Jibun Shi Tokidoki Showa Shi

[Machine Translation] On the occasion of his 77th birthday, the author decided to "write his own history. However, he is the most playful artist of his generation. Like his familiar portraits, his personal history is spiced up and full of humor. What inspired you to start drawing? Why did he give up his job as an award-winning graphic designer to start his own business? How did he meet his wife, the "goddess of fortune" for the Yamato family? How was the Yamato style of illustration born? What is the secret of the long-run success of "Black Angle" and "Portrait Painting School"? And so on... The story of seventy-seven years of his life, filled with laughter and tears, is freely written in his unique one-person narrative style. The story often veers off to the side in the style of the "Kogon Nenbutsu" (a comic storyteller), which is also in the Yamafuji style. The author vividly depicts the postwar Showa period, including the state of the world at the time, developments in the design and advertising industries, and memories of the people he met. This is a delightful and poignant book that reveals the author's fascinating true face for the first time.

喜寿を迎えるにあたって著者が思い立ったのは、「自分史を書いておこう」だった。といっても、当代一の戯れ絵師のこと。お馴染みの似顔絵同様、スパイスが効き、ユーモアあふれる自分史が出来上がった。絵を描こうと志したきっかけは?受賞歴多数のグラフィックデザイナーの職を捨て独立したわけは?山藤家にとって“幸運の女神”となる妻との運命的な出会いとは?山藤流イラストはどのようにして生まれたのか?「ブラック・アングル」「似顔絵塾」のロングランの秘密とは?などなど笑いあり涙ありの七十七年が、独自の一人語り調によって、思いつくまま自在に綴られている。落語「小言念仏」のご隠居さながら、しばしば話が横にそれるのも山藤流。当時の世相やデザイン・広告業界の動き、出会った人々の思い出なども交え、戦後の昭和を活き活きと描きだす。著者の魅力的な素顔が初めて明らかになる、愉快痛快な一冊。