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Permanent Exhibition

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• Tezuka Osamu was born in Toyonaka City, Osaka Prefecture on November 3, 1928 as the eldest son of Tezuka Yutaka and Fumiko. Since November 3 fell on the birthday of the late Emperor Meiji, he was named Osamu using one of the Chinese characters for the name of the Emperor. His father, Yutaka, was working for Sumitomo Metals, and his mother, Fumiko, was a daughter of a military man. His grandfather on his father's side, Taro, was a lawyer, and his grand-grandfather, Ryoan, was a medical doctor, as Tezuka Osamu later described in "Tezuka's Ancestor, Dr. Ryoan". One of the ancestors on his mother's side was Hattori Hanzo, a ninja. Yutaka's hobbies included photography and movies. Fumiko was an enthusiastic Takarazuka Revue fan and a good talker. Tezuka's were a family with many interests, but they also maintained strict discipline. Tezuka Osamu had a younger brother, Hiroshi, and a younger sister Minako. Minako was particularly attached to Osamu and always followed him around in her childhood.
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• When Tezuka Osamu was five years old, his family moved to a villa Tezuka Taro had built in Gotenyama, Takarazuka City. Gotenyama is a residential area today, but at that time, foxes and raccoons inhabited thickets of various kinds of trees there, and it was a treasure house of insects. Takarazuka was also a modern city with its Takarazuka Grand Theater, Takarazuka Luna Park, Takarazuka Hotel, Takarazuka Golf Club, dance halls, etc., an atmosphere that helped foster the modernism of Tezuka Osamu 's manga.
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• Tezuka Osamu had been fond of drawing pictures since he was a small child. Even when he was in bad humor, he broke into a smile the moment he was given a sketchbook, and soon became engrossed in drawing pictures. Tezuka Osamu's parents used to place sketchbooks by their children's bedsides every night. In 1935, Tezuka Osamu started going to elementary school. There, he drew manga and created picture cards for circulation among the classmates. The character "Hyotantsugi" appeared in his early picture cards drawn when he was in the second and third grades. When he was in the third grade, he drew the several-page-long manga "Pin Pin Sei-chan," which won popularity among the teachers as well.
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• The elementary school that Tezuka Osamu attended was well known for its unique educational methods. Each grade had two classes, and students remained in the same class until they graduated. At that time, it was generally believed that boys and girls should be educated separately, but this elementary school was co-ed. The independence of students was respected in all aspects of school life, and each student was encouraged to develop his or her own character and abilities. Particular emphasis was placed on composition among all the other subjects. In composition lessons, Tezuka Osamu not only described what had actually happened but also added his own thoughts or even included what he imagined. He was sometimes scolded because of his deviations from the main thread of stories, but what he learned in these lessons may have made him become aware of his gifts as a writer. In addition, his drawing abilities amazed the teachers. In the fifth grade, he started to use the pen name "Osamushi," which was taken from the name of a beetle, for his drawings and other works.
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• Tezuka enters junior high school in April 1941. The Pacific War breaks out on December 8 in the same year. Tezuka belonged at the art group and spent an emotional age while learning the picture, the insect collection, the science magazine and editing the companion with classmate. The cartoon comes to draw the real one that the Indian ink and the pen were used at the end of the trial and error, and one of the story he wrote in his junior high-school days is showing the foreword to have a presentiment of the birth of the story cartoon. "Lost the world" was start with the introduction words, "this is not just a cartoon but also a novel". Moreover, Tezuka modeled his classmate to write "Higeoyaji" that is first "Higeoyaji" appearing, and having become an important character of Tezuka's cartoon. There was an encouragement of the teacher who had understanding, too and bloom the talent to the cartoon person to Tezuka though doing the cartoon became impossible in the war the age.
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