Who is Yasuhisa Hara?

Yasuhisa Hara was born on June 9, 1975, and worked as a salaryman before pursuing manga seriously. He studied drawing while employed, and his one shot Kongo, a historical story, won an encouragement prize in Weekly Young Jump's newcomer awards, which opened the door to serialization talks with Shueisha.

Hara has said the idea for Kingdom grew from his love of Chinese history and of films and manga about war. Before the series launched he researched the Warring States period in depth, and in 2003 he traveled in China and worked as an assistant to Takehiko Inoue on Vagabond, an experience he has credited for sharpening his sense of period detail and page craft.

Kingdom began in Weekly Young Jump in January 2006. It grew slowly at first, then accelerated after the anime adaptation began in 2012 and again after the first live action film in 2019. In 2013 Hara won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize for the series, one of the most prestigious awards in manga.

Hara draws Kingdom with a large team of assistants and is known for battle scenes that keep hundreds of soldiers individually readable. His covers, painted in a textured, almost woodblock energy, are a big part of why the tankobon editions are collected as objects and not only as reading copies.

He keeps a low public profile compared with many hit creators. Interviews focus on process: the Shiji as a base text, respect for the real generals he portrays, and his stated plan to draw the unification of China through to its historical end.