Keiji Nakazawa

Keiji Nakazawa (1939–2012) was a Japanese manga artist and writer. Born in Hiroshima, he moved to Tokyo at the age of 22 and began his career as a professional artist. His first works were published from 1963 onward. Nakazawa drew on his own experiences of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in several works, including *Kuroi ame ni utarete* (*Under the Black Rain*) and *Ore wa mita* (*I Saw It*). He became best known for the autobiographical manga *Hadashi no Gen* (*Barefoot Gen*), which began publication in 1972 and was translated into numerous languages and adapted as a stage play and an animated film. Nakazawa died of cancer in 2012.