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Mitsuhisa Kimura (1930–1996)
A.k.a. Jin Kimura, and later known as the papercut artist Shōtō Kimura, was a Japanese artist and mangaka.
He studied at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts and, after graduating a year early, moved to Tokyo to pursue a professional career in art. There, he studied under painter and illustrator Noriyuki Kondō and Masao Murayama, a mangaka known for adventure and historical stories. Murayama’s guidance encouraged Kimura to begin working in manga himself.
Kimura made his debut in the mid-1950s, and his work belongs to a transitional moment in manga when it was evolving from child-oriented entertainment into more mature, realistic storytelling. His work reflects this shift - serious in tone, expressive in linework, and often grounded in everyday or historical drama rather than comedy.
He maintained a base in Kyoto, away from the Tokyo mainstream, giving him a somewhat independent career path and largely explaining why his name does not appear as frequently in major manga histories despite his consistent artistic output.
After his years as a mangaka, under the name Shōtō Kimura, he established himself as a papercut artist (kirie), creating works that carried over the same sense of line, composition, and tension that had defined his manga drawing.
In his words, this change was not a “retirement” from manga art but a transformation of medium.
Kimura’s career had one constant: a strong aesthetic sensitivity to line and silhouette, emphasizing balance, rhythm, and craftsmanship.
He passed away in Kyoto on September 10, 1996. Since then, his work has received renewed attention from researchers and collectors interested in almost-forgotten or regionally active postwar mangaka. Some describe him as a “re-evaluated gekiga artist,” recognizing his role in expanding the expressive range of manga before moving into independent art.
Today, Mitsuhisa Kimura stands as a bridge between manga and fine art, his career reflecting both the evolution of postwar Japanese comics and the enduring influence of Kyoto’s artisanal heritage.
A.k.a. Jin Kimura, and later known as the papercut artist Shōtō Kimura, was a Japanese artist and mangaka.
He studied at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts and, after graduating a year early, moved to Tokyo to pursue a professional career in art. There, he studied under painter and illustrator Noriyuki Kondō and Masao Murayama, a mangaka known for adventure and historical stories. Murayama’s guidance encouraged Kimura to begin working in manga himself.
Kimura made his debut in the mid-1950s, and his work belongs to a transitional moment in manga when it was evolving from child-oriented entertainment into more mature, realistic storytelling. His work reflects this shift - serious in tone, expressive in linework, and often grounded in everyday or historical drama rather than comedy.
He maintained a base in Kyoto, away from the Tokyo mainstream, giving him a somewhat independent career path and largely explaining why his name does not appear as frequently in major manga histories despite his consistent artistic output.
After his years as a mangaka, under the name Shōtō Kimura, he established himself as a papercut artist (kirie), creating works that carried over the same sense of line, composition, and tension that had defined his manga drawing.
In his words, this change was not a “retirement” from manga art but a transformation of medium.
Kimura’s career had one constant: a strong aesthetic sensitivity to line and silhouette, emphasizing balance, rhythm, and craftsmanship.
He passed away in Kyoto on September 10, 1996. Since then, his work has received renewed attention from researchers and collectors interested in almost-forgotten or regionally active postwar mangaka. Some describe him as a “re-evaluated gekiga artist,” recognizing his role in expanding the expressive range of manga before moving into independent art.
Today, Mitsuhisa Kimura stands as a bridge between manga and fine art, his career reflecting both the evolution of postwar Japanese comics and the enduring influence of Kyoto’s artisanal heritage.
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