Shigeru Mizuki, born Shigeru Mura on March 8, 1922 in Osaka, Japan, is recognized as one of the most significant manga artists of the 20th century, renowned for popularizing yōkai, supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore, through his art and storytelling. Raised in the coastal city of Sakaiminato, Mizuki displayed artistic talent from an early age, but his life and career were profoundly shaped by his experiences during World War II. Drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1942 and sent to New Britain Island in Papua New Guinea, he contracted malaria, witnessed the deaths of comrades, and lost his left arm in an Allied air raid. These traumatic wartime events instilled in him a deep-seated pacifism that would become a central theme in much of his later work.

After the war, Mizuki studied briefly at Musashino Art University before beginning his artistic career producing illustrations for kamishibai, a form of paper theater, eventually transitioning to manga in the late 1950s. His debut professional manga was Rocketman in 1957. Mizuki adopted his pen name from a nickname given by a superior officer, who called him Mizuki based on the location of his residence.

Mizuki is best known as the creator of the landmark manga series GeGeGe no Kitarō. The series originated in 1960 as a rental manga titled Hakaba Kitarō, meaning Kitarō of the Graveyard. It was renamed Hakaba no Kitarō when it began serialization in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 1965, before finally being retitled GeGeGe no Kitarō in 1967. The series follows Kitarō, a yōkai boy born in a cemetery, who acts as a mediator between the human and spirit worlds. The franchise achieved lasting fame and became a cultural touchstone in Japan. The enduring popularity of GeGeGe no Kitarō led to a remarkable and sustained adaptation history, with a new anime television series being produced approximately every decade starting in 1968, including notable versions in 1971 and 1985, as well as later film adaptations and video games. Another notable original work is Akuma-kun, a manga series about a boy who practices demonology, which was also adapted into an anime.

Beyond his fantastical yōkai narratives, Mizuki produced a significant body of work reflecting his anti-war convictions and historical critique. He authored powerful graphic novels about World War II, most famously Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (1973), which draws directly on his own wartime experiences. He also created works like Showa: A History of Japan, a multi-volume manga that intertwines his personal autobiography with the political and social history of Japan during the Shōwa era. His 1991 short work War and Japan, published in an educational magazine, unflinchingly depicted atrocities committed by the Japanese military, serving as a counterpoint to revisionist historical narratives.

Recurring themes and a distinct artistic identity define Mizuki's legacy. His signature artistic style contrasted cartoonish, endearing character designs with highly detailed, often grotesque backgrounds for his yōkai. Deeply influenced by the ghost stories told to him in his youth by a woman he called Nonnonba, Mizuki was also a serious folklorist who conducted extensive ethnographic research on supernatural traditions in over sixty countries. He viewed yōkai not merely as fictional monsters but as phenomena that seek to take form and be perceived by humans, an act he equated with artistic inspiration. This philosophy, combined with his wartime trauma, fueled a career that consistently used fantasy to critique modernization, nationalism, and the dehumanizing aspects of modern society.

Shigeru Mizuki's significance to the manga and anime industries is monumental. He is widely credited with reviving and preserving interest in Japan's yōkai folklore for contemporary and global audiences. His work has been honored with numerous awards, and in 2010 he was named a Person of Cultural Merit, one of Japan's highest cultural honors. A museum dedicated to his work opened in his hometown of Sakaiminato in 2003. Mizuki passed away on November 30, 2015 in Tokyo due to heart failure, but his vast and influential body of work remains a cornerstone of Japanese popular culture.