Takao Saito

was a Japanese manga artist, although he rejected the term and considered his work gekiga. He was best known for Golgo 13, which has been serialized in Big Comic since 1968, making it the oldest manga still in publication. Golgo 13 holds the Guinness World Record for "Most volumes published for a single manga series" and, in accordance with Saito's wishes, it continues to be serialized following his death from pancreatic cancer in September 2021. Saito won several awards in his 66-year career, including the Shogakukan Manga Award twice, and received the Medal with Purple Ribbon and Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government for his contributions to the arts.

Life and career

Early life and start of his career Born in Nishiwasa city (now Wakayama city), Saito's family moved to Osaka soon after and opened a barbershop. He did not know he was born in Nishiwasa until he was 43 years old. After his father left the family to become a photographer, his mother raised Saito and his four siblings alone while working as a hairdresser.

Founding of Saitō Production and mainsteam breakthrough In April 1960, Saito left the Gekiga Kōbō and founded Saitō Production, a manga studio modeled on film production companies. This allowed for a hierarchical division of labor among staff, including scenario writers, pencillers, background artists, and tone applicators. By the late 1960s, Saitō Production had grown into a manga factory, standardizing output across multiple projects and genres while maintaining a distinctive “Saitō-Pro” style. The studio’s model emphasized efficiency over individual artistry, with Saito himself reportedly saying, "Even though I'm an artist, I'm not good at drawing pictures." Saito led the company until his death.

Saito entered the mainstream manga industry in 1963 with 007, an adaptation of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels for Shogakukan's Boy's Life magazine. In 2013, Saito said "The manga has continued so long that it is no longer the property of the author; it belongs to the readers." It has been adapted into two live-action films, one animated film, an OVA, an anime TV series, and several video games. In 1971 Saito also started to give courses in drawing manga.

Saito was a director at , a publishing company spun-off from his Saito Production. It was founded in November 1974 and Saito's older brother was its president and CEO until his death in 2016. Following his brother's death, his brother's eldest son took over. In addition to many other products, Leed jointly publishes the Golgo 13 volumes with Shogakukan.

Saito illustrated an adaptation of Shōtarō Ikenami's Onihei Hankachō novel series that has been continuously serialized in Leed Publishing's Comic Ran magazine since 1993, although a mistake by the editorial department resulted in the September 2019 issue becoming the first in 25 years to not include a chapter. He initially created it based on scripts by Sentarō Kubota (volumes 1–40), then on scripts by Kusumi Ohara from volume 40 until 53, when Ohara was joined by Kaori Moriyama.

Later life and death Saito said he suffered retinal detachment at the age of 28 and was diagnosed as diabetic at 48. He was a close friend of fellow manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori.

Saito died of pancreatic cancer at 84 on September 24, 2021. His death was announced five days later by Shogakukan, along with his wish that Golgo 13 continue on without him. The Saito Production group of manga creators continues its publication with the assistance of the Big Comic editorial department. Reception and legacy

International editions JManga released digital English versions of several of Saito's series, including Onihei Hankachō, Barom-1, Japan Sinks and Doll: The Hotel Detective.

Awards and accolades

In 1976, Saito won the 21st Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category for Golgo 13.

In 2002, he and Golgo 13 won the Grand Prize at the Japan Cartoonists Association Awards.

In 2003, the Japanese government gave Saito the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his contributions to the arts.

In 2005, Golgo 13 was one of two winners of the Special Judges Award at the 50th Shogakukan Manga Awards.

In 2010, the Japanese government gave Saito the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette.

In 2013, over 300 people attended an event at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel to celebrate 45 years of Golgo 13, including Deputy Prime Minister of Japan Tarō Asō.

In 2017, Saito received the Iwate Hometown Special Manga Award at the 7th Iwate Manga Awards for having a residence in Hanamaki, Iwate and including a character from the prefecture in Golgo 13.

In January 2018, he received the Wakayama Prefecture Cultural Award from his birth prefecture. That year he was also awarded the Special Prize from the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize committee for his contributions to manga over the decades.

On October 6, 2021, the Japanese government decided to confer the Senior Sixth Rank to Saito posthumously.

Saito Takao Award The Saito Takao Gekiga Cultural Foundation established the in 2017 for "outstanding works" created using the division of labor system Saito employed of separating the writing and illustrating of manga. First awarded in January 2018, it is given to the scenario writer, illustrating artist, and editor/editorial department of the winning manga. The prize given is called the "Golgo 13 Trophy," and winners in the writer and artist categories also receive 500,000 yen (about US$4,530). Only professional manga editors can submit nominations. Nominated manga must target adult readers and be completely original works, not adaptations. In addition to Takao Saito (until his death), Ryoichi Ikegami, Jūzō Yamasaki and writer Masaru Sato have served on every final selection committee until the eighth year. Takashi Nagasaki has been on each committee following his winning the first year under the pen name Richard Woo. Yū Koyama replaced Ikegami beginning in the eighth year, while Osamu Akimoto replaced Yamasaki in the ninth. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, the fourth Saito Takao Awards presented a Special Award to Buronson for his 48 years in manga and announced that works nominated for that year would instead be treated as nominees for the following year.

Recipients YearTitleWriterIllustratorEditor(s) 2018 Abracadabra ~Ryōki Hanzai Tokusōshitsu~ Richard Woo Seimu Yoshizaki Nakayama, Hirai (Big Comic Original) 2019 Issak Shinji Makari Double-S Hitoshi Arai 2020 Reiri Hitoshi Iwaaki Daisuke Muroi Takafumi Sawa 2021 Not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic; Buronson was awarded a "Special Award". 2023 Kēki no Kirenai Hikō Shōnen-tachi Koji Miyaguchi Suzuki Masakazu Tomoaki Iwasaka 2024 Abura Number 8 Sakuzo Baku Sho Kobayashi, Shinpei Wada 2025 Shimazaki in the Land of Peace Gouten Hamada Takashi Seshimo Kouji Tabuchi, Yuuji Hara 2026 Chichi o Yaku Yoshimitsu Miyabe Osamu Yamamoto Tatsumi Kato

Selected works

007 (1964–1967)

Japan Sinks (1970) (manga adaptation) , which was adapted into the unreleased NES video game Secret Ties.

(manga adaptation)

(manga adaptation)