Stan Sakai: Samurai With A Pen by Chiori Santiago

[Steve Hubbell]

From Nikkei Heritage - Spring 2002...

STAN SAKAI: SAMURAI WITH A PEN
By Chiori Santiago (Nikkei Heritage)
He has the speed of a hare and the heart of a bunny. In his hands, a tuna is a deadly weapon; blades of grass bow before the onslaught of his swift sword. He’s Usagi Yojimbo, long-eared hero of a popular series created by Pasadena, CA resident Stan Sakai and published by Dark Horse Comics.
Sakai’s work is included in museum collections and exhibitions; he’s earned many awards, including three Eisners, the American cartoon industry’s top honor, out of 15 nominations. This year alone he’ll travel to appearances in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Hawaii.
To his fans, Sakai is the genius behind their favorite series’ characters: samurai peacekeeper Usagi Yojimbo, his English medieval counterpart Nilson Groundthumper and Tomoe Ame (a sword-wielding female who bears the name of that jelly candy everyone eats at Obon festival—an example of Sakai’s typically Nikkei humor).
At home, Sakai is simply Dad. "I was a stay-at-home parent for years," he says. "I make the lunches for my two kids and make sure every gets out the door." The soft-spoken artist is modest about his accomplishments, although in 20 years as a freelance cartoonist he’s become one of the few Nikkei who’ve achieved cult status.
Sakai was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1953, the son of a Hawaiian Nisei soldier stationed there after World War II. The family moved to Hawaii when Sakai was two, where he grew up in the cultural mix of Waikiki Beach. On weekends, he’d head for the chambara movies showing at the theater down the street; then buy the latest comics to catch up on the antics of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. In junior high school he was one of a group of aspiring cartoonists who’d get together to draw and encourage one another.
A fine arts degree from University of Hawaii was inevitable. Getting a job, however, wasn’t so easy. "I answered an ad fresh out of college," he recalls. "It had something to do with art work." The position, supervising a fabric printing operation, kept him busy mixing colors and overseeing design for several years. He became general manager of the business, then went to California to open a new fabric printing enterprise. He lasted just a year.
"I was beginning to feel it wasn’t the right career. I was in my mid-twenties; my wife Sharon and I had nothing to lose. I decided to take the plunge and pursue my artwork." The first few years were a struggle as he took his portfolio around Los Angeles. He drew editorial cartoons, did book illustrations and album covers. His breakthrough was as a letterer for Sergio Aragonés’ series Groo the Wanderer. His first story, Nilson Groundthumper, was published in Steve Gallacci’s Albedo comics. Usagi Yojimbo appeared in the following issue; those early stories now sell to collectors for hundreds of dollars.
Strictly speaking, Usagi Yojimbo isn’t manga. Although the stories are based on the well-known Japanese tales of Miyamoto Musashi, the style owes more to American comic books, Sakai says.
"The pacing is very different from manga. Japanese stories develop slowly, over time, and many times they end quickly. I have a Western way of storytelling. The stories develop much faster, building to the familiar structure of climax and denouement."
Opening the pages of Usagi Yojimbo is like stepping into the set of an old black-and-white film by Akira Kurosawa. The Japanese director is one of Sakai’s favorites and the comic book’s scenes echo those in Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. Sakai admits to a fondness for Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, the series of films featuring blind swordsman Zato Ichi and the cinematography of High Noon—all visual references that work their way into his drawings.
"My panels tend to be filmic," he says. "I like the way, for example, that a movie like Terminator 2 introduces the Linda Connor character with a close-up of her face. I might establish a character that way."
Sakai spends hours researching details of his subjects. He’s built storylines around Japanese firefighters, kendo, kite making and games of go. "Once I confused go and gomoku, and got emails correcting me from as far away as Germany," he says. "So I’ve learned to consult books, videos, whatever I need to try to educate readers accurately. My mother is a great source of information; she knows a lot about Japanese history."
When he started the series, "I wrote it for a readership of one. These are the stories I would like to read." Today, hundreds of fans chart Usagi Yojimbo’s every move on such sites as www.usagiyojimbo.com, and the cartoonists he once admired now count among his colleagues.
"My own kids didn’t read my comics until a few years ago," he says. "They thought of them as just something Dad did. Then Matt Groening was looking for contributors to one of his Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror books and his kids begged him for a Stan Sakai drawing." Sakai laughs gently.
"To them, he’s just Dad, but I was the creator of Usagi Yojimbo. Imagine that!"
Spring 2002 - National Japanese American Historical Society