Junji Ito

Junji Ito (Japanese: 伊藤 潤二, Hepburn: Itō Junji; born July 31, 1963) is a Japanese horror manga artist. Some of his most notable works include Tomie, a series chronicling an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness; Uzumaki, a three-volume series about a town cursed by spirals; and Gyo, a two-volume story in which fish are controlled by a strain of bacteria called "the death stench." His other works include The Junji Ito Horror Comic Collection, a collection of his many short stories, and Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu, a self-parody about him and his wife living in a house with two cats.

Ito's work has developed a substantial cult following, and Ito has been called an iconic horror manga artist. His manga has been adapted to both film and anime television series, including the Tomie film series and both the Junji Ito Collection and Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre anime anthology series.

Junji Ito was born on July 31, 1963, in Sakashita, now a part of Nakatsugawa, Gifu. He began his experience in the horror world at a very young age, with his first manga being Mummy Teacher by Kazuo Umezu; his two older sisters read Umezu and Shinichi Koga in magazines, and consequently, he began reading them too. He grew up in the countryside, in a small city next to Nagano. In the house where he lived, the bathroom was at the end of an underground tunnel, where there were spider crickets; such experiences were later reflected in his works.

Ito began to draw manga at the age of 4, taking inspiration from the works he read in magazines. He continued to draw as a hobby until he became a dental technician in 1984, where he struggled to find a balance between the two.

In 1987, he submitted a short story to Monthly Halloween that won an honorable mention in the Kazuo Umezu Prize (with Umezu himself as one of the judges). This story ran for 13 years and was later serialized as Tomie.

Ito drew the cover of Mucc's 2002 album Hōmura Uta. He collaborated with the band again in 2020, for the cover of their made-to-order single "Shōfu 2020". Ito teamed up with Takashi Nagasaki and former diplomat Masaru Sato to create Yūkoku no Rasputin (2010–2012), based on Sato's personal experiences in Russia, for Big Comic.

Film director Guillermo del Toro cited on his official Twitter account that Ito was originally a collaborator for the video game Silent Hills, of which both Del Toro and game designer Hideo Kojima were the main directors. However, a year after its announcement, the project was canceled by Konami, the IP's owner. Ito and Del Toro would later lend their likenesses to Kojima's next project, Death Stranding.

Ito's work Uzumaki was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2003 and 2009.