cover (2012) " BRACKISH " ( 2012 ), Album cover for " Ukiyo " ( Shiina Ringo, 2013 ) Album cover for " Mitsukishou " (2013) and Album cover for " Hallelujah Circus Acoustic " ( 2014 ) and Majolica Majorca, Shiseido cosmetics brand, Majolica illustration ( 2016 ).

Uno did an art installation for the historic Dōgo Onsen in 2019. Uno's illustrated retelling of Cinderella was exhibited in the Rokko International Musical Box Museum at the annual Rokko Meets Art modern art festival atop Mount Rokkō in 2019. In a zendaimimon move, he did a Album cover for "Forbidden Move" (2026).

Akira Toriyama | Artyfarty

Akira Toriyama (  鳥山明 | 1955 - 2024  ) was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. Akira Toriyama was born in the town of Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. He had a younger sister. Toriyama drew pictures since a young age, mainly of the animals and vehicles that he was fond of. 

He remembered being blown away after seeing One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), and said he was drawn deeper into the world of illustration by hoping to draw pictures that good.[10] He was shocked again in elementary school when he saw the manga collection of a classmate's older brother, and again when he saw a television set for the first time at a neighbor's house. He cited Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy (1952–1968) as the original source for his interest in manga. Toriyama recalled that when he was in elementary school all of his classmates drew imitating anime and manga, as a result of not having many forms of entertainment. He believed that he began to advance above everyone else when he started drawing pictures of his friends.

Despite being engrossed with manga in elementary school, Toriyama said he took a break from it in middle school, probably because he became more interested in films and TV shows. When asked if he had any formative experiences with tokusatsu entertainment, Toriyama said he enjoyed the Ultraman TV show and Gamera series of kaiju films. Toriyama had a love of cars and motorcycles, something he inherited from his father who used to race motorbikes and operated an auto repair business for a brief time, although he did not understand the mechanics himself. He was an animal lover, and had kept birds, dogs, cats, fish, lizards, and bugs as pets since childhood. Some were used as models for characters he created such as Karin and Beerus. 

Toriyama said it was a "no-brainer" that he would attend a high school focused on creative design, but admitted he was more interested in having fun with friends. Although he still did not read much manga, he would draw one himself every once in a while.

Despite his parents' strong opposition, Toriyama was confident about going into the work force upon graduation instead of continuing his education. He worked at an advertising agency in Nagoya designing posters for three years. Although Toriyama said he adapted to the job quickly, he admitted that he was often late because he was not a "morning person" and got reprimanded for dressing casually. Resenting the routine, he became sick of the environment and quit.

After quitting his job at the age of 23 in 1978 and asking his mother for money while unemployed, Toriyama entered the manga industry by submitting a work to an amateur contest in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine, which he had randomly picked up in a coffee shop. The timing did not line up for that contest, but another manga magazine, Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump, accepted submissions for their Newcomer Award every month. Kazuhiko Torishima, who would become his editor, read and enjoyed Toriyama's manga, but it was not eligible to compete because it was a parody of Star Wars instead of an original work. Torishima sent the artist a telegram and encouraged him to keep drawing and sending him manga. This resulted in Wonder Island, which became Toriyama's first published work when it appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1978. It finished last place in the readers survey.

 Toriyama later said that he had planned to quit manga after getting paid, but because Wonder Island 2 (1978) was also a "flop", his stubbornness would not let him and he continued to draw failed stories for a year; claiming around 500 pages' worth, including the published Today's Highlight Island (1979). He said he learned a lot during this year and even had some fun. When Torishima told him to draw a female lead character, Toriyama hesitantly created 1979's Tomato the Cutesy Gumshoe, which had some success. Feeling encouraged, he decided to draw another female lead and created Dr. Slump.

Dr. Slump is mainly a comedy series, filled with puns, toilet humor, and sexual innuendos. But it also contained many science fiction elements: aliens, anthropomorphic characters, time travel, and parodies of works such as Godzilla, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Toriyama also included many real-life people in the series, such as his assistants, wife, and colleagues (such as Masakazu Katsura), but most notably his editor Kazuhiko Torishima as the series' main antagonist, Dr. Mashirito.  In an extension to his shyness, Toriyama had used a robot avatar since 1980 to represent himself in manga and interviews. 

Toriyama first achieved mainstream recognition for creating the manga series Dr. Slump, which was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen series. Dr. Slump went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. Dr. Slump, which was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984, was a huge success and made Toriyama a household name. It follows the adventures of a perverted professor and his small but super-strong robot Arale. In 1981, Dr. Slump earned Toriyama the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen or shōjo manga series of the year. An anime adaptation began airing that same year, during the prime time Wednesday 19:00 slot on Fuji TV.  Although Dr. Slump was popular, Toriyama wanted to end the series within roughly six months of creating it, but publisher Shueisha would only allow him to do so if he agreed to start another serial for them shortly after. So he worked with Torishima on several one-shots for Weekly Shōnen Jump and the monthly Fresh Jump. In 1981, Toriyama was one of ten artists selected to create a 45-page work for Weekly Shōnen Jump's Reader's Choice contest. His manga Pola & Roid took first place. 

Toriyama was selected to participate in the contest again in 1982 and submitted Mad Matic. His one-shot Pink was published in the December issue of Fresh Jump. An official Toriyama fan club, Akira Toriyama Hozonkai (鳥山明保存会; "Akira Toriyama Preservation Society"), was established in 1982. Its newsletters were called Bird Land Press and were sent to members until the club closed in 1987. Toriyama married Yoshimi Katō on May 2, 1982. She is a former manga artist from Nagoya under the pen name Nachi Mikami,  and occasionally helped Toriyama and his assistant on Dr. Slump when they were short on time.

Selected to participate in Weekly Shōnen Jump's Reader's Choice contest for a third time, Toriyama had the bad luck of drawing the first slot and had to work over New Year's on 1983's Chobit. Angry that it was unpopular, he decided to try again and created Chobit 2 (1983). Toriyama founded Bird Studio in the early 1980s, which is a play on his name; "tori" (鳥) meaning "bird". He began employing an assistant, mostly to work on backgrounds. Torishima suggested that, as Toriyama enjoyed kung fu films, he should create a kung fu shōnen manga. This led to the two-part Dragon Boy, published in the August and October 1983 issues of Fresh Jump. It follows a boy, adept at martial arts, who escorts a princess on a journey back to her home country. The Adventure of Tongpoo was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump's 52nd issue of 1983 and also contained elements that would be included in Dragon Ball.  Dragon Boy was well-received and evolved to become the serial Dragon Ball in 1984. 

Toriyama wrote and illustrated the Dragon Ball manga from 1984 to 1995. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors in the history of manga and created numerous highly influential and popular series, with his most famous and successful project being the Dragon Ball franchise. It became one of the best-selling manga series of all time, with 260 million copies sold worldwide, and is considered a key work in increasing manga circulation to its peak in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball's anime adaptations have been credited with boosting anime's international popularity. Beside his manga works, Toriyama acted as a character designer for numerous video games such as Square Enix's Dragon Quest series and Chrono Trigger, in addition to Blue Dragon. Serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995 and having sold 159.5 million tankōbon copies in Japan alone, Dragon Ball is one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It began as an adventure/gag manga but later turned into a martial arts fighting series, considered by many to be the "most influential shōnen manga". 

When Dragon Ball began, it was loosely based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, with Goku being Sun Wukong and Bulma as Tang Sanzang. It was also inspired by Hong Kong martial arts films, particularly those of Jackie Chan, and was set in a fictional world based on Asia, taking inspiration from several Asian cultures including Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Central Asian, Arabic, and Indonesian cultures. Toriyama continued to use his characteristic comedic style in the beginning, but over the course of serialization this slowly changed, with him turning the series into a "nearly-pure fighting manga" later on. He did not plan out in advance what would happen in the series, instead choosing to draw as he went. This, coupled with him simply forgetting things he had already drawn, caused him to find himself in situations that he had to write himself out of, for example, Lunch-chan.

In 1986, Mr. Ho was published in the 49th issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump. Also during Dragon Ball's serialization, Torishima recruited him to work as character designer for the 1986 role-playing video game Dragon Quest. The artist admitted he was pulled into it without even knowing what an RPG was and that it made his already busy schedule even more hectic, but he was happy to have been a part after enjoying the finished game. Toriyama continued to work on every installment in the Dragon Quest series until his death. Toriyama was commissioned to illustrate the characters and monsters for the first Dragon Quest video game (1986) in order to separate it from other role-playing games of the time. He worked on every installment in the series until he died. For each game Yuji Horii first sends rough sketches of the characters with their background information to Toriyama, who then re-draws them. Lastly, Horii approves the finished work.

In 1987,  publication of Young Master Ken'nosuke, which had a Japanese jidaigeki setting took place. 

Toriyama published two Weekly Shōnen Jump one-shots in 1988. The September 23, 1988, festival film Kosuke & Rikimaru: The Dragon of Konpei Island marked the first time Toriyama made substantial contributions to an animation. He came up with the original story idea, co-wrote the screenplay with its director Toyoo Ashida, and designed the characters. It was screened at the Jump Anime Carnival, which was held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Weekly Shōnen Jump. 

The Elder and Little Mamejiro. Karamaru and the Perfect Day followed in issue #13 of 1989.

They had two children: a son named Sasuke (born 1987) and a daughter named Kikka (born 1990). Toriyama lived in his home studio in Kiyosu. He was a well-known recluse, who avoided appearing in public or media. Go! Go! Ackman (1993–1994) was also published.

Dragon Ball was one of the main reasons for the magazine's circulation hitting a record high of 6.53 million copies (1995). At the series' end, Toriyama said that he asked everyone involved to let him end the manga, so he could "take some new steps in life". During that near-11-year period, he produced 519 chapters that were collected into 42 volumes. Moreover, the success of the manga led to five anime adaptations, several animated films, numerous video games, and mega-merchandise. Aside from its popularity in Japan, Dragon Ball was successful internationally as well, including Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with 300–350 million copies of the manga sold worldwide.

He also served as the character designer for the Super Famicom RPG Chrono Trigger (1995) and for the fighting games Tobal No. 1 (1996). A third anime adaptation based on Dragon Ball, entitled Dragon Ball GT, began airing in 1996, though this was not based on Toriyama's manga directly. He was involved in some overarching elements, including the name of the series and designs for the main cast. Toriyama also created many character designs for various video games such as the Dragon Quest series (1986–2023), Chrono Trigger (1995), and some Dragon Ball video games. Toriyama explained in 1995 that for video games, because the sprites are so small, as long as they have a distinguishing feature so people can tell which character it is, he can make complex designs without concern of having to reproduce it like he usually would in manga. Besides the character and monster designs, Toriyama also does the games' packaging art and, for Dragon Quest VIII, the boats and ships.  He also designed several characters and mascots for various manga magazines property of Shueisha, his career-long employer and Japan's largest publishing company.

Tobal 2 (1997) for the PlayStation. Slump was adapted into an anime, with a second series created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended. Toriyama continued drawing manga in this period, predominantly one-shots and short (100–200-page) pieces, including Cowa! (1997–1998).

Kajika (1998) was drawn.

Adaptations of Toriyama's work would occupy this time slot continuously for 18 years—through Dr. Slump's original run, Dragon Ball and its two sequels, and finally a rebooted Dr. Slump concluding in 1999.

Sand Land (2000) is published. 

On December 6, 2002, Toriyama made his only promotional appearance in the United States at the launch of Weekly Shōnen Jump's North American counterpart, Shonen Jump, in New York City. Toriyama's Dragon Ball and Sand Land were published in the magazine in the first issue, which also included an in-depth interview with him. 

On March 27, 2005, CQ Motors began selling an electric car designed by Toriyama. The one-person QVOLT is part of the company's Choro-Q series of small electric cars, with only 9 being produced. It cost 1,990,000 yen, has a top speed of 30 km/h (19 mph) and was available in five colours. Toriyama stated that the car took over a year to design, "but due to my genius mini-model construction skills, I finally arrived at the end of what was a very emotional journey."

He worked on a 2006 one-shot called Cross Epoch, in cooperation with One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda. The story is a short crossover that presents characters from both Dragon Ball and One Piece. Toriyama was the character designer and artist for the 2006 Mistwalker Xbox 360 exclusive RPG Blue Dragon, working with Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu, both of whom he had previously worked with on Chrono Trigger. At the time, Toriyama felt the 2007 Blue Dragon anime might potentially be his final work in animation. Blue Dragon (2006), 

In 2008, he collaborated with Masakazu Katsura, his good friend and creator of I"s and Zetman, for the Jump SQ one-shot Sachie-chan Good!!. By 2008, the Dr. Slump manga had sold over 35 million copies in Japan. In 2008, Oricon conducted a poll of people's favorite manga artists, with Toriyama coming in second, behind only Nana author Ai Yazawa. He was number one among male respondents and among those over 30 years of age.

Toriyama was engaged by 20th Century Fox as a creative consultant on Dragonball Evolution, an American live-action film adaptation of Dragon Ball. The film was released in 2009 and failed both critically and financially. Avex Trax commissioned Toriyama to draw a portrait of pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki, and it was printed on the CD of her 2009 single "Rule", which was used as the theme song to the film. Toriyama drew a 2009 manga titled Delicious Island's Mr. U for Anjō's Rural Society Project, a nonprofit environmental organization that teaches the importance of agriculture and nature to young children. They originally asked him to do the illustrations for a pamphlet, but Toriyama liked the project and decided to expand it into a story. It is included in a booklet about environmental awareness that is distributed by the Anjō city government. 

As part of Weekly Shōnen Jump's "Top of the Super Legend" project, a series of six one-shots by famed Jump artists, Toriyama created Kintoki for its November 15, 2010, issue. He had previously stated in 2010, "The truth is, I didn't like being a manga artist very much. It wasn't until relatively recently that I realized it's a wonderful job." Many artists have named Toriyama and Dragon Ball as influences, including One Piece author Eiichiro Oda, Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, Fairy Tail and Rave author Hiro Mashima, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations illustrator Mikio Ikemoto, Venus Versus Virus author Atsushi Suzumi, Bleach creator Tite Kubo, Black Cat author Kentaro Yabuki, and Mr. Fullswing author Shinya Suzuki. German comic book artist Hans Steinbach was strongly influenced by Toriyama, and Thai cartoonist Wisut Ponnimit cited Toriyama as one of his favorite cartoonists. St. Michel wrote that the impact Toriyama and Dragon Ball had extends beyond inspiring newer artists, "he influenced the style of anime as a whole and revealed new economic potential, as the comic series mutated into an anime, video games and infinite merchandise." They held a poll on the Mangaka that Changed the History of Manga in 2010, mangaka being the Japanese word for a manga artist. Toriyama came in second, after only Osamu Tezuka, due to his works being highly influential and popular worldwide.

He collaborated with Weekly Shōnen Jump to create a video to raise awareness and support for those affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. 

It was mailed out to annual subscribers of the digital manga magazine Shonen Jump Alpha in December 2012. In 2012, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods was announced to be in development, with Toriyama involved in its creation. The film marked the series' first theatrical film in 17 years, and the first time Toriyama had been involved in one as early as the screenwriting stages.

 Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (2013) is published.

The 'movie': Toriyama later stated in 2013 that he had felt the script did not "capture the world or the characteristics" of his series and was "bland" and not interesting, so he cautioned them and gave suggestions for changes. The film's producers did not heed his advice, "And just as I thought, the result was a movie I cannot call Dragon Ball." The film opened on March 30, 2013. A special "dual ticket" that could be used to see both Battle of Gods and One Piece Film: Z was created with new art by both Toriyama and Eiichiro Oda. On March 27, 2013, the "Akira Toriyama: The World of Dragon Ball" exhibit opened at the Takashimaya department store in Nihonbashi, garnering 72,000 visitors in its first nineteen days. The exhibit was separated into seven areas. The first provided a look at the series' history, the second showed the 400-plus characters from the series, the third displayed Toriyama's manga manuscripts from memorable scenes, the fourth showed special color illustrations, the fifth displayed rare Dragon Ball-related materials, the sixth included design sketches and animation cels from the anime, and the seventh screened Dragon Ball-related videos. It was there until April 15, when it moved to Osaka from April 17 to 23, and ended in Toriyama's native Nagoya from July 27 to September 1. To celebrate the 45th anniversary of Weekly Shōnen Jump, Toriyama launched a new manga series in its July 13, 2013, issue titled Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. Viz Media began serializing it in English in their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, beginning just two days later. The final chapter reveals that the story is set before the events of Dragon Ball and features some of its characters. It would become the final manga that Toriyama wrote and illustrated himself.

In a rare 2013 interview, commenting on Dragon Ball's global success, Toriyama admitted, "Frankly, I don't quite understand why it happened. While the manga was being serialized, the only thing I wanted as I kept drawing was to make Japanese boys happy."

In a 2014 NTT Docomo poll for the manga artist that best represents Japan, Toriyama came in third place. That same year, entomologist Enio B. Cano named a new species of beetle, Ogyges toriyamai, after Toriyama, and another, Ogyges mutenroshii, after the Dragon Ball character Muten Roshi.

The follow-up film to Battle of Gods, Resurrection 'F', released on April 18, 2015, features even more contributions from Toriyama, who personally wrote its original script. Toriyama provided the basic story outline and some character designs for Dragon Ball Super, which began serialization in V Jump in June 2015 with an anime counterpart following in July.

In 2016, Toriyama revealed that because of the series' established time period and setting in videogame history, his artistic options are limited, which makes every iteration harder to design for than the last. The series' Slime character, which has become a mascot for the franchise, is considered to be one of the most recognizable figures in gaming.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly, released in theaters on December 14, 2018, and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, released on June 11, 2022, continued Toriyama's deep involvement with the films, the latter being his final complete work on the Dragon Ball franchise.

In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier for his contributions to the arts. 

                                   Flowers for a Eulogy

In January 2024, a logo Toriyama designed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his hometown of Kiyosu was unveiled. Toriyama created a new story arc for the 2024 original net animation adaptation of his manga Sand Land. He also created the story and character designs for the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima anime series. Toriyama's final contribution to Dragon Ball was directing Toyotarou to redraw the end of chapter 103 of Dragon Ball Super, so that a departing Piccolo appears to wave back at the reader. A short tribute was included at the bottom of the page when it was published on March 28, 2024. Toriyama had a lifelong passion for plastic models, and designed several for the Fine Molds brand. He also collected autographs of famous manga artists, having over 30 including Yudetamago and Hisashi Eguchi, a hobby he gave to the character Peasuke Soramame. Due to his video game design work, IGN named Toriyama number 74 on their list of the Top 100 Game Creators of All Time.

On March 1, 2024, Toriyama died of an acute subdural hematoma, at the age of 68. A funeral was held privately with only his family in attendance. His death was announced by his production company Bird Studio one week later on March 8. According to sources close to Toriyama, he had planned to undergo surgery for a brain tumor in February 2024. The news of his death caused an outpouring of grief among admirers of his works, who took to social media to express their condolences and celebrate his legacy. Tributes to the artist were given by One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, Bleach creator Tite Kubo, My Hero Academia creator Kōhei Horikoshi, Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter × Hunter creator Yoshihiro Togashi, Video Girl Ai creator Masakazu Katsura, and video game designer Yuji Horii, who worked with Toriyama on Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger. In Tokyo, fans publicly mourned while visiting a life-sized statue of Dragon Ball protagonist Goku located outside the headquarters of toy manufacturer Bandai. The foreign ministries of China and El Salvador issued statements of condolences over Toriyama's death. Several Mexican voice actors who dubbed Dragon Ball characters in Spanish for Latin America also lamented Toriyama's death via social media. A large gathering was held at the Plaza de la Constitución in Mexico City, where hundreds of fans did the Genki-dama hand motion (arms up, palm facing the zenith, pooling energy together) to honor the artist. During the 18th Seiyu Awards on March 9, a moment of silence was held for Toriyama and voice actress Tarako, who died on March 4, in recognition of their contributions to the anime industry. On March 10, in Argentina, thousands of fans gathered at the Obelisco monument to remember Toriyama. In Lima, Peru, over 40 artists led by "Peko" painted a mural tribute to Toriyama, which showcases characters from Dragon Ball as well as Toriyama himself, spanning six meters high and over 110 meters long. 

                                              A slump

The 'movie': Toriyama later stated in 2013 that he had felt the script did not "capture the world or the characteristics" of his series and was "bland" and not interesting, so he cautioned them and gave suggestions for changes. The film's producers did not heed his advice, "And just as I thought, the result was a movie I cannot call Dragon Ball."

 - In October 2024, Toriyama was posthumously inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame. On October 11, 2024, the Harvey Awards announced[66] that Toriyama was one of five comics creators to be inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame at the 36th annual Harvey Awards ceremony on October 18 at the New York Comic Con.[67][68] 

 - Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi credited Toriyama and his work with playing an "extremely important role in demonstrating Japan's soft power" around the world.

 - Justin Chatwin, who portrayed Goku in the live-action film Dragonball Evolution, paid respects to Toriyama and apologized for the quality of the film by posting on his Instagram story, "sorry we messed up that adaptation so badly".

 - Toriyama won the Special 40th Anniversary Festival Award at the 2013 Angoulême International Comics Festival, honoring his years in cartooning. He actually received the most votes for the festival's Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême award that year, though the selection committee chose Willem as the recipient.

 - He was also a 2019 nominee for entry into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.

 - Parasite premiered on 21 May 2019 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it became the first Korean film to win the Palme d'Or. It was released in South Korea by CJ Entertainment on 30 May, grossing $258 million worldwide[6] on an $11.4 million budget. Among its numerous accolades, Parasite won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards, becoming the first non-English-language film to do so. It won an additional three Oscars, for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. It is the first South Korean film to receive any Academy Award recognition, and one of only four films overall to win both the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first such achievement in over 60 years. It won [...] and became the first non-English-language film to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In South Korea, Parasite grossed $20.7 million on its opening weekend.[93] It closed its box-office run with $72.2 million and more than ten million admissions, equal to roughly one-fifth of the country's population and ranking first among the year's top five films. On 5 February, Parasite became the first Korean film in nearly 15 years to surpass one million filmgoers in Japan. Parasite won the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. It became the first South Korean film to do so, as well as the first film to win with a unanimous vote since Blue Is the Warmest Colour at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. For her starring role as Evelyn Quan Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022),[2] she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first Asian to win the category. Oberon had darker skin, due to her Sri Lankan background.[12] This was not too much a problem in black-and-white film, but she did not "test well" during colour film tests.[12] According to Princess Merle, the biography written by Charles Higham with Roy Moseley, Oberon suffered damage to her complexion in 1940 from a combination of cosmetic poisoning and an allergic reaction to sulfa drugs in an attempt to lighten her skin.[12] Alexander Korda sent her to a skin specialist in New York City, where she underwent several dermabrasion procedures.[30] The results were only partially successful; her face had become noticeably pitted and indented unless concealed by makeup. Hayakawa was constantly typecast as a villain or forbidden lover and was unable to play parts that would be given to white actors such as Douglas Fairbanks. Hayakawa stated, "Such roles [in The Wrath of the Gods, The Typhoon, and The Cheat] are not true to our Japanese nature... They are false and give people a wrong idea of us. I wish to make a characterization which shall reveal us as we really are."[54] In 1949, he lamented, "My one ambition is to play a hero".[55] Hayakawa's dilemma was analogous to that of Rudolph Valentino, nine years his junior; both were foreign born, and were typecast as exotic or forbidden lovers.

 - A running gag in Dr. Slump that utilizes feces has been reported as an inspiration for the Pile of Poo emoji.

Akazome Emon | Artyfarty

Akazome Emon ( 赤染衛門 | c.957 - 1041CE ) was a Japanese waka poet, member both of the Thirty Six Elder Poetic Sages (中古三十六歌仙, Chūko Sanjūrokkasen) and the Thirty-Six Immortal Women Poets and an early historian who lived in the mid-Heian period. 

百人一首 うはかゑとき 赤染衛門 (c.1838/1921, PD) Akazome Emon, Anonymous Ms.Carll Tucker

She was officially the daughter of her mother's first husband, mentioned by the late-Heian karonsho (book of poetic criticism) Fukuro-zōshi. A poetic exchange between Emon and Fujiwara no Michitaka, dating to around Ten'en 2 (974) to Jōgen 2 (977), when she was likely in her late teens, is the earliest dateable event in her life. At roughly this time, she went to serve in the household of Minamoto no Masanobu, and for a long time thereafter she served his daughter Rinshi, the wife of a Fujiwara. 

About this time (Ten'en–Jōgen) Akazome married Ōe no Masahira, a Confucian scholar and poet of both waka and kanshi. Akazome birthed a son, Ōe no Takachika, a daughter, Gō Jijū (江侍従), and one more daughter. The couple were considered to be "lovebirds" (おしどり夫婦, oshidori fūfu). According to her personal waka collection, the Akazome Emon Shū (赤染衛門集), when Masahira was twice sent to serve in Owari Province, she accompanied him both times. The collection also indicates that she worked to ensure her son's professional success at court and presented poems as offerings to Sumiyoshi Shrine when he fell ill. These works present Emon as a good wife and wise mother (良妻賢母 ryōsai kenbo). She also devoted much effort to her service as Rinshi's lady-in-waiting. In Chōwa 1 (1012), her husband died, and a few years later Emon became a nun. She apparently lived a long and tranquil life from this point, living to see the birth of her great-grandson Ōe no Masafusa in Chōkyū 2 (1041). Akazome Emon served Minamoto no Rinshi and Fujiwara no Shōshi, who were, respectively, the wife and daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, and she was present at the Imperial court at the same time as Izumi Shikibu.

秋の野の花見るほどの心をばゆくとやいはむとまるとやいはん - 赤染衛門

Fields of autumn, When I see the flowers, My heart, it feels like It’s completely content, or maybe

It yearns to leave me forever. - Akazome Emon [1]

She was a contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, who praised her writing, and Sei Shōnagon. Emon remained active in waka composition until late in life, contributing poems to uta-awase competitions on the sixteenth day of the fifth month of Chōgen 8 (1035), the Kanpaku-Sadaijin-ke Uta-awase (関白左大臣家歌合), and in 1041, the Kokiden no Nyōgo Uta-awase (弘徽殿女御歌合). She also contributed a screen poem (屏風歌 byōbu-uta) to celebrate Rinshi's seventieth year, in 1033. She left a personal collection, the Akazome Emon Shū, and she is also believed to have been the writer of the first part of Eiga Monogatari. Her poetry was incorporated into court anthologies from the Shūi Wakashū on. She ranks fourth in the number of her poems that were included in the Goshūi Wakashū, with a total of 32. More than 60 of her poems were included in the Kin'yō Wakashū and later court anthologies. The year of her death is uncertain, but she probably lived until at least 1041.

Bibliography

[1]  https://classicaljapanesetranslations.blogspot.com/2012/07/akazome-emon-daisy-among-roses.html

Soz busy

 see above

I had exciting topics

 and then I got sick. and then I got heatstroke. and then my home became 35 degrees. and then i was sick again. and then i got mild food poisoning. and then i broke my stuff. and then it was 35 degrees again. and then i got worried about how much shite was piling up on my calendar. and then it was 34 degrees. So life got in the way as usual.

I have been reading and living life. I actually repaired a bunch of shite and removed some mold from my stuff which was covered in mold becuase of the shite paint used on my building           |                  /

                                                                                                       Me last week :      >:D =======

But life has not been happy with me sitting down and doing anything.                           |                   \

Particularly not anything requiring my body moving more than 2cm off the nearest flat surface, cold thing or particularly cold water based thing nearby.

I hate global warming and now my keyboard is also fucked. I cant play tetris on it anymore. Many things suck. Boo carbon emissions.