Biography | Kenji Ogiwara a.k.a. Kenji Hagiwara (1921–1990)

Kenji Ogiwara a.k.a. Kenji Hagiwara (1921–1990) was a Japanese mangaka born into a family whose ancestors had been samurai of the Matsumoto domain. He grew up in Asakusa, known for its dense artisan culture, and as a child, he developed an interest in history, becoming familiar with classical Chinese texts, which provided him with a strong foundation in historical knowledge.

He briefly studied at the Kawabata Art School before enrolling at the Croquis Institute. There he met kindred spirits who would later become notable mangaka, including Susumu Nemoto, Eijirō Shiota, Toshiko Ueda, and Tamotsu Nagai (no relation to Go Nagai).
In 1939, Nagai invited Ogiwara to join his group of young manga artists, the Manga Assault Team. Ogiwara joined, but "felt uncomfortable with the name" and persuaded the members to change it to Manga Kyōdan (Manga Association), marking the start of his professional path. He contributed to the magazine Manga and other periodicals under this group.

During World War II, Hagiwara served as a reporter with an Army press unit in the Burma campaign. This experience exposed him to the realities of conflict and influenced his later interests in storytelling.

In the postwar decades, Hagiwara came to be regarded, together with Yoshirō Katō and Taizō Yokoyama, as one of the "Postwar Three Musketeers", a label reflecting both the scale of his work and the broad public reach of his manga during Japan’s postwar recovery.

Hagiwara himself humbly remarked, "They should have been called the two Musketeers, but the media didn’t think 'two' sounded good, so they looked for someone extra and added me to make it a triumphant group. It forced me to improve myself so it was good for me."

His stories frequently focused on ethos and historical reinterpretation, bridging traditional Japanese themes and bringing them to adult readers through newspapers, magazines, and other publications.

In 1951, he serialized Gunnai-kun in the evening edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun. In the 1960s, he serialized Nantoka Samurai in the evening edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and Clari-san in the evening editions of the Chunichi Shimbun, Tokyo Shimbun, Hokkaido Shimbun, and Nishinippon Shimbun.

Hagiwara’s storytelling blended dramatic action with cultural reflection. Among his most recognized titles are Hanasakeru Bushidō (The Blossoming Way of the Warrior), Miyamoto Musashi, and Ninjutsu Bushidō, works that offered adventure and a new perspective on historic events.
In 1960, he was awarded the Bungei Shunjū Manga Award, one of Japan’s major manga honors, recognizing his influence on the medium and acknowledging his importance.

In 1970, Chikuma Shobō published the Kenji Hagiwara Anthology, a collection that brought together a wide range of his works, including Oh! My Descendants, The Revenge Chronicles, Japan's Unexpected Women, Kawabata’s Prosperity Chronicles, and several other stories, preserving his artistic legacy and making his work accessible again to a broader range of readers and collectors.

Hagiwara’s work was part of the postwar manga that expanded beyond child-centered entertainment into historical narrative and social reflection, paving the way for gekiga and mature comics, making him one of the mangaka that defined adult-oriented manga in the mid-20th century. He remained active through the 1960s and into the 1970s with serialized comics and independent book publications.