Interview with Stan Sakai on the Saga of Usagi Yojimbo

So the new SJ issue is out today with a Stan Sakai interview/article.  It was rather a freak incident actually that I got to talk to him, and as a big fan it was a real honor.  I was careful though not to geek out too much.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me the editor-who-shall-remain-nameless changed my title and added some captions that labeled him a manga artist, which, of course, he's not, but I gather that seems to be a common mistake.  Any other errors are all mine.

By the way, it's common knowledge that Stan is one of the nicest guys in the comics business and that was certainly true of our phone interview.  Due to space we didn't get to use all of the interview, but maybe I'll post up the whole unedited transcript on this blog.  You know, for posterity and all that.

If you're wondering what this has to do with Sitz im Leben of Japanese living in Houston, not only is it loaded with cultural goodies to share with others, but it makes for an easy and fun way to learn English - for kids and adults alike.

The Southern Journal - October issue

Behind you, Usagi!  あぶない！

Update: since as of 6/12 I hear SJ might not always be up at its Issuu site, I'm going to go ahead and post it here as well:


Stan Sakai on the Saga of Usagi Yojimbo

If you’re like me, a product of 80s pop culture, you probably have childhood memories of watching the honor-bound samurai Usagi Yojimbo guest-starring in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons, and, incidentally, beating them all. 

Usagi Yojimbo (兎 用 心 棒  - literally, “Rabbit Bodyguard”) is the formidable creation of Japanese-American cartoonist Stan Sakai.  Over a 27-year span, Sakai’s wayfaring rōnin rabbit who rights wrongs in Edo-era Japan has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including three Eisner Awards, the highest prize in American comics.  Most recently, Sakai was honored with the Cultural Ambassador Award from the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. 

In an interview on October 3rd, every bit as modest and down-to-earth as his furry warrior companion, Stan was kind enough to share with me his thoughts on Miyamoto Usagi’s enduring popularity and on bearing such a respected role.  “You know, I’m just a cartoonist.  I do the Usagi stories because mainly that’s what I do; that’s my job. And I like to write stories with some kind of cultural or historical background because I think that good research only enhances a story and lack of research kills even the best stories.”

Lack of research strikes when you least expect it.

Usagi draws on a long tradition too.  Some of the first narrative scrolls in Japanese history, the light-hearted Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga, depicted ‘funny animal’ comics around the 12th century.

Almost all of Stan’s books are in black-and-white, and for good reason.  There’s something of a cinematic, Kurosawa-esque scope to the angles and pacing of scenes, and the crisp, almost understated line-work.  He encompasses the boiling pot of human drives, reminiscent of chambara and Zatoichi films, dealing with the life of the street hucksters, pickpockets, and avaricious gangs, balancing the knife’s edge with sudden, wrenching pathos.  And through it all we find our lovable, long-eared wanderer, ever ready with a jaunty smile beneath his kasa.

Despite the feudal subject matter and musha shugyō genre (similar to our knight-errantry), the storytelling style is still Western.  The research involved in tying together Usagi’s adventures with traditional Japanese arts and crafts makes for an added bonus.  Far from coming across as pedantic or bogging down the reader, all the detailed research and cultural appreciation interplays beautifully with the atmosphere: a story of emotional restraint between two people with chadō (tea ceremony), a thunderous tale of dire urgency counterpoised with Taiko drumming.

“I personally enjoy watching Taiko drummers,” Stan commented on the firsthand side of his studies.  “I was able to play a little Taiko from a teacher when I was in Seattle.  I picked up the sticks with my thumbs on top, curled around it, and they said, ‘No, you don’t hold it like that.  You’ll break your fingers.’  You know, just little things like that.”

“Right now I’m doing a story about shōyu-making, how they made soy sauce back in feudal Japan.  In the past, seaweed-farming, pottery-making, various festivals, sword-making.  I was privileged enough to participate in a couple tea ceremonies.  I was second guest and the hosts were very accommodating and they allowed me to ask any questions I wanted and they explained everything in detail that was going on and I was very happy to experience that.”

All of which practically ought to qualify him to be designated a Living National Treasure of Japan, right?  (Unfortunately, he’s not a Japanese citizen).  Yet ironically, Sakai is not well known in Japan, dominated as it is by the monolithic manga empire.  “There has never been a Western comic book that has made any type of significant dent in the Japanese manga market,” he pointed out.  “I’m just gratified that Usagi is published in like twelve or thirteen languages, and it’s incredible for me to even think about that.”

“I hear more from Westerners, saying that, ‘Because of your stories we’ve gotten interested in Japanese culture,’” he added.  “Or a father says his kids have discovered Japanese culture and at first they might just have been interested in manga and anime.  But it’s expanded their horizon into Japanese pop art or history.”

With Usagi being a cultural ambassador of sorts in his own right, Stan revealed a glimpse of what is to come down the road with the prospect of his contact with foreigners.  “I’m working on a story where he meets a Chinese herbalist.  The foreigners at that time were relegated to certain areas such as Nagasaki, so for regular Japanese citizens it was very rare for any of them to meet a foreigner at all.  But I’ll have Usagi meeting a couple of foreigners, you know, Europeans.  It’d be neat to contrast the differences between Europe and Japan at that time.”

Indeed.  So far, Usagi’s stoic, Bushido determination had handled anything and everything from mystery to humor to horror to slice-of-life vignettes.   There’s even a spin-off series called Space Usagi – and we all know rocketships + dinosaurs = the universal formula for awesomeness.

Whatever part of Japanese culture happens to be your cup of tea, it’s a journey you don’t want to miss.