Katsuji Matsumoto
illustrator, manga artist (1904–1986)
Katsuji Matsumoto (松本かつぢ, Matsumoto Katsuji; 1904–1986) was a Japanese illustrator and shōjo manga artist. Matsumoto's 16-page The Mysterious Clover (1934) is recognized as a pioneering work in the field of manga, but he is best known for his shōjo manga Kurukuru Kurumi-chan, serialized from 1938 to 1940, and again from 1949 to 1954.
His illustrations were popular from the 1930s through the 1950s, and he contributed illustrations to numerous popular girls' novels by some of the period's most famous authors, including Yasunari Kawabata and Nobuko Yoshiya. He was also a prolific illustrator of children's books and created merchandise for babies, small children, and girls. The Gallery Katsuji Matsumoto in Tokyo is managed by his surviving children.
Early life and professional debut
Matsumoto was born in Kobe, the son of Toraji (寅治) and Ishi (いし) Matsumoto, but moved with his family to Tokyo at the age of eight. At the age of 13, he began attending what was then called Rikkyō (St. Paul's) Middle School. Through the introduction of a teacher at Rikkyō, Matsumoto began drawing illustrations for the magazine Shinseinen (新青年, "New Youth") at the age of 17. Matsumoto withdrew from Rikkyō at the age of 18 and began attending the Kawabata ga gakkō (川端画学校, "Kawabata Art School").
“Katsuji Matsumoto” enters the record as illustrator, manga artist (1904–1986). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Katsuji, Matsumoto and illustrator can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5353506. VIAF identifies the subject as 260465111. The Library of Congress control number is no2020133666. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1904, 1986, 1934 and 1938.
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This entry incorporates text from “Katsuji Matsumoto” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.