By KENRO KURODA/ Staff Writer
May 12, 2023 at 08:00 JST
Kiwa Irie’s “Yuria’s Red String,” which questions the definition of “family,” won the Manga Grand Prix at the 27th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.
Sponsored by The Asahi Shimbun Co., the competition honors “Astro Boy” creator Osamu Tezuka and the indelible mark he left on Japan’s manga culture.
The Originality Prize, given for fresh talent and novel modes of expression, went to Gump’s “Danchotei Nichijo,” an autobiographical manga about the author’s battle with cancer.
Ebine Yamaji’s “Onnanoko ga iru Basho wa” (Girls’ places), which consists of five episodes about girls living in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, India, Japan and Afghanistan, won the Short Story Prize.
The Asahi Special Prize went to leading horror manga artist Kazuo Umezu, 86.
The awards ceremony will be held at Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in Tokyo’s Tsukiji area on June 8.
Each winner will receive a bronze statue.
The winner of the Manga Grand Prix will also take home 2 million yen ($14,600), while the Originality, Short Story and Asahi Special Prize winners will each receive 1 million yen.
“Yuria’s Red String” centers around a 50-year-old handicraft teacher named Yuria.
When her husband suffers subarachnoid bleeding, she not only learns that he has a younger male lover, but she also meets a woman--possibly another lover of his--with children.
Still, Yuria accepts them into her home and they start living together.
Interwoven with realistic issues, such as nursing care, adultery, sexual minorities and the COVID-19 pandemic, the story explores the concept of family.
“There is no need to be so conservative, and I think there is no problem for people to live together with someone not related by blood or marriage, or rather, they can be either men or women, as long as they get along with each other,” Irie, 56, said.
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An illustration drawn by Kiwa Irie to mark her winning of the Manga Grand Prix at the 27th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Provided by Kodansha Ltd.)
