Naohisa Inoue
Japan
Naohisa Inoue
Born in Osaka, Japan in 1948, Naohisa Inoue graduated from Kanazawa College of Art in 1971 and later served as a professor at Seian University of Art and Design. He has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in major art fairs across Japan and China every year.
Naohisa Inoue is one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most beloved artists. Miyazaki not only collects Inoue’s paintings but also invited him to participate in the production of several Studio Ghibli masterpieces, including Whisper of the Heart (1995), The Cat Returns (2002), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), The Day I Bought a Star (2006), and Iblard Jikan (2007). He also created permanent murals for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, and is regarded as one of the key artistic figures behind Studio Ghibli’s poetic visual world.
Inoue’s lifelong artistic practice centers on painting a mysterious and enchanting world he named Iblard—a utopia where everything finds its reflection in reality. Through his art, he invites viewers to perceive, reshape, and appreciate the world “in the way of Iblard,” merging imagination and reality into a harmonious vision.
Selected Publications in Japanese Textbooks
-Sketches of Ireland, cover illustration for Junior High School Japanese Textbook, Japan Educational Publishing, 2001
-Depicting What Has Yet to Become Language, cover illustration for Junior High School Japanese Textbook, Japan Educational Publishing, 2004
- The Tree with Airships, illustration & commentary, Junior High School Art Textbook, Bunkyo Publishing, 2005
- The Day We Discovered the Ship, illustration & commentary, Junior High School Art Textbook, Mitsumura Tosho Publishing, 2012
Selected Publications
- Iblard (Art Book), Kakūsha, 1981
- Journey to Iblard (Picture Book), Kodansha Picture Book Newcomer Prize, Kakūsha reprint, 1996
- Iblard Monogatari (Manga), Seishinsha, 1985; revised and collector’s editions released in 1995
- Iblard Natural History Series Vol. I–VI, Kakūsha, 1994–2011
- The Story of Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (Picture Book), Tokuma Shoten & Studio Ghibli, 1995
- Iblard: Laputa’s City Return Game, PlayStation, 1997
- Laputa Landscapes (Manga), Kakūsha, 1997
- The World Is Your Collection (Art Book), Kakūsha, 2001
- Updraft II and Voices Heard on the Road (Murals for Ghibli Museum), Kodansha & Studio Ghibli, 2002
- The Day I Bought a Star (Picture Book), Kakūsha & Studio Ghibli, 2006
- Iblard Jikan (Blu-ray Art Film), Studio Ghibli, 2007
- The Painter Who Stepped Out of the Textbook (Interview Book), Shobunsha, 2013
- Guiding Lights of Travel (Art Book), Kakūsha, 2014
- The World Appears More Beautiful (Art Book), Seishinsha, 2017