Osamu Tezuka, who died in 1989 at the
age of 81, used to be known in Japan as "Manga no Kamisama",
that is, the god of comics. His fame and contribution to Japan’s
comics may be compared to Walt Disney in western countries. It’s
a shame that Tezuka’s fame in Italy is more related to cartoons
such as Kimba the White Lion (Jungle Taitei in Japanese) and Princess
Sapphire (the bible story co-produced by RAI and Mushi Productions)
rather than his other comics such as Black Jack, which were published
on an ad hoc basis up until a few years ago. Recently however, Hazard
Edizioni began publishing on a regular basis what may be regarded
as Tezuka’s masterpiece: Buddha. Buddha is a really long saga
of 14 books of 200 pages each. The saga was written after 11 years
of work, from 1972 to 1983 and has no equal in Japan or in western
countries.
It’s impossible to summarise "Buddha" and give an idea
of its plot, which has more the feel of a long novel. We could simply
say that the story takes place in India 3,500 years ago, when the
country was made of state-towns organised according to a system of
social castes. This system was ruled by the Brahmins, while the Pariah
was the lowest class. Prince Siddharta Gautama, the future Buddha,
was born in Kapilavastu in the 6th century AD. However, Tezuka’s
saga starts years before the birth of Siddharta. The novel indeed
begins with the journey of Brahmin Naradatta, who has been ordered
by Prince Ashita to look for the kid who one day will become a God.
Naradatta initially meets a young kid named Tatta, a pariah who is
able to talk to animals, and then his friend Chapra, who belongs to
the Sudra caste. Led by his desire of a social upgrade, Chapra is
adopted by general Budai and becomes a soldier. Chapra’s life
will follow a different track from Tatta’s but the pair will
meet again to face a dramatic destiny. This is just the prologue to
the story and only after describing the adventures of these two characters
does the author take us to Kapilavastu, where the local queen is just
about to give birth to a baby boy, who, according to the omens, will
be really special…
It’s easy to understand that "Buddha" is not at all
a didactic work or a work aiming at Buddhist propaganda. This fact
may be regarded as misleading to the western reader, who may want
to read Tezuka’s story with the purpose of learning more about
Buddhism, a topic largely discussed by the media these days. Tezuka
has declared that his "Buddha" may be regarded as a "science
fiction work similar to Astroboy". This remark may perhaps not
sound flattering for his work, but it is proof of the artist’s
thorough attitude. "Buddha" is similar to a symphony, which
Tezuka performs as a multi-instrumentalist.
If you happen to have a look at one of Tezuka’s books, don’t
be misled by the "simple" and "childish" style
of his drawings, or by the many anachronisms which the author introduces
to amuse his youngest readers. The historical background is reconstructed
in detail, and the plot itself, along with the relationships amongst
the characters, arises issues, which are never common, but rather
"mature". Tezuka manages to talk about life and death with
the incredible simplicity of a genius whilst representing the violence
of that time in a sincere way without being overly dramatic. He then
deals with the delicate issue of religion without superimposing it
on the story. Continuing with the musical metaphor, we could say that
in order to be able to provide the wide repertoire of sounds from
the strings of an instrument, the drawings have had to met a wide
range of needs. Tezuka simplifies the style of the drawings to create
funny situations; in other cases, when representing superb landscapes,
his simple style becomes almost hyper-realistic. While always keeping
in mind that comics are regarded as a "sequential art",
Tezuka also uses a movie type of sequence to represent action, by
defining the angles of the illustrations with a patient and fine art
similar to the one used by movie director Akira Kurosawa.
In short, "Buddha" is a great story, which can be read over
and over, especially by those who still believe that "comics
are for kids" or that "these Japanese comics are all the
same". It’s a shame that its publication, already limited,
is erratic. However, it’s well worth looking for the old issues
(nr. 7 has already been published) while waiting for the next one
to come out.
