Institute / Research Cases / QS-RC-127
Leiji Matsumoto
Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Otoko Oidon. A battleship that sets out with the fate of the Earth at stake, a train that runs across the galaxy in search of a mechanical body, a pirate who sails the cosmos under the flag of freedom — Leiji Matsumoto drew journeys and partings, pride and dreams, against the stage of space. Born in Kurume, Fukuoka, he debuted in 1954, at sixteen, with Mitsubachi no Bouken. He moved to Tokyo at eighteen and broke through with Otoko Oidon in 1971. The television anime Space Battleship Yamato began in 1974, and the 1977 film set off a boom. That same year he began Galaxy Express 999 and Space Pirate Captain Harlock, and in 1978 he received the Shogakukan Manga Award. The film Galaxy Express 999, released on 4 August 1979, became the top-earning Japanese film of the year. In 2012 he was made a Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters, and in 2023 he died at eighty-five. He was born, in fact, on 25 January 1938 — the same day as Shotaro Ishinomori. Why did two men with the same destiny leave behind such different things? How could one author draw stories on such a scale? Toward what was his vessel opened? We read the vessel he was born with against his destiny and the phases of time.
At a Glance
The case
- Subject
- Leiji Matsumoto (松本零士) — Manga artist
- Period analysed
- 1938–2023
- Three pillars
- Day 丁巳 / Month 癸丑 / Year 丁丑
- Void branches
- 子丑 (Rat–Ox)
- Destiny area
- 0.34 The area of the triangle formed by the three pillars on the sixty-cycle circle (maximum 1.30)
- Format
- PDF, 14 pages — written in Japanese
- Price
- ¥50,000 including tax
Research Brief
What the case shows
- His destiny is one in which all three earthly branches gather into a single nature. It is a structure in which life centres on brothers, close companions and good fortune. It is also a chart in which fortune is refined through hardship upon hardship.
- His is a destiny that stands in a single generation, with thin ties to parents and family line. In return, he and the place of his work are joined on the largest of scales, and his fortune leaps forward through work of great scale.
- He was born with a very high intelligence and a power of conception beyond the ordinary. The star by which fortune grows through telling and giving sits both at the centre of his destiny and at its point of return.
- In his teens a ten-year blank in fortune turned. He debuted within this period that formed the base of his life, and his work rose to its peak during the thirty years of fortune that followed in the direction most favourable to coming into the world.
- On 4 August 1979, the day the film Galaxy Express 999 opened, his three earthly branches were completed as one great configuration and his central star surfaced in two layers. The strongest star sits in his late years, and he kept drawing until eighty-five. He shares the same vessel of great scale with Shotaro Ishinomori, born on the same day. Ishinomori lived it through volume, Matsumoto through time. The destiny is the same; how the vessel is filled decides what remains.
Questions
The questions the report answers
- How could one author keep drawing stories on the scale of the cosmos?
- What overlapped on 4 August 1979, the day the film opened?
- What did the blank in fortune in his teens leave on the rest of his life?
- How could he leap so far beyond the ties of parents and family line?
Public Record
The record, year by year
Selected events from the public record. Analysis and judgement are given in the report itself.
| 1938 | 丁丑 (天) | Born in Kurume, Fukuoka |
| 1954 | 甲午 (天) | Debuts at sixteen with Mitsubachi no Bouken |
| 1971 | 辛亥 | Breaks through with Otoko Oidon |
| 1974 | 甲寅 | The television anime Space Battleship Yamato begins |
| 1977 | 丁巳 | Space Battleship Yamato film released; Galaxy Express 999 and Captain Harlock begin |
| 1978 | 戊午 | Shogakukan Manga Award; the Galaxy Express 999 television anime begins |
| 1979 | 己未 | 4 August: the film Galaxy Express 999 opens and tops the year’s Japanese box office |
| 1999 | 己卯 | Bronze statues of his works in Tsuruga, Fukui |
| 2003 | 癸未 | Interstella 5555 with Daft Punk |
| 2012 | 壬辰 | Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters |
| 2014 | 甲午 | 60th anniversary of his debut; Dimensional Voyage begins |
| 2023 | 癸卯 | 13 February: dies at eighty-five |
Year pillars change at Risshun, in early February. (天) = void year or void decade. (天天) = void year within a void decade.
Contents
14 pages
- Destiny profile and chart
- Yin and yang charts
- Axis and type of destiny
- Ten-year phases
- Composite numerical table
- The metal branch chart
- The great half-union
- The food god in the void
- The void and the union of the first decade
- The north-western decades
- The four layers of 4 August 1979
- Timeline chart
- Public record
- Conclusion
Purchase
Order this Research Case
¥50,000incl. tax · PDF · Japanese
Email the case number QS-RC-127. We reply with an invoice; the PDF follows once payment is confirmed.
Analysis supervised by FAITH (Makoto Tokunaga) — MSc Economics, University of Warwick · CICP · Shugakuin Saii