'Shin Nipponto - Sho-chan no Boken' (1938).
Kaneko Shigemasa was an early to mid-20th century Japanese comic artist. He drew the adventure story 'Shin Nipponto - Sho-chan no Boken' (1938), about the Popeye-like sailor Sho-chan. Later in his career, he was a notable artist in the girls' comics genre. In addition to publishing manga under his real name, he also used the pen names Seki Shiro, Seki Shiro, Seki Shiro, Shinobu Ippei, Shinobu Miyuki and Shinobu Miyuki.
Early life
Kaneko Shigemasa (金子重正) was born in 1912 in the Ninohe District of the town of Ichinohe of the Iwate Prefecture. He attended art school in Tokyo.
'Shin Nipponto - Sho-chan no Boken' (1938).
Manga career
Between July and December 1938, Shigemasa created a weekly comic for Asahi Graph magazine, titled 'Shin Nipponto - Sho-chan no Boken' ("New Japanese Island(s) - Sho-chan's Adventures"). The story revolved around a muscular sailor, baring a strong resemblance to E.C. Segar's sailorman Popeye from the American 'Thimble Theatre' comic. Sho-chan's rival was obviously based on Popeye's nemesis, Bluto. Part of the tale is set in the Middle East, showing inspiration from the Fleischer Brothers' 'Popeye' cartoon 'Popeye the Sailor Man Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves' (1937).
In 1945, Shigemasa was evacuated to Ninohe City due to the severe air raids on Tokyo. After the war, he published many works in the field of rental manga and magazines for boys and girls. He notably drew girl's comics for the monthly magazine Shōjo Gahō ("Girls' Pictorial").
Illustration by Kaneko Shigemasa.
Later years and death
In the 1960s, Shigemasa gradually left the manga field and began to research folk tales and legends from the Ninohe region and create oil paintings and papercuts based on them. Kaneko Shigemasa died in 1982.
First Iwate mangaka?
Kaneko Shigemasa is considered the first mangaka coming from the Prefecture of Iwate, although his legacy wasn't researched until the 21st century. In 2009, the Ishigami Museum of Art in Iwate Town and the Yorozu Tetsugoro Memorial Museum in Hanamaki City organized an exposition called 'Manga Hyakuhana Ranman: 50 Expressions by Iwate Manga Artists', showcasing the work of manga artists with ties to Iwate. At the time, they hadn't been able to retrace any Iwate manga artists from before World War II, but since then they have discovered three pre-war mangaka active in the region: Kishi Takeo [1909-?) from Sawauchi Village, Uchimura Kosuke [1920-1989 from Morioka City and Kaneko Shigemasa. In December 2022, the Ishigami Museum of Art held an overview exhibition of Kaneko Shigemasa's work.
Flyer from the 2022 Kaneko Shigemasa exposition at the Ishigami Museum of Art.