‘Usagi’ creator returns home

Life on the road can have its share of odd perks. Ask Stan Sakai, creator of the comic book "Usagi Yojimbo," who has been a guest at comic conventions around the world. "When I travel, I like to eat the food of the region I'm in," Sakai says. "I was in Norway when my hosts asked if I would like to try a typical Norwegian peasants' meal. Northern Norway is a sheep-raising area, and during feudal times the lord of the area took the best parts of the sheep.

"That night, I had a boiled sheep's head and a turnip."

At least exotic food won't be much of a concern when the Hawaii-raised artist returns home for this year's Kawaii Kon. But he will have to deal with legions of "Usagi" fans who've declared the usual intentions -- on the anime convention's online message boards -- to seek autographs and grill him about his work.

Sakai is more than up to the task.

"Anime cons are especially neat," he says, "because there are so many cosplayers (fans who dress as anime and manga characters) with their carefully crafted costumes, and it's just a different crowd from the comic conventions I usually attend."

The worldwide popularity of "Usagi" has Sakai heading off to far-flung parts of the world. The series, first published in 1984, follows the adventures of the rabbit samurai Miyamoto Usagi in an anthropomorphic feudal Japan after the samurai's lord was defeated at the Battle of Adachigahara.

The graphic novels have been translated into about a dozen languages, including Croatian and Czech. "I did a book-signing tour of Poland a couple of years ago," Sakai says. "That is something I could never have imagined when I first started. Usagi has also been seen as toys, clothing and even on TV as a guest on the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' show."

The comic has also spurred pins, an art book, calendars, collectible statues and even a tabletop role-playing game.

While not specifically in "manga" style, the characters and setting of "Usagi" attract both manga fans and readers simply looking for a good story. "My storytelling is influenced more by movies than comics, with directors such as Kurosawa, Hitchcock or even (Alexandro) Jodorowsky. Many reviewers have remarked about the cinematic feel in 'Usagi,'" Sakai says.

But he is familiar with the big names of anime. Aside from spending his childhood with Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, "I grew up with the old manga and anime -- 'Astro Boy,' 'Gigantor,' 'Speed Racer' and 'Princess Knight.'"

He enjoys the works of artist Rumiko Takahashi and film director Hayao Miyazaki, but his true idol and early influence was Osamu Tezuka. Sakai calls him the "all-time master of manga and anime."

He met the artist several times in the late 1980s when Tezuka attended the San Diego Comic Convention. "He was a very nice, sincere man. The funniest thing was that he looked just like he always drew himself -- beret, black jacket and everything."

But it was another famous -- and much older -- Japanese figure that eventually led to the creation of "Usagi Yojimbo."

"I grew up reading manga and going to chambara movies at the old Kapahulu Theater, and wanted to do a comic book series loosely based on the life of Miyamoto Musashi, who lived in the 17th century," he says. "One day while sketching in my drawing book, I drew a rabbit with his ears tied in a samurai chonmage (topknot). I loved the look. It was simple, but no one else had ever done it before. I named this character Miyamoto Usagi -- 'usagi' means 'rabbit' in Japanese."

Sakai's appearance at Kawaii Kon comes on the heels of several far-flung trips, including one to New York and a visit to Spain last month for a comic convention with Sergio Aragones, creator and artist of "Groo the Wanderer," for which Sakai is the letterer.

He keeps journals about his trips, "otherwise I would not remember that it was in Posnan that I had to do a nighttime signing by candlelight after the construction company next to the bookstore broke through the power lines 15 minutes before I got there," Sakai says. "Or that 'windy' in Polish means 'elevator' and is not the hotel giving me a weather report."

Work often overlaps convention appearances, and Sakai uses long airplane flights as vehicles for creativity.

He wrote the story for "Usagi" issue No. 99 while flying to New York, and used the flight back to thumbnail the story. He even brought five story pages to ink while on his trip.

Before coming to Honolulu, he was finishing the art for "Usagi" No. 95, the cover for "Usagi" No. 98, several art plates for the 20th "Usagi" graphic novel and a pin-up for Frank Miller's "Sin City."

But all the globe-trotting aside, Sakai enjoys returning to the place of his boyhood, especially now as a guest of Hawaii's first and only anime convention.

Sure, he'll host an "Usagi" panel and a drawing workshop at Kawaii Kon. But there were other motives for him to return.

"I have to admit that much of it was being able to visit with family, to replenish my crack seed supply and to eat the local food. There are a couple of Hawaiian restaurants around my area, but it's still much better to eat Hawaiian food back home."