青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

Manga, illustrations, and a wealth of text look back on the long road Fumiyo Kouno has traveled over her thirty years as the author of such acclaimed works as Yunagi no machi, Sakura no kuni (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms; Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Originality Prize, Japan Media Arts Festival Manga Division Grand Prize) and Kono sekai no katasumi ni (In This Corner of the World; Japan Media Arts Festival Manga Division Excellence Award). The volume opens with more than 140 full-color pages introducing manga manuscripts and illustrations from every phase of her career, including Machikado hanadayori (Stories of Flowers from the Street Corner), Nagai michi (The Long Road), Kokko-san, Kappa no Neneko (Neneko the Kappa), and Borupen Kojiki (Ballpoint-Pen Kojiki). A full-length author interview, a complete annotated list of works, a chronology (the first ever compiled), and a bibliography round out the satisfying reading experience.

As a bonus, the back of the book offers reprints of Suzushiro cho (Suzushiro Notebook)—a 1997 self-published booklet starring Kouno’s pet budgie—and a 1998 issue of the Nono noto (Nono Notes) newsletter distributed by Kouno at indie manga fairs.

Fumiyo Kouno was born in 1968 in the city of Hiroshima and attended Hiroshima University and the University of the Air (present-day Open University of Japan). She began running her first manga, Machikado hanadayori (Stories of Flowers from the Street Corner), in a magazine in 1995. Major works include Pippira noto (Pippira Notebook), Nagai michi (The Long Road), Kappa no Neneko (Neneko the Kappa), Yunagi no machi, Sakura no kuni (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms), Sansan roku (San-san’s Notebook), Heibon kurabu (Ordinary Club), and Giga taun manpu zufu (Giga Town: A Guide to Manga Iconography). Kono sekai no katasumi ni (In This Corner of the World) was adapted into a hit anime film directed by Katabuchi Sunao. In 2013 Kono received the Kojiki Publication Prize Hieda no Are Prize for Borupen Kojiki (Ballpoint-Pen Kojiki). She shares sketches, accounts of her parrot T-san, and behind-the-scenes looks into the writing of her latest work, Sorairo Shingyo (Sky-Colored Heart Sutra), in her personal blog, Kouno no hibi (Kouno’s Days).