Stan Sakai was born in Kyoto, Japan, grew up in Hawaii, and now lives in California with his wife, Julie. He has two children, Hannah and Matthew, and two stepchildren, Daniel and Emi. Stan received a fine arts degree from the University of Hawaii, and furthered his studies at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Stan's creation Usagi Yojimbo first appeared in the comic book Albedo Anthropomorphics #2 in 1984. Since then, Usagi has been on television as a guest of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and has been made into toys and seen on clothing, and his stories have been collected into more than three dozen graphic novels and translated into sixteen languages.
“Sixteenth-century Japan is never so entertaining as in Stan Sakai’s tales of Miyamoto Usagi.”—NPR’s Best Books of 2014 “Stan Sakai has successfully brought to American comics a collection of Japanese fables well told in the American style. Usagi Yojimbo is an enduring work. Bravo.”—Will Eisner “I think Usagi Yojimbo is one of the most original, innovative, well-executed comic books anywhere to be found. Stan's style of artwork, his crisp incisive writing, and his thoroughly professional pacing, all done in a relaxed and absorbed manner, have provided comics with something so rarely seen in this field—a new literary and artistic approach to illustrated storytelling.”—Stan Lee “Sakai is a total pro and a consummate craftsman.”—Rolling Stone