Jōji Morikawa (森川 常次), often romanised as George Morikawa (森川ジョージ), is a Japanese manga artist affiliated with Kodansha. He was born January 17th, 1966 in Tokyo and is a graduate of Matsubushi High School (松伏高等学校, Matsubushi Koutou Gakkou) in Saitama Prefecture.
He is the author of Weekly Shōnen Magazine's flagship series Hajime no Ippo, which won him the 15th Kodansha Manga Award in 1991. He later won the 43rd award in 2019.
He is also the owner of the boxing gym JB Sports Gym and occasionally acts as a second for some of his gym's boxers.
History
1966-1988 - Birth of Jōji Morikawa and His Early Days as a Mangaka
Silhouette Night, Morikawa's first series.
He was born January 17th, 1966 in Tokyo. When Morikawa was 4 years old, he would watch the anime, Harris no Kaze (ハリスの旋風) by Chiba Tetsuya, who he became a big fan of, and aspired to become a mangaka (Manga Artist). He would always get into fights during middle school and high school. On the other hand, he also served on the student council. When he was 17, Morikawa released his debut manga, Silhouette Night, while still in high school. Later, he became a graduate of Matsubushi High School (松伏高等学校, Matsubushi Koutou Gakkou) in Saitama Prefecture.
He wanted to join Weekly Shōnen Magazine because that was the magazine that Chiba Tetsuya was published in. His first published manga series in 1986 was a soccer series, Kazuya NOW, and then a Formula 1 series, Signal Blue, in 1987. Unfortunately, all of his serialised works were cancelled before completion, but the editing staff would always give him another chance. However, he had a wife and child and times were so hard for him.
1989 - Morikawa's Creation of Hajime no Ippo
Takamura and Ippo at school in an early draft.
At age 23, and with his third serialisation cancelled, the editorial department did not want to read his work anymore. Masahiro Nouchi (野内 雅宏), who was in charge of editing at the time, told him that the next challenge of making a manga series would be his last. Morikawa felt hopeless as his serialisation meetings consisted of "The storyboard is just written by "Jōji Morikawa", so I don't want to read it.". Nouchi suggested to Morikawa that he should draw a boxing manga series, knowing Morikawa is a boxing enthusiast. Morikawa admired the mangaka Chiba Tetsuya, and did not want to challenge Chiba's "Ashita no Joe" in the same magazine. Morikawa refused Nouchi's suggestion, however, Nouchi repeatedly said "Because it is the last, let's compete in the genre you like best." Morikawa viewed boxing manga as a "sanctuary" that he shouldn't invade. Morikawa, however, decided to go through with Nouchi's suggestion and, instead of drawing a boxing manga in a professional boxing setting, he planned to make a high school boxing club setting.
Morikawa's high school boxing club storyboard.
As Morikawa drew storyboards for a high school boxing club setting, he had a hard time drawing a cool and muddy protagonist. He drew a prototype of Ippo Makunouchi, which had a handsome normal face with thick eyebrows. Nouchi's policy was consistent with the idea that he wanted to draw a story about how bad guys would do their best. At the time, "Meimon! The Third Baseball Club" (名門！第三野球部) was a series on the magazine, and Nouchi suggested for Morikawa to draw his characters with that similar muddy look. Morikawa disliked the thought of a bad, rough looking protagonist, viewing it as unbalanced to an artist. Morikawa wanted some special features on the protagonist's face, and Nouchi suggested to give him big ears like Suguru Egawa (江川 卓). Morikawa's decision of giving Ippo thick eyebrows was his own, and at this point this Ippo was close to the current Ippo. Mamoru Takamura was already a character in this high school boxing club setting, while Masaru Aoki and Tatsuya Kimura had different names. Just like in Hajime no Ippo, Ippo was still a passive child. The story would not move unless there was someone like Takamura who influences and leads others. The storyboard of the "Boxing Club Manga" came out, and the editorial department did not respond well.
Character chart Morikawa drew for the high school boxing club setting.
At that time, Morikawa stayed in an annex of Kodansha and redrew the storyboard many times every time he made a mistake. Not knowing what to fix anymore, Morikawa talked to Igarashi (五十嵐), the editor-in-chief at the time. Morikawa was told to change it to a professional boxing setting and to challenge Chiba and his Ashita no Joe. About a half a year later, the storyboard for Hajime no Ippo goes through the serial conference. Morikawa showed Igarashi and, despite another work that was highly evaluated in the department going through, Igarashi said that he wanted to see what happens when Morikawa's work gets drawn professionally, making him stop a start of a different series for Morikawa. With that, the Hajime no Ippo series began.
September - Making of the First Chapter
Ippo on the cover of the magazine for Hajime no Ippo's debut.
Round 1 was drawn, and the setting of Ippo being the son of a fishing boat shop was taken from a boxer named Suhara Ryūichi (須原隆一), who also won and became the Japanese light flyweight champion. Morikawa thought "A child who is weak and had not played sports, suddenly starting boxing and standing out" means he needs to be reborn. He believed that if he wanted to have a senior high school student have a good match worthy of being ones rival, he has to be some sort of genius or give him background. "Because I'm always on the swinging fishing boat, I can always put my hand out even when I'm hit and lose my balance. With my overwhelming strength of my legs, I can concentrate energy in my fist." With this background, a convincing power is born. There was also a boxer named Yoshiaki Tajima (田島吉秋) who was working at fishing market, and was also a candidate to set up the idea of "I am physically trained because I am working at a fishing market." Morikawa noticed that there was a short series by Chiba called "Fish Shop Champion" (魚屋チャンピオン) that was based on a boxer working at a fish market, thinking that it wouldn't be good to go through with his idea.
Round 1's cover page.
In Round 1, Ippo asks Takamura, "What does it mean to be strong?" At first, Morikawa was lost in the dark about the theme, and his first written story of Ippo meeting Takamura was not good. Then, after a few rewrites, he didn't remember what was the cause, but he drew a scene where Takamura grabs the leaves. The moment Igarashi read it, Igarashi came to bite. Igarashi's favourite phrase is "manga is a one point breakthrough." Morikawa took the one idea and ran with it until half a year later, Ippo's storyboard was written. Morikawa couldn't believe it when Round 1 got first place in the popularity contest at the time. Thinking the popularity would end in ten weeks, he was pushed by his assistant Takahashi (高橋) to continue for another ten weeks. Afterwards, the ranking didn't drop much, and from Round 5, he was able to get first place for fifty consecutive weeks. He thought it would end in 10 weeks, then 15, then 20, until the world opened up little by little. He realised that "Hajime no Ippo" has become his first series where all readers wanted to read more.
Since he thought the series would only last ten weeks, he didn't think at all about the members of Kamogawa gym other than Takamura and Ichirō Miyata. When he was sure that he would be able to continue the series, he then made Aoki and Kimura as characters.[3]
2019 - Hajime no Ippo's 30th Anniversary
In celebration of his series' 30th anniversary, Morikawa held various events such as the Hajime no Ippo Art Exhibit, Real Fighting Hajime no Ippo: The Glorious Stage!!, Hajime no Ippo 30th Anniversary Featherweight Tournament. On May 10th, 2019, Morikawa received the 43rd Kodansha Manga Awards.
2020
On January 17, 2020,[4] Morikawa announced that he would be at an art exhibit in Miyagi, taking place at the Ishinomori Manga Museum in the exhibition room on the second floor from February 22, 2020 to April 12, 2020.
On June 15, 2020[5], Morikawa took part in a series with more than 100 mangaka inspired by the new coronavirus. This series called "MANGA Day to Day" was a daily collection of short manga that can be read in about one minute by more than 100 popular manga artists, including Norifumi Hirokane, author of the "Shima Kosaku" series. After Chiba Tetsuya's work "Evil Soul" was released in advance, it started full-scale from the 15th, and a new work was posted on Twitter once a day.
2022
On February 25, 2922, Morikawa tweeted that he is against the war of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, posting an image of Alexander Volg Zangief and Dankichi Hama.[1]
2023
While noting that it has been 40 years since he debuted as a mangaka, Morikawa tweeted along with thanking his fans, that only with finishing the series he will feel an accomplishment. Morikawa stated that the ending is planned and he hopes to welcome it with the readers when the time comes.[2]
Manga Process
Videos of Morikawa Drawing
List of Works
For examples of all his various Artwork check out: Morikawa's Artwork
Series
- Silhouette Night - ( シルエットナイト) - 1983
- Kazuya NOW - (一矢NOW) - Two Volumes - 1986
- Signal Blue - ( シグナルブルー) - Two Volumes - 1987
- Hajime no Ippo - (はじめの一歩 ) - Began 1989 (On-going)
- Hajime no Ippo: Gaiden - The Naniwa Tiger Side Story - ( はじめの一歩外伝 浪速の虎) - One Shot - 2008 (Included in Hajime no Ippo volume 84)
- Ai ni iku yo (I'll be seeing you!) - ( 会いにいくよ ) - One Volume - 2012
Covers Illustrated
- The Pride of the Beaten Dog (殴られた犬の誇り) by Takahashi Naoto (October 2004 cover illustration)
- Mou, Shinasen kara Volume 4 by Nishimoto Hideo (December 2006 cover illustration)
- Ring Magazine (September 2019 cover illustration)
- The Squeaking Technique of Tsunekatsu (常勝の鳴きテクニック) by Ken Sonoda and Zero (February 2020 cover illustration)
Posters
- Fukushima Manabu vs Momotaro Kitajima (August 28, 1999)
- Fukushima Manabu vs Oscar Larious - Super Bantamweight Interim WBC Title (August 24, 2002)
- Fukushima Manabu vs Vladimir Sidrenko - WBA Bantamweight Title (Match Cancelled)
- Emiko Raika vs Ann Saccurato - Women's International Boxing Association World lightweight Title (Nov 10, 2007)
- Promotional Posters for Ryōta Murata vs Rob Brant I - WBA (Regular) Middleweight Title Defence (October 21, 2018)
- Hajime no Ippo Featherweight Tournament - Quarter Finals (November 19, 2019)
Other Related People
Mangaka that Morikawa worked for as an Assistant
- Shigeno Shuuichi - (しげの 秀一) - Mangaka known for Initial D (頭文字D) and Baribari Densetsu (バリバリ伝説). The series that Morikawa worked on with Shigeno was Baribari Densetsu.
- Mafune Kazuo- (真船一雄) - Mangaka known for Super Doctor K ( 슈퍼 닥터 K).
- Tatsuya Hiruta - (蛭田達也) - Mangaka known for Kōtarō Makaritōru! (コータローまかりとおる!) series.
Note: In an interview, Morikawa mentions he occasionally helped other mangaka when he was starting out from time to time like with Mafune Kazuo and Tatsuya Hiruta.
Past Assistants of Morikawa
- Kentaro Miura - (三-浦 建太郎) - Mangaka of Berserk ( 베르세르크). He was once an assistant to Morikawa. When Hajime no Ippo reached Round 1000, he sent a drawing of Takamura as a tribute.
- Masahito Soda - (曽田正人) - Mangaka of Capeta (カペタ). He filled in as an assistant for a few times when he was starting out. When Hajime no Ippo reached Round 1000, he sent a drawing of Ippo and Kumi as a tribute. One of his contributions were during Round 31.[6]
- Nishimoto Hideo - (西本 英雄) - Mangaka known for Mou, Shimasen kara (もう、しませんから). Morikawa is known to appear as a character in Mou, Shimasen kara, where he is portrayed as a bully like Takamura. In volume 108, there is a chapter of Mou, Shinasen kara included as part of the volume extra drawn by Morikawa. Hideo has been friends with Morikawa for over 20 years. He's even took part in a baseball game that Morikawa set up. (Photo in volume 56.)
- Saki Kaori - (咲香里) - Mangaka known for Smash! ( スマッシュ! ). She was an assist for Morikawa for about 2 years. She has also appeared as a character in Mou, Shimasen kara.
Boxers
- Fukushima Manabu - (福島学) - Former pro boxer that debut out of JB Sports Gym. In 2002, he had lost a WBC title match against Oscar Larios in which Morikawa helped worked as a 2nd in. Later on, Manabu became the OPBF champion for super bantamweight.
- Takahashi Naoto - (高橋ナオト) - Former pro boxer that helped run JB Sports Gym for Morikawa. His nickname was "Prince of the Reversal". Miyata Ichirō was partially modelled after him. His rematch (Naoto Takahashi vs Noree Jockygym) was the under-card for Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas in Tokyo that Morikawa was known to attend.
- Raika Emiko - ( 来家 恵美子 ) - Female pro boxer that Morikawa drew a fight poster for.
- Ryōta Murata - (村田 諒太) - Current WBA middleweight world champion and Olympic Gold 2012 medallist. Morikawa has drawn several posters for the Ryōta Murata vs Rob Brant world title fight in October 21, 2018, which Ryōta lost. He later won the title back in a a rematch on July 12, 2019.
- Naoya Inoue - (井上 尚弥) - He is the current Unified WBA, IBF and The Ring (magazine) Bantamweight Champion. He previously held the WBO junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to March 2018, and the WBC light-flyweight title in 2014. Nicknamed "The Monster", Inoue is known for his devastating punching power and brutal body attack. Morikawa drew the September issue of The Ring magazine that had Naoya Inoue on the cover for it's monster issue.
Interviews with Morikawa
- Shonen Magazine Online Interview with Morikawa about drawing (2019/01/09):
- Mangaka Seo Koji (Hitman) interviews Morikawa with his first Editor (2018/06/13):
- Interview with Morikawa that appeared in Shonen Magazine (2018/04/01)
- Interview with Morikawa about starting out
- How to be a Manga Artist (2016/08/25) :
- Morikawa talks about Hajime no Ippo: Rising (2014):
- Hajime no Ippo: Best Memorial - A book released September 18, 2019 of Morikawa talking about many topics of Hajime no Ippo.
Gallery with Jōji Morikawa
Main Article: Jōji Morikawa/Gallery
Trivia
- Morikawa enjoys fishing, which is more than likely why Ippo's family runs a fishing boat rental.
- Nishimoto Hideo, author of Weekly Shōnen Magazine's Mou, Shimasen kara., often draws Morikawa in his manga as a bully character. In return, Morikawa drew the cover art for volume 4 of the collected series.
- Morikawa is listed in the Guinness Book of World records for taking part for World largest Greeting card during the Fukushima Revival Festival. Video about it.
- Morikawa designed the characters for his high school.
- Morikawa appears in a Promo Video advertising Shirts for Uniqlo and Weekly Shonen Magazine as part of it 60 year celebration.
Boxing Related
- Morikawa is born on January 17, which is the same day of birth as Cas Damato (the famous boxing trainer who raised Mike Tyson) and Muhammad Ali. He joked in an interview[7] thought it was his destiny to draw boxing manga.
- Morikawa has acted as a 2nd for various boxers boxers for his boxing gym, JB Sports.
- In February 1990, Morikawa attended the Mike Tyson vs Buster Douglas match at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
- The Volume 3 cover of inner panel, it show a picture of Morikawa standing outside of the Tokyo Dome in front of a billboard for the match.
- One of the under-card matches for it was Takahashi Naoto vs Noree Jockygym, where Takahashi Naoto later became the manager for his boxing gym.
- Another under card of the match was Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, who had his 2nd match. Joichiro Tatsuyohi has appeared in (and referenced to) in the story, where he been photographed with Morikawa on a few volume cover, and on the cover of Round 183.
- Morikawa and Weekly Shōnen Magazine paid for Fukushima Manabu's World title match against Oscar Larious, that Fukushima ended up losing it.
- There was a special "documentary" between the boxing manga series and the boxers in real life. It included the famous mangaka of Ashita no Joe, Chiba Tetsuya, other remarkable names of professional boxers as the super flyweight WBO Champion Naoya Inoue, middleweight WBA Champion Ryōta Murata, Former super featherweight WBA Champion Takashi Uchiyama as well as the veteran WBA Champ Yoko Gushiken, appeared in the Hajime no Ippo Sports x Manga Special.
- On January 12, 2019, Tamura Ryoichi became the JBC Super Bantamweight Champion. He fought for the vacant title against Mugicha Nakagawa (武田勇太). It was the first time in 19 years, that JB Sports Gym had a boxer when the JBC title.
- On November 30, 2019, Tamura Ryoichi won the Super Bantamweight OPBF Silver title by defeating Moensaku Yor at Sunworld Dynasty Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan.
- Hajime no Ippo was used to promote the match in order to promote Pro Boxing in Taiwan since it is licensed in Taiwan as The Fighting (第一神拳), where Morikawa helped promote the event.
- The entire match was stream for free online, where you can see Morikawa act as a 2nd during his boxers matches.
Mahjong Related
Moriakwa drawing for M League 2018 Final
- Morikawa is a big fan of Mahjong.
- In March 2019, he released drawings of various Hajime no Ippo characters wearing jersery from various Mahjong League teams for the 2018 M League Finals.
- Ippo Makunouchi - EX Furin Kazan
- Kumi Mashiba - KONAMI Mahjong Sports Nippon
- Ryō Mashiba - SEGA SAMMY Phoenix
- Ichirō Miyata - TEAM RAIDEN / Raiden
- Takeshi Sendō - Akasaka Dorvans
- Mamoru Takamura - Shibuya ABEMAS
- Alexander Volg Zangief - U-NEXT Pirates
- In September 2019, Morikawa drawn various Hajime no Ippo character wearing Team uniforms for M League for the start of M League 2019 in October 2019.
- For the first opening match, it features teams involved: Mashiba Ryō (SEGA SAMMY Phoenix) , Takamura Mamoru (Shibuya ABEMAS), Miyata Ichirō (TEAM RAIDEN / Raiden), and Alexander Volg Zangief (U-NEXT Pirates).
- In the second opening match, it features teams involved: Sendō Takeshi (Akasaka Dorvans), Mashiba Kumi (KONAMI Mahjong Sports Nippon), Makunouchi Ippo (EX Furin Kazan), and Sanada Kazuki (Sakura Nights)
- On October 20, 2019, Morikawa took part in Mahjong Saikyosen 2019. It is a celebrity Mahjong Tournament. He played on table A against Nobuyuki Fukumoto (福本伸行), Ayame Mizusaki (水崎綾女), Daisuke Suzuki (鈴木大介), where he ended up losing in the first round.
- In December 2019, Morikawa appeared on Mahjong Play BAR (麻雀遊戯BAR), a mahjong show on youtube hosted by Nobuto Sanuki (壱岐信人) and Nobuo Hoshino (星野信夫). He appeared with Ken Sonoda (園田賢), a member of M League team Akasaka Drivens (赤坂ドリブンズ).
Moriakwa drawing cover of Ken Sonoda and Zero's booklet
- On January 10, 2020, Morikawa took part in the annual New Years Mahjong Tournament[8] sponsored by Japan Professional Mahjong Association, where a lot of famous professionals and famous people from various fields participate every year. Some participants attend the event in Cosplay. Morikawa was paired with Ken Sonoda for his match.
- Morikawa illustrated Ken Sonoda for the cover his pamplet, The Squeaking Technique of Tsunekatsu by Ken Sonoda and Zero, on modern Mahjong.
Tributes to other Mangaka
- Over the years, Morikawa has drawn tributes to other mangaka when they reach a milestone, or to honor their work. For examples, visit his Artwork page.
- Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji - by Nobuyuki Fukumoto
- Heroic Legend of Arslan - by Yoshiki Tanaka
- Fairy Tail - 10th Anniversary - by Hiro Mashima
- Fairy Tail - by Hiro Mashima
- UQ Holder - by Ken Akamatsu (Negima! Magister Negi Magi)
- Grappler Baki - 20th Anniversary - by Itagaki Keisuke
- Grappler Baki - 25th Anniversary - by Itagaki Keisuke
- Detective Conan - by Gosho Aoyama (Not shown)
- KochiKame - by Akimoto Osamu
- JJM - Joshi Judoubu Monogatari by Makoto Kobayashi
- Mou, Shimasen kara - vol 4 cover - by Nishimoto Hideo
- Diamond No Ace - by Yuji Terajima
- Ashita No Joe - by Tetsuya Chiba
- Fuuka - by Kōji Seo (For Anime get made)
- Kamen Rider - Ippo
- Capeta - by Masahito Soda - Chapter 100
- I won't do it anymore - by Nishimoto Hideo
- Kindaichi Shounen - by Fumiya Satō - 100 million volumes sold
External links
See Also
- Jōji Morikawa/Artwork - Artwork done by Morikawa.
- Jōji Morikawa/30th Anniversary - Everything about the 30th anniversary of Hajime no Ippo.
- Jōji Morikawa/Gallery - Images of Morikawa himself.