Manga Creator Nobuhiro Sakata Passes Away at 76

Remembering Nobuhiro Sakata: a talented professional golfer turned acclaimed manga creator. He passed away on July 22, 2024, at 76. 

Nobuhiro Sakata reportedly died on the 22nd at age 76. He was a professional golfer turned manga creator. It was reported by the editorial department of Shogakukan’s “Big Comic Original.”
The editorial department said, “Manga author Nobuhiro Sakata passed away on July 22, 2024, at the age of 76. Family members carried out the funeral without any publicly announced observances.”

He was born on 11 October 1947, in the Prefecture of Kumamoto. Additionally, Sakata was an active professional golfer, a manga writer, and the principal of the Sakata Junior Golf Academy. After leaving Kyoto University in 1969, he was drafted into the Self-Defense Forces and served until 1971. He started at Kanuma Country Club in Tochigi Prefecture in the same year and passed the Japan Professional Golf Association pro test in 1975. He started writing while continuing his playing life.

Renowned for works like “Kaze no Daichi” and “DAN DOH!!”, Sakata leaves behind a rich legacy that blends sport and art. Join us in celebrating his remarkable journey and contributions.

Among his works were “Kaze no Daichi” in “Big Comic Original”, “Naoko” in “Weekly Big Comic Spirits”, and “DAN DOH!!” in “Weekly Shonen Sunday”. He never stopped writing miscellaneous original works.  Some of them were “Hikari no Sora,” illustrated by Eiji Kazama, “Naoko,” illustrated by Yu Nakahara, “DAN DOH!!” illustrated by Daichi Banjou, and the “Daichi no Ko Series” illustrated by Eiji Kazama.
The final chapter of Kazama was published posthumously in Big Comic Original on December 5, 2022. Sakata died at the age of 76 on July 22, 2024.
Sakata and Bucchigiri manga creator Yuu Nakahara’s Naoko ran manga ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits magazine from 1994 to 2003.