Ryoko Yamagishi

Ryoko Yamagishi (山岸 凉子, Yamagishi Ryōko, born 1947 in Kamisunagawa, Hokkaidō) is a Japanese manga artist. She is one of the Year 24 Group. Her major works include Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi and Terpsichora, both of which have won manga awards.

Biography

Yamagishi studied ballet as a child, which plays a part in many of her works. When she read the manga of Machiko Satonaka in 1964, she decided to pursue becoming a manga artist. Although her parents did not agree with this, in 1966 she entered a competition in Shōjo Friend and was a semi-finalist. She applied to Kodansha and sent some short stories to COM. In 1968, after completing her art studies in Hokkaido, she moved to Tokyo and applied for Shuiesha. The next year, she made her debut with left & right (レフトアンドライト), a short story which ran in Ribon.

In 1971, she released the manga series Shiroi Heya no Futari which is the story of a romance between two girls at a prestigious all-girls school in France. It was first published by Shueisha in Ribon, and was regarded as one of the earliest shōjo yuri manga.

In 1983, she won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi.

She worked on Terpsichora (The Dancing Girl; Maihime Τερψιχόρα) which was nominated for the 9th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2005, and won the 11th annual Tezuka prize in 2007.

Her works normally have occult themes, although her most popular are Arabesque, about Russian ballet, and Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi. According to Yoshihiro Yonezawa, Yamagishi's style is influenced by Art Nouveau.

Her work was exhibited at the Yayoi Museum [ja] from September to December 2016.

Works