Hiroo Terada 'My Manga History' 16) Motoo Abiko

It happened suddenly on February 2, 1954.
When I opened the sliding door of my room at the sound of a knock, Mr. Hiroyasu Kato from 'Manga Shonen' and Osamu Tezuka were standing there with a young man in a student uniform.
'This is Motoo Abiko from Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture. He and Hiroshi Fujimoto are promising newcomers who draw manga under the pen name "Ashizuka Fujio" for Osaka's "Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun," "Boken-o," and "Manga-o" (Akita Shoten). He came to Tokyo to prepare to become a manga artist, but Tezuka-san is too busy to consult with him properly. Since Tezuka-san is going to be locked away for work, please let him stay for just one night.'
I am even worse at socializing than I am at drawing manga, and the idea of having a stranger stay in my four-and-a-half-mat room was preposterous, but I couldn't say "no" when asked by the respected Tezuka-san and Mr. Kato, to whom I owe so much. I invited him in, saying, "Yes, please!", but when the two of us were left facing each other, it was pathetic.
I didn't know what to talk about, or what to do about meals and bedding. I've forgotten whether I had urgent work, but anyway, I was flustered by the task of hosting Abiko-kun.
However, Abiko-kun was good at staying over. While being appropriately reserved, he ate the mediocre tea, snacks, and food I served, and then suddenly took out a scrapbook of his own work from his travel bag to show me.

I was amazed by Abiko-kun's body of work.
The manga was, of course, wonderful, but I was also impressed by the interviews and portraits of famous people he had serialized in the "Toyama Shimbun" where he worked, as well as his deep knowledge of literature and film.
The next day, Tezuka-san did not return.
And the day after that...
Abiko-kun waited for Tezuka-san to return by visiting relatives in Ryogoku, publishers, and movie theaters, but he finally gave up and returned to Takaoka on the 12th.
After that, he came to Tokyo once or twice, but on June 29, he and his partner Fujimoto-kun made their full-scale debut in Tokyo as "Fujiko Fujio."
For the thirty years since then, the influence and benefits I have received from Abiko-kun, both directly and indirectly, have been immense. It was such a fateful encounter that I think if he hadn't stayed in my room that day, half of my manga history would have vanished.

Abiko I was treated to Tera-san's specialty cabbage stir-fry and curry rice. After all, wasn't it just those two things every day? (Laughs)
(Omitted)
So, while I was staying there for a week, we got comfortable with each other, and we started talking about forming a manga group...

"This man is quite a broad-minded person. He puts up with me every day without ever showing an unpleasant face. He even takes time off work to keep me company, and despite his allergy to crowds, he takes aspirin and guides me to the movie theater. When it's time to eat, he diligently stir-fries cabbage and puts his heart and soul into making flavorless curry rice.
That I, who am shy, was able to stay comfortably for six days at the place of a man I had just met is not because I am thick-skinned, but because the master of this room has that much capacity for tolerance. It's definitely not because I'm thick-skinned." Just as Abiko felt reassured, Terada, who he thought was asleep, suddenly opened his eyes and said, "How about we form a new group together?"