Institute / Research Cases / QS-RC-128
Shotaro Ishinomori
Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae, Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon. Nine cyborg warriors, Takeshi Hongo fighting evil as a remodelled man, a team of five colours — Shotaro Ishinomori widened the very range of what manga could draw, from the transformation of heroes to period drama and the explanation of economics. Born in Ishimori, Miyagi, he drew the events of each day for his sister Yukie, three years older, who seldom went out — and that became the origin of his manga. He debuted in 1954, at sixteen, with Nikyu Tenshi. His father opposed his becoming a manga artist, but his sister won their parents over, and in 1956, on finishing high school, he moved to Tokyo and into Tokiwa-so. His sister came to live with him there, and in 1958 he lost his greatest supporter. In 1964 he began Cyborg 009. He received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1968, and on 3 April 1971 the television series Kamen Rider began and set off a transformation boom. Himitsu Sentai Gorenger in 1975 became the origin of the Super Sentai series that followed. In 1989 he declared the term man-ga, and in 1998 he died at sixty. His 500-volume collected works were recognised by Guinness World Records as the most comics published by one author. He was born, in fact, on 25 January 1938 — the same day as Leiji Matsumoto. Why did two men with the same destiny rise at different times and in different forms? We read the vessel he was born with against his destiny and the phases of time.
At a Glance
The case
- Subject
- Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎) — Manga artist
- Period analysed
- 1938–1998
- 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, and he debuted within it. In the decade from his late twenties, as protective forces overlapped threefold, the story of the transforming hero was born. In his later life he redefined manga itself, through his change of name and his declaration of man-ga.
- His chart and the order of his decades are exactly the same as Leiji Matsumoto's. Ishinomori lived that vessel of great scale through volume, Matsumoto through time. Into the same vessel Ishinomori put a life of widening outward, extending manga from heroes to period drama and economics and breaking through by sheer volume with 500 volumes; Matsumoto put a life of deepening inward, drawing one cosmos for the rest of his life. Ishinomori carried the name of his birthplace as his pen name, while Matsumoto left his birthplace and let his work take root in other places. The destiny is the same; how the vessel is filled decides what remains.
Questions
The questions the report answers
- How could one author widen the very range of manga?
- What overlapped on 3 April 1971, the day Kamen Rider began?
- Why did his peak come at a different time from Leiji Matsumoto, who shares his destiny?
- 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 Ishimori, Miyagi |
| 1954 | 甲午 (天) | Debuts at sixteen with Nikyu Tenshi |
| 1956 | 丙申 | Moves to Tokyo and into Tokiwa-so |
| 1964 | 甲辰 | Cyborg 009 begins |
| 1968 | 戊申 | Shogakukan Manga Award for Jun and Sabu to Ichi |
| 1971 | 辛亥 | 3 April: the television series Kamen Rider begins |
| 1975 | 乙卯 | Himitsu Sentai Gorenger begins |
| 1985 | 乙丑 (天) | Changes his name to Ishinomori |
| 1988 | 戊辰 | Japan Cartoonists Association Grand Prize for Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon |
| 1989 | 己巳 | Declares the term man-ga |
| 1998 | 丁丑 (天) | 28 January: dies at sixty |
| 2008 | 戊子 (天) | Guinness World Record for his 500-volume collected works |
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
- One destiny, two lives
- The four layers of 3 April 1971
- Timeline chart
- Public record
- Conclusion
Purchase
Order this Research Case
¥50,000incl. tax · PDF · Japanese
Email the case number QS-RC-128. 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