To Your Eternity

To Your Eternity (Japanese: 不滅のあなたへ, Hepburn: Fumetsu no Anata e, lit. "To You, the Immortal") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since November 2016, with individual chapters collected by Kodansha into twenty tankōbon volumes as of August 2023. The story is about an immortal being, Fushi, who takes on multiple forms and freely utilizes their respective natural abilities at will, including that of an abandoned white-haired boy and his white wolf, in order to further evolve and stimulate as it learns what it is to be truly human over the decades and centuries.

Ōima, inspired by her own grandmother's death, aimed to write about survival and the character Fushi, who initially is an emotionless stone but gradually develops a self and personality as a result of interacting with humans, young and old alike. In contrast to her previous work, A Silent Voice, To Your Eternity puts little focus on the cast's past but instead, upon the future.

To Your Eternity has been well received in Japan, earning many awards and major sales. Critical response to the series debut was positive, based on the emotional focus on the villagers and Fushi to the point of often earning perfect scores. Despite some skeptical commentary on subsequent chapters lacking the same impact, Fushi's continuous character arc was praised while Ōima's artistry enjoyed positive reviews due to its detailed facial expressions and environments. In North America, the manga is licensed by Kodansha USA for a digital and printed English release. An anime television series adaptation of the manga, produced by Brain's Base, aired from April to August 2021 on Japan's NHK Educational TV; a second season produced by Drive aired from October 2022 to March 2023. A third season has been announced.

## Plot

### Season one

An otherworldly being called the Beholder creates a white orb (later named Fushi by a rambunctious young girl). Fushi takes on the form of a rock, then a dying arctic wolf. Fushi meets a white-haired boy living alone who mistakes him for his pet wolf, Joaan. After the boy dies, Fushi takes his form. He travels to the land of Ninannah, and meets a young girl called March, who was chosen as a sacrifice to a large white bear named Oniguma. March names Fushi and teaches him the rudiments of speech, and how to use his hands. Fushi defeats Oniguma, and he, March, Parona (an older sister figure to March), and the elderly woman Pioran, are taken prisoner by Hayase, to Yanome. They escape, but young March is killed protecting Parona and becomes a spirit. Fushi part ways with Parona and leaves Ninannah to escape Hayase, who is determined to control Fushi.

Accompanying Pioran, Fushi begins to speak like a child. As they travel to Takunaha, they are attacked by a plant-like being that can steal Fushi's forms and memories, a Nokker. Fushi kills it, regaining his memories. In Takunaha, Fushi meets a boy named Gugu, who was disfigured in an accident after saving Rean. Gugu saves Fushi from another Nokker, and Fushi, Gugu and Rean become friends. For four years, Fushi refrains from transforming or creating objects in order to live as a human. A Nokker attacks and Gugu was killed in the process while sacrificing himself to save Rean, who becomes a spirit like March. Fushi leaves Takunaha, paranoid of Nokker attacks, followed by Pioran.

Hayase pays a girl named Tonari to lure Fushi and Pioran onto a prison ship to Jananda island. Fushi enters the island's gladiatorial tournament. In the final round, Fushi faces Hayase, who reveals she killed Parona, assuming her form. An enraged Fushi is defeated by Hayase, who captures and attempts to rape him. Tonari and her friends come to try and save him, but at the same time, Nokkers attack the island, and three of Tonari's friends are killed. Fushi kills the Nokkers, and leaves the island with Hayase, abandoning her to die in the ocean, where she is attacked by a Nokker. Fushi reunites with Pioran and travels to an uninhabited island, but she develops dementia. Before her death, she asks the Beholder to have herself reborn as something useful to Fushi, a horse that Fushi later acquires.

### Season two

Fushi remains on the island for forty years, until Nokkers begin attacking humans off the island. As he prepares to leave, he meets Hisame, the nine-year-old granddaughter and reincarnation of Hayase. Hisame's left arm contains the Nokker which had merged with Hayase. The two travel to the site of the Nokker attack, where they meet the grown Tonari and Sander. Hisame tries to kill Tonari, and is wounded herself, but escapes. Tonari dies in front of Fushi, and becomes a spirit. Fushi rescues Hisame and refrains from killing the Nokker in her arm after she agrees to leave him. For the next two centuries, Fushi avoids extensive human contact, and is regularly visited by the obsessed Hayase's reincarnations and descendants; one of which is a male named Kahaku. They establish a religious cult called the Guardian Force, worshiping Fushi and opposing the Nokkers. After rival religions begin denouncing Fushi, Kahaku removes Fushi from his solitude to further improve his image.

The two are captured by Prince Bonichen, who had been instructed by Tonari to find Fushi. Bon lends his princely approval to Fushi and the Guardians, becoming a target for those opposed to Fushi. Bon witnesses Fushi resurrect a dead princess, but hides the fact from Fushi. Fushi is arrested by another kingdom and forced to demonstrate resurrection, but fails. Both Bon and Fushi are imprisoned, with Fushi encased in solid iron. Fushi escapes and rescues Bon, faking his death. The Nokker in Kahaku's arm warns that the Nokkers will attack the large city Renril in one year. Bon and Kahaku gather allies and warn the city, while Fushi further develops his ability to create objects from nothing.

In disguise as Booze Man, Fushi destroys and recreates buildings in Renril as extensions of his body. Hundreds of Nokkers attack the city, and during the battle March is accidentally resurrected. Tee of Bon's allies are killed, and Bon tells Fushi they can return to life. Fushi uses them to defend the city, resurrecting them where needed. As the battle continues, Kahaku's Nokker attacks Fushi, returning him to his original orb form. Bon kills himself near Fushi, giving him his form. Able to see the spirits of his friends, Fushi remembers them and returns them to life, and the battle is won as Fushi regains strength. Kahaku leaves the city with his Nokker, and later kills himself and his Nokker, but not before expressing his strong love for Fushi.

Fushi tells his friends he will make the world peaceful, and resurrect them after he has done so. He sleeps and spreads his body across the planet, to stop the Nokkers from returning. Fushi's friends live their lives and all die as Fushi sleeps. After 600 years, Fushi's body encompasses the entire planet, now at a modern level of technological advancement. During his sleep, the Nokkers become microscopically small, secretly living inside of and controlling human beings. Kahaku's Nokker lives in the brain of Mizuha, the eighteenth reincarnation of Hayase, and this Nokker leads the others in preparation for Fushi's return.

### Season three

After awakening five centuries into the modern era, Fushi resurrects the eleven spirits following him, including his closest friends March, Gugu, Tonari Dalton and Bonichen. The Beholder transforms himself into a twelve-year-old boy, calling himself Satoru. Fushi meets a boy named Yuki, and Mizuha, who falls in love with Fushi, being Hayase's great-great-great-great-great granddaughter and ninth reincarnation. Mizuha murders her mother, but she returns to life without Fushi's involvement, alerting him to the Nokkers' return. As he learns that the Nokkers are now living peacefully among humanity, Fushi becomes confused about what to do. He attempts to fight the Nokkers on his own, but Hayase's Nokker launches an attack on Yuki's school.

Hayase's Nokker is ultimately killed, and its organization collapses, but Nokkers continue living among humans. Satoru offers Fushi omnipotence, but he refuses. Before losing his memories Satoru reveals that he created the world out of boredom, then wanted to die in his creation, leaving Fushi to watch over it. After six decades, knowledge of Nokkers has become commonplace, Yuki dies, and Fushi leaves Yuki's home with his resurrected closest friends.

## Characters

Fushi (フシ)

A divine creature who can change his form and grow objects from his body. He was sent to Earth to preserve information and experiences. Through his journey he learns how to communicate with humans.

Nokkers (ノッカー)
Shapeshifting and parasitic entities that attempt to thwart the Beholder and Fushi's purpose in preserving all that exists. They are recurring antagonists throughout the series, one of which actually merges with the human Hayase, and continues to have some power over her many reincarnations/descendants over the centuries.

The White-Haired Boy
A young and lonely unnamed boy and the very first human being Fushi meets in the form of his good longtime wolf friend Joaan. After he dies, Fushi takes his form, often using it as a default appearance.

March (マーチ, Māchi)
A young girl who adopts Fushi after escaping from a sacrifice ritual.

Parona (パロナ)
An exiled villager; a friend and older sister figure to March.

Pioran (ピオラン)
An elderly woman who takes care of Fushi. She ultimately dies of old age and is reborn as a horse who aids Fushi over the decades as per her dying request.

Hayase (ハヤセ)
(Japanese); Kira Buckland (English)

A warrior who tries to sacrifice young March and later killed her. She takes an obsessive interest in Fushi and his ever-developing otherworldly abilities. She served as a primary antagonist for the first few arcs of the manga, and first season of the anime. Her descendants and reincarnations then entirely devote themselves to protecting Fushi in her stead and intend to carry on her twisted bloodline for future generations as devoted cult-like unit called the Guardians.

Gugu (グーグー)
A young man who works in Booze Man's restaurant after being treated by the latter when he was nearly dying and thus covers his damaged face with a mask.

Shin (シン)
Gugu's older brother who abandoned him.

Rean (リーン, Rīn)
A wealthy young girl who frequents Booze's store as she befriends Gugu and Fushi.

Booze Man (酒爺, Sake Jī)
The owner of a distillery and friend of Pioran.

Tonari (トナリ)
A young girl who accompanied her father when he was exiled to Janada, an island for criminals.

Hisame (ヒサメ)
Hayase's granddaughter and the leader of a group called Guardians, who seek to protect Fushi.

Kahaku (カハク)
A distant male descendant of Hayase and current leader of the Guardians.

Bonchien Nicoli la Tasty Peach Uralis (ボンシェン・ニコリ・ラ・テイスティピーチ=ウラリス, Bonshen Nikori Ra Teisutipīchi Urarisu)
An extremely eccentric prince of the Uralis Kingdom, who seeks to capture and get close to Fushi.

Torta (トルタ, Toruta)
Bonchien's little brother.

Pocoa (ポコア, Pokoa)
Bonchien's little sister.

Fen (フェン)
One of Bonchien's ghost confidantes.

Nixon (ニクソン, Nikuson)
One of Bonchien's ghost confidantes.

Todo (アイリス, Airisu)
Bon's love interest.

Cylira (サイリーラ, Sairīra)
The head of the Church of Bennett, a religious organization opposing Fushi, believing him to actually cause the conflict with Nokkers.

Kai Renald Rawle (カイ・レナルド・ロウル, Kai Renarudo Rouru)
An experienced soldier in the Uralis army.

Hairo Rich (ハイロ・リッチ, Hairo Ritchi)
A skilled soldier and a member of the Church of Bennett.

Messar Robin Bastar (メサール・ロビン・バスタル, Mesāru Robin Basutaru)
A mysanthrope soldier, who is secretly a prince of Renril.

Alme (アルメ, Arume)
The princess of Renril and acting queen, Messar's half-sister.

Iddy (エコ, Eco)
A mute little girl from a distant village, where people use vases to communicate, who Fushi takes in.

Cam (カム, Kamu)
A chubby and cheerful soldier of Renril, who is attracted to Yuiss.

Yuiss (ユイス, Yuisu)
A stoick archer in Renril's army.

Sera (セラ)

Sebas (セバス, Sebasu)

The Beholder (観察者, Kansatsu-sha)
The narrator and Fushi's creator who threw Fushi, as the Orb, to Earth in the series' beginning to observe it as it further changes form and acquires more and stimulation. He ultimately makes the choice to abandon his creation and have his own fey/vital spiritual essence reborn as a young human boy named Satoru.

## Production

Manga artist Yoshitoki Ōima conceived the title To Your Eternity after learning that her sick grandmother was going to pass away. At the outset, she was only certain of the title's nuance, but could not arrive at a decision. With the encouragement of colleagues, she eventually chose To Your Eternity. The decision to give the manga a fantasy setting was taken for the freedom it afforded, with supernatural beings offering unusual possibilities. She compares To Your Eternity to her other works, and states that, while A Silent Voice focuses on characters in the present confronting their past, To Your Eternity focuses on the future. She also mentions exploring the theme of death in Mardock Scramble, A Silent Voice and To Your Eternity. The character Fushi originated from Ōima's work in primary school, although the setting changed before the series started. Fushi was originally to be female, but a colleague suggested a male protagonist for a different appeal. Ōima wanted to make the protagonist neutral, and said she prefers neutral female characters. Each volume cover represents a character's dream such as the first one, which depicts the unnamed youth finding freedom. According to Oima, Fushi does not want to forget the people he meets on his journeys.

Characters featured in the series are based on real life personalities. For example, Pioran reminded Ōima of her deceased grandmother. She furthermore expresses some guilt for having characters die. There are approximately 13 characters that are greatly affected by Fushi and which, before the series' beginning, would lead Ōima to the title, "Ash Swords of 13 People" (『13人の灰剣』), before being replaced by "To Your Eternity". When it came to drawing, March was Ōima's favorite character due to her short stature. Furthermore, Ōima says she likes drawing children in confined places.

The overall setting is that of a main character being "a boy who knows nothing". Ōima wanted the reader to find themself, like Fushi, in this situation where they do not know anything. It is for this reason that she did not give prominence to any character other than the hero. A common theme portrayed in the manga is death and immortality. To reinforce the blank slate themes, she decided to create a white universe, which was how she obtained a snowy landscape. As characters living in this snowy region are not part of an indigenous population, she decided not to depict them as, for example, Inuit. For research, she watched several documentaries in order to learn how to make the boy look like he was living in a world of "survival", with limited resources and skills. To accomplish this, she had to think deeply about what was practical under such difficult circumstances. March was created to be talkative and balance the quiet ones. The manga presents the climate, disease and the polar bear as obstacles to the human will. Ōima elaborates that people have to live with these challenges, and it is to show how to overcome them that she included them in the scenes.

### Adaptation

Director Masahiko Murata [ja] expressed surprise when first reading the manga series, initially believing the young villager would be the lead character rather than Fushi. He felt that the themes Ōima was approaching were thought-provoking, which he found challenging. Murata stated that, as minor parts of the manga were changed, the anime would stay true to the original printed version. The official Twitter account of the anime series stated that the main theme presented through March (and later Fushi) was the notion of growing into adulthood.

In casting the actors, Reiji Kawashima's voice quality was befitting for Fushi—from his point of view. "The Observer", played by Kenjiro Tsuda, is a narrative role that was not all that involved in the story due to Murata's view that Tsuda's voice was "cool". The first episode only had two voice actors: Kawashima and Tsuda. The former expressed relief when working as he felt that Tsuda was a friendly person. Tsuda felt that Kawashima was a passionate actor, exemplified by his early arrival for each episode's recording session. Kawashima thought his character to be exhausting based on his varied experiences, while Tsuda felt Fushi was too mysterious. Rie Hikisaka, who plays March, enjoyed Kawashima's work and his interactions with Pioran. For the sixth episode, Kawashima expressed difficulty portraying Fushi's lines due to the fact that the character was learning how to speak. Ryoko Shiraishi commented that while she enjoyed voicing Gugu, the character's fluid personality made the work more challenging.

## Media

### Manga

Yoshitoki Ōima debuted To Your Eternity in issue 50 of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine on November 9, 2016. It was Ōima's second series featured in the publication, the first being the critically acclaimed A Silent Voice. The series' first arc finished on December 4, 2019, while the second started on January 22, 2020. Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on January 17, 2017. As of August 17, 2023, 20 volumes have been released.

On January 17, 2017, Kodansha USA announced that they would digitally publish the first ten chapters of the series on various digital platforms. Thereafter, they would publish the manga's new chapters simultaneously with the Japanese releases. The first printed volume in North America was released on October 31, 2017. The seventeenth volume was released on July 26, 2022.

### Anime

On January 8, 2020, Kodansha announced that the manga would receive an anime television series adaptation, to air on NHK Educational TV. The series was animated by Brain's Base and directed by Masahiko Murata, with Shinzō Fujita handling series composition, Koji Yabuno designing the characters, and Ryo Kawasaki composing the music. Originally scheduled to premiere in October 2020, the series was delayed until April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series aired from April 12 to August 30, 2021, and ran for 20 episodes. A second season was announced in the final episode of the first season. Drive replaced Brain's Base in animating the second season, while Kiyoko Sayama replaced Masahiko Murata as the director. The rest of the main staff are returning from the first season. It aired from October 23, 2022, to March 12, 2023, and ran for 20 episodes. A third season was announced in the final episode of the second season. Crunchyroll has licensed the anime for streaming outside of Asia. Medialink has also acquired the series to stream it under its Ani-One brand. Hikaru Utada performed the series' opening theme song "Pink Blood", while Masashi Hamauzu composed "Mediator", which was used for the ending.

## Reception

### Manga

The first collected volume of the series sold 29,288 copies, ranking 17 on the weekly Oricon manga chart. Its second volume ranked 34, selling 22,565 copies in its first week, while its third debuted at 41 with 20,445 copies sold.

The manga was nominated for the 11th edition of the Manga Taishō awards in 2018 and it managed to gain a total of 47 points. In 2018, Ōima won the Daruma de la Meilleure Nouvelle Série at the Japan Expo in Paris, France for To Your Eternity. In May 2019, it won the award for Best Shōnen Manga at the 43rd annual Kodansha Manga Awards, alongside The Quintessential Quintuplets. In both 2018 and 2019, Anime News Network listed it as one of the best series for young readers. The first five volumes were listed by the American Library Association as one of the best manga series written for a young audience in 2019.

The manga's narrative and setting have been praised by critics like Otaku USA due to its multiple fantasy and drama elements. However, he felt the story provided in the first volume lacked the emotional impact from the mangaka's previous work, A Silent Voice. Two reviewers from Anime News Network (ANN) and one from UK Anime Network gave the first volume perfect reviews, impressed by the narrative's depth in exploring the multiplicity of characters as well as how the first chapters handled the lonely youth who met Fushi in an Ice Age-like area. Two other writers from ANN wondered whether the new chapters would carry forward the emotional impact of the first. Anime UK News was engaged by the manga's first chapter based on the characterization of the unnamed villager rather than by Fushi. As the manga progressed, Fushi's character arc was the subject of praise as he was closer to acting like a human in contrast to his nearly emotionless introduction. As a result, writers felt the tone of the series was still tragic, thanks to the handling of this character. Manga News furthermore enjoyed the series' time-skips as Fushi's immortality allowed him to blend in with newer, more modern scenarios.

The critical response to the artwork was mostly positive. Anime UK News praised the way Ōima drew the pages, by giving the characters detailed features and the way its settings were presented. Similarly, Manga Mexico writer Tania Ávila praised the artwork—especially in the later chapters of the first volume. Fantasy Mundo noted that the drawings helped to further detail the characters and improve their emotional value. The Fandom Post felt that the artwork "is light on textures and right with detailed backgrounds once the story moves from the snowfields to the forest" and felt that the wildlife was often drawn strangely. UK Anime Network praised the way the backgrounds were detailed and how the author built the characters' emotions.

### Anime

The anime adaptation also attracted positive reactions. IGN listed it among the best anime series of Spring 2021, directing readers to its portrayals of Earth's culture but refrained from further explaining the premise to avoid spoilers. In a Filmmarks survey, To Your Eternity was voted the ninth "Most Anticipated 2021 Spring Anime Ranking". In the website Anime Trendz, the series was often listed as one of the most popular series from 2021. In 2022, the series was awarded Best Drama at the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and was nominated in the Kids: Animation category at the 50th International Emmy Awards.

Three ANN writers gave the anime's premiere a perfect score, based on the emotional storytelling involving Fushi and the nameless youth, most notably when the latter, initially cheerful and talkative, quickly becomes filled with despair, as he cannot find any other people in the region. Similarly, The Fandom Post gave the series' premiere a perfect score despite having read the manga years before, based on the cast's performances and Utada Hikaru's theme song "Pink Blood" which helped to convey a moving story. James Beckett, from the same site, continued reviewing the anime and while still enjoying the anime, was afraid of it becoming too melodramatic. Comic Book Resources felt the adaptation series was well done and given an appealing soundtrack as the emotional scenes became stronger thanks to the music provided. Critics praised the bonding involving Fushi, March and Parona, noting how heroic they were for each other while providing opportunity for more entertaining scenes. However, March's death in the fifth episode was found to be heartbreaking. Fushi's increasing display of humanity was praised, with the sixth episode giving him enough screentime to become the sole main character. Fushi's fight with Oniguma was also listed as the seventh best anime fight from 2021 by Crunchyroll.

The prison arc, however, was panned by Anime News Network for lacking the appeal of previous arcs as well as the animation being poorly done.

Japanese manga series and its adaptations

Anime postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic


Stone-Age Poland

The Stone Age in the territory of present-day Poland is divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic eras. The Paleolithic extended from about 500,000 BCE to 8000 BCE. The Paleolithic is subdivided into periods, the Lower Paleolithic, 500,000 to 350,000 BCE, the Middle Paleolithic, 350,000 to 40,000 BCE, the Upper Paleolithic, 40,000 to 10,000 BCE, and the Final Paleolithic, 10,000 to 8000 BCE. The Mesolithic lasted from 8000 to 5500 BCE, and the Neolithic from 5500 to 2300 BCE. The Neolithic is subdivided into the Neolithic proper, 5500 to 2900 BCE, and the Copper Age, 2900 to 2300 BCE.

The Stone Age era lasted 800,000 years, and involved three different human species: Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. The Stone Age cultures ranged from early human groups with primitive tools to advanced agricultural societies, which used sophisticated stone tools, built fortified settlements and developed copper metallurgy. As elsewhere in eastern and central Europe, the Stone Age human cultures went through the stages known as the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, each bringing new refinements of the stone tool making techniques. The Paleolithic period human activities (the earliest sites are about 500,000 years old) were intermittent because of the recurring periods of glaciation. With the recession of the last glaciation, a general climate warming and the resulting increase in ecologic environment diversity was characteristic of the Mesolithic (from 9000-8000 BCE). The Neolithic brought the first settled agricultural communities; their founders migrated from the Danube River area (from 5500 BCE). Later the native post-Mesolithic populations also adopted and further developed the agricultural way of life (from 4400 to about 2000 BCE).

## Paleolithic

### Glaciation

The Pleistocene colder (glacial) and warmer (interglacial) periods in Poland began with the South Poland glaciation (San River glaciation, until 450,000 BCE), followed by the Masovian interglacial (450,000-370,000 BCE), the Middle Poland glaciation (370,000-128,000 BCE), the Eemian interglacial (128,000-115,000 BCE), and the Vistula glaciation (115,000-10,000 BCE).

### Homo heidelbergensis

Finds in the Tunel Wielki cave suggest the remnants of Homo heidelbergensis dated by 450,000-550,000 BP.

### Homo erectus

Human settlements on Polish lands occurred later than in the more climatically hospitable regions of southern and western Europe and were dependent on the recurring episodes of glaciation. Gatherer-hunter Homo erectus campsites, together with their inhabitants' primitive stone tools (choppers and microliths), bones of the large mammals they hunted and the fish they caught, were found below the San River glaciation period sediments in Trzebnica and are about 500,000 years old. Younger sites related to the same species were found at Rusko near Strzegom, located, like Trzebnica, in the Lower Silesia region. This represents the microlithic complexes of the Lower Paleolithic period. Homo erectus, earlier known as Pithecanthropus erectus, was a species of early humans.

### Homo neanderthalensis

Now often also considered a distinct species, Homo neanderthalensis (otherwise known as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) lived in the southern half of Poland during the Middle Paleolithic period, that is between 300,000 and 40,000 BCE. Various relics were found and different Neanderthal cultures are distinguished. Acheulean handaxes from Silesia dated 200,000-180,000 years ago are among the older tools. Gatherer-hunter sporadic groups of Neanderthals penetrated southern Poland also during the Eemian interglacial, 128,000-115,000 BCE. Examination of the Micoquien-Prądnik culture (East Micoquien complex) sites in the Prądnik River Valley north of Kraków and in Zwoleń near Radom from about 85,000 to 70,000 BCE (early phase of the Vistula River glaciation period) shows that some Neanderthals were skilled collective hunters, able to kill numerous large mammals characteristic of the cold Pleistocene climate and process the meat, skin and bones using specialized tools.

### Homo sapiens

Homo sapiens proper (Homo sapiens sapiens, the Cro-Magnon type) appears in the Upper Paleolithic, which lasted from 40,000 to 9,000 BCE. During the coldest part of this Ice age period, 20,000 to 15,000 BCE, humans did not inhabit Poland. The latter, warmer part, after the climatic discontinuity and the reappearance of humans, is considered the Late Paleolithic.

Upper Paleolithic people specialized in organized, group hunting of large mammals; they sometimes pursued and drove entire herds into traps. Their nutritional needs were met largely by meat consumption, as the vegetation was limited to tundra and steppe and the land was covered by ice and snow (Vistula final glaciation) for long periods. More sophisticated tool making methods resulted in the production of long (some over two feet), narrow and sharp flintstone splits. In a cave near Nowy Targ (East-Gravettian culture), a 30,000-year-old boomerang, the world's oldest, was found. It is a crescent-shaped 70 cm long object with a fine finish, made of mammoth tusk. Mammoths were hunted in the Kraków area during 25,000-20,000 BCE. Also 30,000 years old are the so-called Mladeč-type blades of the Aurignacian culture, made of bone, found in Wierzchowie, Kraków County.

A 27,500-year old burial of an 18-month old child, complete with burial gift decorative artifacts, pendant or necklace elements made of teeth of large ungulates, was discovered in Borsuk Cave near Kraków (southern Kraków-Częstochowa Upland). It is believed to be the oldest intentional burial located in Poland.

Rydno is a complex of archeological sites along the Kamiennna River valley between Skarżysko-Kamienna and Wąchock. Several hundred Paleolithic campsites have been located there, which makes it the world's largest accumulation of such finds. They extend over a number of periods, beginning with the Mousterian (Neanderthal) culture, followed by the Hamburg culture of reindeer hunters. The Final Paleolithic is represented there by the Komornica culture, named after a village in Legionowo County. The best known Late Paleolithic campsites in the area, which include some dugout huts, belonged to the people preoccupied with hematite ore mining, from which ochre pigment used for body painting was being made. The red dye was widely traded, which is why rocks and minerals originating from distant regions of today's Poland, Slovakia and Hungary are found at Rydno. Pieces of "chocolate" flint brought into this area for processing were stored in quantities that were always multiples of three. Because of this and other evidence, it is believed that the Paleolithic people developed a counting system based on this number. A 12,600 BCE Hamburg culture site with tents, camp-fire and stone meat baking devices was discovered in Olbrachcice, Wschowa County.

A rich source of Late Paleolithic sites and artifacts (the Magdalenian culture of 14,500 BCE) is the Prądnik River Valley. The Maszycka Cave there contained the remains of a typical (at that time) social unit of several families, 20-30 people, as well as numerous tools and other artifacts of their culture, including ornamented bone utensils. Remnants of a 15,000 to 17,000 years old Magdalenian culture dwelling (a dugout cabin site with traces of supporting posts, a hearth and imported materials) were discovered recently in Ćmielów, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski County. Traces of younger (Final Paleolithic) campsites identified with the Swiderian, Federmesser and Ahrenburgian cultures were located at Stare Marzy near Świecie, among other places.

## Mesolithic

The Mesolithic lasted from 9000 BCE (rapid climate warming) to 5500 BCE (arrival of first farmers from the Danube River area). It was the last period when the food production economy was entirely opportunistic, based on assimilation of plant and animal material found in nature, that is gathering and hunting. Because of warmer temperatures, complex forest ecosystems and wetlands developed and this natural diversity necessitated new hunting and fishing strategies. As new populations entered Poland from the west, hunters and fishermen working individually or in small groups had to pursue single large and small animals using traps, javelins, bows and arrows, boats and fishing equipment, and utilizing dogs. Women engaged in gathering of such products as roots, herbs, nuts, bird eggs, mollusks, fruit or honey, which possibly was even more important than hunting. Mesolithic human settlements became quite numerous and by the end of this period the economy of harvesting nature became very highly developed. Tools and devices were made of materials such as stone (flint strip mines have been found at the northern edge of Świętokrzyskie Mountains), bone, wood, horn, or plant material for rope and baskets, and included such fine utensils as fishing hooks and sewing needles. Animal figurines were made of amber. At least during the later Mesolithic, the dead were placed in graves and outfitted with familiar objects of their surroundings. One such well preserved grave of an apparent tool-maker, together with his tools and other items, was found in Janisławice near Skierniewice and dated 5500 BCE.

## Neolithic

### Introduction of agriculture - Danubian cultures of farming communities

Early Neolithic era began around 5500 BCE with the arrival from the middle Danube area of people, who kept livestock, cultivated crops, made pottery and smooth-surface tools. Their land tilling predecessors had been coming into the Balkans and then the Danube region from Anatolia beginning a thousand years earlier. They formed the first settled rural communities, thus forging the most fundamental civilizational advance.

The original newcomers represented the Linear Pottery culture. Their uniform culture survived in Poland in its original form until about 4600 BCE. Despite the big impact they made, the first waves came in small numbers - hundreds, or at most a few thousand people, judging by the sizes of the known settlements. They populated mainly fertile soils of southern highlands and river valleys further north, all the way to the Baltic Sea. They lived alongside the more numerous native people who were still pursuing the Mesolithic lifestyle, but during the Linear Pottery culture times there wasn't much interaction, as the two groups inhabited different environments. Their villages consisted of several, but sometimes up to a dozen or so rectangular communal long-houses, some over 30 meters long, supported by wooden posts, the oldest of which come from the Lower Silesia region. One such location from about 5000 BCE was also unearthed at Olszanica, which is now at the west end of Kraków just within the city limits.

Large Danubian complexes were in recent years excavated in the Targowisko and Szarów (Wieliczka County) area of fertile loessial hills. The settlements, which included massive post construction houses even over 50 meters long as well as industrial facilities, extended continuously over a stretch of land more than three kilometers long. Some of the identified structures functioned together, as was the case when the buildings were connected by a courtyard and protected by a common fence.

Plants were cultivated mostly in small nearby gardens, but wheat and barley were also grown on small fields obtained by burning the forest. In the absence of animal-drawn plowing devices, soil was being hoed manually. The forest burning activity brought about significant ecological and environmental changes in Lesser Poland, Silesia and Kujawy. Further out were the pastures, the entire area utilized by a single settlement having a radius of about 5 km. Cattle, sheep and goats were even more numerous in the northern flatlands, where the land was less fertile. The Danubian people communities kept in touch and exchanged goods over large areas, all the way to their regions of origin beyond the Carpathian Mountains.

After 5000 BCE new waves of immigrants arrived from the south again, which accelerated the process of differentiation of the agrarian society into several distinct cultures during the first half of 5th millennium BC and afterwards. In the Oder River basin mostly there was the culture named after the punctured variety of Linear Band pottery - Stroked Pottery culture, while in the Vistula River basin the Lengyel and Polgár cultures appeared. The two regions developed in some separation, but within them the different cultural traditions of the younger Danubian circle often overlapped. The houses were now of an elongated trapezoidal shape, up to 40 meters long, grouped in larger complexes, often protected by beam and earth walls, moats and other fortifications, as such defensive measures apparently became necessary against people from the still Mesolithic native population or other Danubian settlements. These defensive structures, built from the mid 5th millennium BCE on, were complicated and consumed significant time and resources. Their design followed that of the similar construction that was taking place in the Danube River areas, starting in the early part of this millennium. Large cemeteries and graves supplied with fancier objects such as jewelry, including the first so-called "princely" graves (the princesses had imported copper necklaces, earrings and diadems in addition to locally made decorations), testify to the emergence of a relatively more affluent society. Cattle raising and trading (large varieties resulted from cross-breeding with the aurochs) and land tillage provided basic sustenance. Salt was obtained and traded and became a much sought after commodity, at first probably to help preserve stored food. The salt springs around Wieliczka were utilized already by the Lengyel culture people, who left ceramic vessels used in salt production there. The Danubian people produced many richly decorated objects, including clay containers with animal head ornaments and figurines of women.

A settlement and cemetery of the Lengyel-Polgár cultural zone, dated around or after 4600 BCE, was discovered in Ślęza, Wrocław County. It consisted of a central long trapezoidal house accompanied by several post-built supporting structures. Among the large explored settlements of the Lengyel culture from the 4400-4000 BCE period, there is one in Brześć Kujawski, and another one in Osłonki, solidly fortified about 4200 BCE after an assault incident involving arson and murder, both located in the Kujawy region. At the Osłonki settlement nearly 30 trapezoidal houses and over 80 graves were located, some of them with many copper ornaments. The agricultural and construction activities of the communities centered on the two large settlements (hunting and fishing were also practiced) caused very likely an accumulation of environmental damage, which eventually forced them to abandon the area. 4th millennium BC constructions reinforced with ditches and palisades and ceramics molded into figural representations of the Lengyel-Polgár culture were located in Podłęże, Wieliczka County.

The Malice farming culture of southern Poland (all of 5th millennium and until 3800 BCE, named after a site in Malice near Sandomierz) was the first Neolithic culture to originate north of the Carpathian Mountains and spread south. A rare discovery of 5th millennium Malice culture buildings and decorated pottery was made in Targowisko, Wieliczka County.

### Neolithic cultures developed by native populations

After 4500 BCE the Ertebølle culture of northwestern origin entered a ceramic phase with its own forms of pottery (characteristic pointed bottoms). They lived by the Baltic Sea shores and were specialized in utilizing the resources of the sea, thus still representing the Mesolithic ways of life. At their settlement in Dąbki near Koszalin Stroke-ornamented pottery was found, obtained probably through trade with the Danubian people.

The native Mesolithic populations were slow in gradually assimilating the agricultural way of life, beginning with just the use of ceramics. It took a thousand years into the Neolithic period before they adopted animal husbandry (which became especially important to them) and plant cultivation to any appreciable degree. When they eventually developed interest in the more fertile areas utilized by the late Danubian cultures, they became the threat that compelled the Danubian farmers to fortify their settlements. The native post-Mesolithic groups expanded beyond the traditional Danubian areas of agricultural development, moving also into ecologically less favorable environments, which included utilization of sandy soils.

The first truly native Neolithic culture was the Funnelbeaker culture, named after the shape of their typical clay vessels. It developed starting around 4400 BCE and lasted some two thousand years. Like other post-Mesolithic cultures, the Funnelbeaker culture was Megalithic. They built tombs of large stones, some of them huge (for example trapezoidal structures up to 150 meters long) and resembling pyramids. Few survived until now because of the demand for stone as building material, but a well-preserved one from the first half of 4th millennium BC was found in Wietrzychowice near Włocławek. From this place and period came the skull, on which the trepanation procedure was performed for medical or magic reasons. Timewise the beginnings of the post-Mesolithic cultures in Poland coincide with the beginnings of the Eneolithic period in the Balkans. Copper objects, mostly ornamental or luxurious items, were traded and then developed locally, first by the Danubian and then by the indigenous people. Copper metallurgy facilities were identified in Złota near Sandomierz. Clay decorative objects include realistic representations of animals and containers with images engraved on them. A pot from Bronocice, Pińczów County (3400 BCE) has a unique narrative scene and the world's oldest semblance of a four-wheeled cart drawn on its surface. Stone tools became most highly developed and acquired their then characteristic smooth surfaces. Well preserved settlements with rectangular buildings were unearthed in Gródek Nadbużny near Hrubieszów (where remnants of a vertical loom for weaving were found), in Niedźwiedź near Kraków, and in northern Poland in Barłożno, Starogard Gdański County, where the structures are similar to the ones in Niedźwiedź. In Barłożno three post supported houses were discovered, the largest of which had the main part 16 meters long and 6.5 meters wide. As dated from the ceramics found, they represent the developed, "Wiórecka" phase of the Funnelbeaker culture.

Originating from central European lowlands, the Funnelbeaker people were able to utilize large expanses of less fertile soils, obtained by extensive reduction of forested areas, with the increased role of livestock. They moved south into the regions previously developed by the Danubian cultures, all the way to Bohemia and Moravia. Being more numerous, better fit for the environment, organized and economically more productive, the Funnelbeaker culture people replaced the Danubian cultures in their late phase.

The Globular Amphora culture was the next major Neolithic culture. It originated in the Polish lowlands during the first half of 4th millennium BC, lasted to about 2400 BCE in parallel with the Funnelbeaker culture, and is named after the bulging shape of its representative pottery. They specialized in breeding domestic animals and lived in a semi-settled state, seeking optimal pastures and moving as needed. This semi-nomadic lifestyle was probably necessitated by the poor condition of the soils, by that time depleted and rendered infertile because of the preceding centuries of forest burning and extensive exploitation. Globular Amphora were the first culture in Poland known for utilizing the domesticated horse, and swine became important as the source of food. Ritual animal, especially cattle burial sites, often with two or more individuals buried together and supplied with objects as strange as drums have been discovered, but their role is not well understood. Globular Amphora people were involved in the north-south amber trade. Their megalithic burials included ceramics, stone tools and ornamental gifts.

The Baden culture in southern Poland was the latest of the Danubian ancestry cultures and continued between 3200 and 2600 BCE. They made vessels with characteristic protruding radial ornaments. A large fortified Baden culture settlement of around 3000 BCE was found in Bronocice near Pińczów.

Finally there were still in existence the forest zone cultures, representing the ceramic phase of hunting and gathering communities. Some of them lasted into the early Bronze Age.

The major industry of this period was flintstone mining. One of the largest Neolithic (middle to late periods) flint mines in Europe with over 700 vertical shafts and preserved underground passages was located in Krzemionki Opatowskie near Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. The axes produced from the material obtained there were exported to distant parts of the continent.

### Late Neolithic arrivals from eastern and western regions of Europe

The Corded Ware culture, in existence in central Europe between 3000 and 2000 BCE, originated most likely from Proto-Indo-European nomadic people of the Black Sea steppes. It was a pastoral culture at least in its early stages, for the most part lacking permanent settlements and known primarily from the burial grounds (a large one with many richly furnished graves was discovered in Złota near Sandomierz). They moved together with their herds of cattle, sheep, goats and horses along the river valleys of southern Poland, but also engaged in flint mining and manufacturing of tools and weapons for their own use and trade.

A Corded Ware culture princely burial was found in Szczytna, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. The grave, well-secured three meters below the surface, contained a man's skeleton and a funerary gift collection of highly valuable copper decorations, containers, stone tools and arrowheads. The uniquely equipped burial of a warrior-chief has close analogies with finds from Transylvania, a testimony to geographically extensive contacts of Corded Ware culture nomadic people.

The Rzucewo culture (named after the village near Puck where the discoveries took place) developed from northern populations of the Corded Ware culture as an offshoot specialized in exploitation of the sea resources and lasted in parallel with their mother culture for a comparable period of time. Their settlements consisting of characteristic sea erosion reinforced houses were located along the Bay of Gdańsk and east of there. They engaged in fishery and hunting, especially of seals, then numerous along the Baltic coast. The Rzucewo culture people produced in special shops the widely used and traded amber decorative items.

From the opposite end of Europe (the Iberian Peninsula) came the few people who formed during the 2500-1900 BCE period the Bell-Beaker culture. It was named after the shape of their typical, carefully finished and precisely ornamented pottery. Southwestern Poland was at the eastern edge of their range. Because of their mobility, the Bell-Beaker people helped spread new inventions, including developing metallurgy, over large areas of Europe.

## See also

- Prehistory of Poland (until 966)
- Bronze and Iron Age Poland
- Poland in Antiquity
- Poland in the Early Middle Ages

Overview of the history of Stone-Age Poland


Lat (cartoonist)

Datuk Mohammad Nor bin Mohammad Khalid (Jawi: محمد نور بن محمد خالد; born 5 March 1951), more commonly known as Lat, is a Malaysian cartoonist. Winner of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2002, Lat has published more than 20 volumes of cartoons since he was 13 years old. His works mostly illustrate Malaysia's social and political scenes, portraying them in a comedic light without bias. Lat's best known work is The Kampung Boy (1979), which has been published in several countries across the world. In 1994, the Sultan of Perak bestowed him the honorific title of datuk, in recognition of the cartoonist's work in helping to promote social harmony and understanding through his cartoons. Lat also works for the government to improve the city's social security.

Born in a village, Lat spent his youth in the countryside before moving to the city at the age of 11. While in school, he supplemented his family's income by contributing cartoon strips to newspapers and magazines. He was 13 years old when he achieved his first published comic book, Tiga Sekawan (Three Friends Catch a Thief). After failing to attain the grades that were required to continue education beyond high school, Lat became a newspaper reporter. In 1974, he switched careers to be an editorial cartoonist. His works, reflecting his view about Malaysian life and the world, are staple features in national newspapers such as New Straits Times and Berita Minggu. He adapted his life experiences and published them as his autobiographies, The Kampung Boy and Town Boy, telling stories of rural and urban life with comparisons between the two.

Lat's style has been described as reflective of his early influences, The Beano and The Dandy. He has, however, come into his own way of illustration, drawing the common man on the streets with bold strokes in pen and ink. A trademark of his Malay characters is their three-loop noses. Lat paid attention to family life and children because of his idolisation of Raja Hamzah, a senior cartoonist who was also popular in the 1960s with his comics about swashbuckling heroes. Rejabhad, a well-respected cartoonist, was Lat's mentor, and imbued the junior cartoonist with a preference to be sensitive to the subjects of his works. Lat's attention to details gained him popularity, endearing his works to the masses who find them believable and unbiased.

Aside from writing and publishing cartoons, Lat has ventured into the fields of animation, merchandising, and theme parks with his creations. His name and works are recognised internationally; foreign cartoonists, such as Matt Groening and Sergio Aragonés, admire his art, and foreign governments invite Lat to tour their countries, hoping to gain greater exposure for their countries through Lat's cartoons of his experiences in them. After 27 years of living and working in Kuala Lumpur, Lat moved back to Ipoh for a more sedate lifestyle in semi-retirement.

## Early life and education

Mohammad Nor Mohd Khalid was born on 5 March 1951 in Kota Bharu, a small settlement located in Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia. His father, Mohd Khalid Mohd Noh was a government clerk with the Malaysian Armed Forces, and his mother, Nor Azian Said, a housewife. Khalid was a stocky boy with a cherubic face, which led his family to nickname him bulat (round). His friends shortened it to "Lat"; it became the name by which he was more commonly known in his kampung and later in the world. Lat was the eldest child in his family, and he often played in the jungles, plantations, and tin mines with his friends. Their toys were usually improvised from everyday sundries and items of nature. Lat liked to doodle with materials provided by his parents, and his other forms of recreation were reading comics and watching television; Lat idolised local cartoonist Raja Hamzah, who was popular with his tales of swashbuckling Malay heroes. Malaysian art critic and historian Redza Piyadasa believes Lat's early years in the kampung ingrained the cartoonist with pride in his kampung roots and a "peculiarly Malay" outlook—"full of [...] gentleness and refinement".

Lat's formal education began at a local Malay kampung (village) school; these institutions often taught in the vernacular and did not aspire to academic attainment. The boy changed schools several times; the nature of his father's job moved the family from one military base to another across the country, until they settled back at his birthplace in 1960. A year later, Lat passed the Special Malay Class Examination, qualifying him to attend an English medium boarding school—National Type Primary School—in the state's capital, Ipoh. His achievement helped his father make the decision to sell their kampung estate and move the family to the town; society in those days considered education at an English medium school a springboard to a good future. Lat continued his education at Anderson School, Perak's "premier non-missionary English medium school". Redza highlights Lat's move to Ipoh for higher schooling as a significant point in the cartoonist's development; the multi-racial environment helped establish his diverse friendships, which in turn broadened his cultural perspectives.

At the age of nine, Lat began to supplement his family's income through his artistic skills by drawing comics and selling them to his friends. Four years later, in 1964, the young cartoonist achieved his first published work: a local movie magazine—Majalah Filem—printed his comic strips, paying him with movie tickets. Lat's first comic book publication, Tiga Sekawan (Three Friends Catch a Thief), was published by Sinaran Brothers that year. The company had accepted Lat's submission, mistaking him for an adult and paying him 25 Malaysian ringgits (RM) for a story about three friends who band together to catch thieves. In 1968, at the age of 17, Lat started penning Keluarga Si Mamat (Mamat's Family), a comic strip for Berita Minggu (the Sunday edition of Berita Harian). The series ran in the paper every week for 26 years. Although still a schoolboy, Lat was earning a monthly income of RM100, a large sum in those days, from his cartoons. His education finished two years later at the end of Form 5; his Third Grade in the Senior Cambridge examinations was not enough for him to advance to Form 6. Graduating with an education equivalent to that of high school, Lat started looking for a job and had his sights set on becoming an illustrator.

## Reporter to cartoonist

Moving to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, Lat applied for a cartoonist's position at Berita Harian. He was told there was no vacancy, but the paper's editor, Abdul Samad Ismail, offered him the post of a crime reporter. Lat accepted, a decision he explained was borne from necessity rather than choice: "It was a question of survival. I had to earn money to help support the family." At that time, Lat's father had fallen seriously ill and could not work; Lat had to become the breadwinner of his family. Aside from taking the job, he continued contributing cartoons to other publications. Lat was later transferred to Berita Harian's parent publication, New Straits Times. Moving throughout the city to report on crimes gave Lat opportunities to observe and interact with the myriads of lives in the urban landscape, enabling him to gather material for his cartoons and increasing his understanding of the world. Nevertheless, he felt he lacked the persistently inquisitive nature needed to succeed as a crime reporter. Furthermore, his "breathtakingly detailed, lurid and graphically gory descriptions" of the aftermaths of crimes had to be frequently toned down by his seniors. Lat became convinced that he was a failure at his job, and his despondency led him to tender his resignation. Samad, believing Lat had a bright future with the press, furiously rejected the letter.

Lat's career took a turn for the better on 10 February 1974; Asia Magazine, a periodical based in Hong Kong, published his cartoons about Bersunat—a circumcision ceremony all Malaysian boys of the Islamic faith have to undergo. The cartoons impressed Tan Sri Lee Siew Yee, editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times. Lee found Lat's portrayal of the important ceremony humorous yet sensitive, and grumbled that the newspaper should have hired the artist. He was surprised to be told that Lat was already working within his organisation. Lat was called to Lee's office to have a talk, which raised the reporter's profile in the company. He became the paper's column cartoonist, taking up a position created for him by Samad, now deputy editor of the New Straits Times. His first duty was to document Malaysian culture in a series of cartoons titled Scenes of Malaysian Life. The newspaper also sent him to study for four months at St Martin's School of Art in London, where he was introduced to English editorial cartoons and newspapers. Returning to Malaysia full of fascination with his experience, Lat transformed Scenes of Malaysian Life into a series of editorial cartoons. His approach proved popular, and at the end of 1975 he was appointed full-time cartoonist with total freedom in his work.

Lat produced a steady stream of editorial cartoons that entertained Malaysian society. By 1978, two collections of his works (Lots of Lat and Lat's Lot) had been compiled and sold to the public. Although Malaysians knew of Lat through Scenes of Malaysian Life, it was his next work that propelled him into national consciousness and international recognition. In 1979, Berita Publishing Sendirian Berhad published Lat's The Kampung Boy, an autobiographical cartoon account of his youth. The book was a commercial hit; according to Lat, the first printing—60,000 to 70,000 copies—sold out within four months of the book's release. Readers of the book were captivated by his "heart-warming" portrayal of Malaysian rural life, rendered with "scribbly black-and-white sketches" and accompanied by "simple but eloquent prose". By 2009, the book has been reprinted 16 times and published in several other countries in various languages, including Portuguese, French, and Japanese. The success of The Kampung Boy established Lat as the "most renowned cartoonist in Malaysia."

## After The Kampung Boy

In 1981, Town Boy was published. It continued The Kampung Boy's story, telling of the protagonist's teenage life in an urban setting. Two more compilations of Lat's editorial cartoons (With a Little Bit of Lat and Lots More Lat) were published and the number of people who recognised him continued to grow. In 1984, partly from a desire to step away from the limelight, Lat resigned from the New Straits Times to become a freelancer, but continued to draw Scenes of Malaysian Life for the newspaper. He set up his own company, Kampung Boy Sendirian Berhad (Village Boy private limited), to oversee the merchandising of his cartoon characters and publishing of his books. In 2009, Kampung Boy partnered Sanrio and Hit Entertainment in a project to open an indoor theme park which would later be called as Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park in Nusajaya, Johor in August 2012. One of the park's attractions will be the sight of performers dressed up as Kampung Boy characters beside those in Hello Kitty and Bob the Builder costumes and also reported in August 2012 will be a Lat-inspired diner called Lat's Place. It will be designed in a Malaysian village setting, coupled with animations for patrons to interact with.

Lat has experimented with media other than paper. In 1993 he produced a short animated feature, Mina Smiles, for Unesco; the video, featuring a female lead, was for a literacy campaign. In conjunction with 30th anniversary of his cartooning career, Lat, through his company, Kampung Boy Sdn. Bhd. published a book titled Lat: 30 Years Later. Released in November 1994, a 165-page hardcover and paperback book features his selected newspaper and magazine drawings dates back from 1964 as well as excerpts from The Kampung Boy and his other notable works. He also wrote his biography on a section called "Lat on Lat". Personal concerns motivated Lat for his next foray into animation; judging that Western animation of the 1980s and 90s had negative influences, he wanted to produce a series for Malaysian children that espoused local values. The result was Kampung Boy the television series (1997), an adaptation of his trademark comic. The 26-episode series received positive reviews for technical details and content. There were comments on its similarities to The Simpsons, and on its English which was not entirely local. His most recent involvement with animation was in 2009; Lat's Window to the World, a musical animated feature, played at the Petronas Philharmonic Hall. Lat had been commissioned to help create three animated vignettes based on The Kampung Boy to accompany the instruments of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. The scores, composed by Carl Davis, complemented Lat's visuals, capturing the spirit of kampung childhood in a "simple, idyllic past".

In 1997, after 27 years of living in Kuala Lumpur, Lat moved back to Ipoh with his family. Aside from retreating slightly from the cartooning scene, he wanted to be close to his old kampung and let his children experience life in a small town or village; he had married in 1977, and the couple have four children—two daughters and two sons. Lat said that raising his children has helped him cope with the pressures of his fame and made him realise that he might be losing touch with the new generation of Malaysians who have different tastes in cartoons. His wife helps him in his work, scanning his completed cartoons and emailing them to the newspaper offices in Kuala Lumpur. Lat still draws with his usual pens and inks, avoiding the use of computers except to read his emails. In 1999, he set up his official website called Lat House (www.lathouse.com.my), however, the website went defunct in 2004. From August to September 2003, Lat exhibited 59 of his works on aviation at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), in Sepang, Selangor in an exhibition called Lat@KLIA. The exhibition's objective was to provide a chance for KLIA passengers and visitors to enjoy his unique perspective of the airport since it started operations. In 2011–12, he is to join other artists from around the world in Italy for the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship programme. During their one-month stay, they are encouraged to share ideas in an environment fostered to stimulate their creativity.

Lat's new editorial comic, Forever Lat was released in August 2014 by MPH Publishing. It contains a compilation of all his published works in the New Straits Times as well as unpublished and new works. His autobiographical memoir, Lat: My Life and Cartoons was launched on November 19, 2016. Published by Editions Didier Millet (EDM), the book was co-written by Lat and former NST senior editor, Syed Nadzri Syed Harun. In 2019, Lat partnered with Faber-Castell for the Grip X Celebrates The Diversity of Malaysia with Lat campaign to promote the Grip X pen and his artworks that drawed using the pen. In April 2021, Lat announced that he would publish a sequel to his 1989 graphic novel, Mat Som after a three-decade hiatus with its focus on younger generation were in the midst of trying to find their purpose in life. According to Lat, the idea to publish a second book of Mat Som was first mooted in March 2017 while he was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Though the book is expected to released in July 2021, however, as of 2023, the anticipated publication did not materialized. His art gallery, Galeri Rumah Lat (Lat's House Gallery) was opened to public in July 8, 2023 and officiated by Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah.

## Art style

Lat covers various genres in his works. His portfolio is diverse; John A. Lent, a scholar of Asian cartoons, found it to difficult to classify the cartoonist into any particular field. In his Keluarga Si Mamat series, Lat drew slapsticks and satires that examined the encounters between traditional and modern values. Humorous stories of children at play also populated the series. Jennifer Rodrigo Willmott, writer for Reader's Digest, stated that:

> Lat's cartoon characters have always been ordinary people—a villager in his checkered sarong, a money-changer in his white dhoti, a Malay government servant in his bush jacket and sometimes even Lat himself: that character with the flat, round face; the nose slightly off centre; the untidy mop of dark, curly hair; and the constant toothy grin.

Using a large cast of characters—a wide assortment of personalities and cultures—allows Lat to comment on a wider range of topics than is possible with a small group of characters. Malaysian comics scholar Muliyadi Muhamood commented that the humour in Lat's cartoons is evoked through graphical and textual means; "short, compact dialogues" and puns form the text while "facial expressions and actions" of the characters help to bring out the funny side of things. Muliyadi further stated that Lat's works offer many levels of interpretation; one reader would laugh at Lat's cartoon for its slapstick, while another would find the same work hilarious for its subtle critique of society. As an example, Muliyadi referred to a Keluarga Si Mamat strip published in 1972. Malaysia was facing a shortage of qualified physical education teachers then, and such duties were often placed on the shoulders of teachers of other faculties. Lat illustrated an obese teacher who conducted a physical education session to his eventual collapse. Muliyadi suggested that the cartoon could be interpreted as a simple tease of the teacher's plight, a suggestion to examine the curriculum taught (change physical education to an informal session), a remark on the shortage of teachers, or more extremely, a criticism of the government's failure to prevent the situation from happening.

The narration of Lat's early cartoons, such as Tiga Sekawan and Keluarga Si Mamat, was in Malay. His later works, however, were mostly in English; Scenes of Malaysian Life ran only in the English-language New Straits Times. The English idiom in his works reflects the local pidgin form—"Malglish"—containing smatterings of Malay words and a simpler grammatical structure. After a string of successful English publications, Lat worried he had neglected Malaysians who were not proficient in English. He drew Mat Som, a story of a kampung boy who moved to the city to work as a writer and courted a pretty city girl. The comic was in Malay and a commercial hit; its first print of 30,000 copies sold out in three months. Far Eastern Economic Review journalist Suhaini Aznam remarked that Lat's strength was his ability to portray the plight of the common man in a satiric light without any form of bias.

### Early style

Lat's artistic skills were cultivated from youth and self-taught. The cartoonist believes he inherited the talent and interest from his father, who doodled as a hobby and was notorious for his sense of humour as the "village jester". Lat says his siblings were also gifted in drawing, but they never bothered to develop their talents. His parents actively encouraged him to develop his artistic skills, although his father occasionally told him not to make a career of it. He also received encouragement from outside his family; Lat's primary school teacher Mrs Moira Hew (the inspiration for one of his characters, the Butterfly-Glassed Lady), helped nurture his gift, frequently asking him to illustrate lessons in class. Her teachings expanded Lat's mind and made him more receptive to ideas that looked beyond his kampung.

The early influences on his art style were from the West. Like most of the Malaysian children in the 1950s, Lat watched Hanna-Barbera cartoons (The Flintstones and The Jetsons) on television and read imported British comics, such as The Dandy and The Beano. He studied them and used their styles and themes in his early doodles. After the foreign influences in his works were noticed by a family friend, Lat was advised by his father to observe and draw upon ideas from their surroundings instead. Heeding the advice, the young cartoonist intimated himself with local happenings. Tiga Sekawan was conceived as a humorous crime-fighting story of a local flavour. Keluarga Si Mamat and its protagonist were named after his youngest brother Mamat, its stories based on Lat's observations of his fellow villagers and schoolmates. The inspiration for his cartoons about Bersunat came about when he was on assignment at a hospital. As he was taking breaks from investigating the dead victims of crime brought to the morgue, Lat chanced upon the circumcisions performed by the hospital on ethnic Malay boys. He found their experiences clinical, devoid of the elaborate and personal ceremonies that celebrated his own rite to manhood in the village. Lat felt compelled to illustrate the differences between life in his kampung and the city.

When Lat formally entered the cartooning industry, he was not totally unfamiliar with the profession. He had the benefit of the mentorship of Rejabhad, an experienced political cartoonist. Rejabhad was well respected by his countrymen, who titled him the "penghulu (chief) of Malay cartoonists". After noticing Lat's submissions to newspapers and magazines, he corresponded with the young cartoonist. When Rejabhad was requested by Lat's mother to take care of her 15-year-old son in the cartooning industry, he accepted. He gave advice and influenced Lat's growth as a cartoonist. Lat treated Rejabhad with great respect, holding up his mentor as a role model. The affection and admiration was mutual. Thirty-six years after taking Lat under his wing, Rejabhad recounted their relationship in these words:

> Lat and I are so far apart but so close in heart. When I meet him, my mouth is sewed up. When the love is very close, the mouth is dumb, can't speak a word. Lat is on top of the mountain, as he doesn't forget the grass at the foot of the mountain. When he goes here and there, he tells people I'm his teacher.

Rejabhad was not the first local figure to have exerted an influence on Lat. Raja Hamzah, popular with his action comics and ghost stories, was Lat's "hero" in his childhood. It was Raja Hamzah's cartoons of local swashbuckling adventurers that inspired Lat to become a cartoonist. Tiga Sekawan was the culmination of that desire, the success after numerous failed submissions and an affirmation to Lat that he could become a cartoonist like his idol. Raja Hamzah also had success with comic strips on family life, such as Mat Jambul's Family and Dol Keropok and Wak Tempeh. These cartoons imbued Lat with a fascination of family life and the antics of children, which served him well in his later works. Lat was interested in studying the details of his surroundings and capturing them in his works. Keluarga Si Mamat and The Kampung Boy faithfully depicted their characters' appearances and attitudes. Their narrations were written in a style that was natural to the locals. Thus, Lat was able to make his readers believe his stories and characters were substantially "Malay".

### Later style

After his study trip to London in 1975, Lat's works exhibited the influences of editorial cartoonists such as Frank Dickens, Ralph Steadman, and Gerald Scarfe. In 1997, Ron Provencher, a professor emeritus at Northern Illinois University, reported that Lat's style reminded his informants on the Malaysian cartooning scene of The Beano. Muliyadi elaborated that The Beano and The Dandy's "theme of a child's world" is evident in Lat's Keluarga Si Mamat. Others commented that Lat's art stood out on its own. Singaporean cartoonist Morgan Chua believed that Lat "managed to create an impressively local style while remaining original", and although comics historian Isao Shimizu found Lat's lines "somewhat crude", he noted that the cartoonist's work was "highly original" and "full of life". Redza's judgement was that The Beano and The Dandy were "early formative [influences]" on Lat before he came into his own style. Lent gave his assessment in 1999:

> It is Lat's drawing that is so evocative, so true to life, despite its very exaggerated distortion. Lat's Malaysian characters are distinguished by their ethnic linkages (for example, his Malay characters have three loop noses), which in itself, is no mean feat. The drawings are bold strokes, expressive dialogue in English and Bahasa Malaysian, as well as in what portends to be Chinese, Tamil, and entertaining backgrounds that tell their own stories.

Lat's work with pen and ink so impressed Larry Gonick that the American cartoonist was tempted into experimenting with this medium for part of his The Cartoon History of the Universe. Gonick tried to use the medium as he did his regular brushes; however, the results proved unsatisfactory. Lat occasionally colours his works, such as those in his Kampong Boy: Yesterday and Today (1993), using watercolour or marker pens. According to Lent, Redza judged that Lat had "elevated cartooning to the level of 'high visual arts' through his social commentary and 'construction of the landscape'". The art critic was not alone in having a high regard for Lat's works. Jaafar Taib, cartoonist and editor of Malaysian satirical magazine Gila-Gila, found Lat's cartoons retained their humour and relevance throughout time. He explained that this quality arose from the well-thought-out composition of Lat's works, which helped to clearly express the ideas behind the cartoons.

### Sensitive topics

At the time that Lat started drawing for the New Straits Times, local political cartoonists were gentle in their treatment of Malaysian politicians; the politicians' features were recreated faithfully and criticisms were voiced in the form of subtle poems. Lat, however, pushed the boundaries; although he portrayed the politicians with dignity, he exaggerated notable features of their appearances and traits. Lat recalled that in 1974, he was told to change one of his works, which portrayed Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak from the back. Lee refused to print the work unchanged, and pointedly asked the cartoonist "You want to go to jail?!" In 1975, however, Lat's next attempt at a political cartoon won Lee's approval. The satire featured a caricature of Razak's successor—Hussein Onn—on the back of a camel, travelling back to Kuala Lumpur from Saudi Arabia; its punchline was Hussein's hailing of his mount to slow down after reading news that a pay raise for the civil service would be enacted on his return.

Malaysia's political class grew comfortable with Lat's caricatures, and like the rest of the country, found them entertaining. Muliyadi described Lat's style as "subtle, indirect, and symbolic", following traditional forms of Malaysian humour in terms of ethics and aesthetics. The cartoonist's compliance with tradition in his art earned him the country's respect. When Lat was critical of politicians, he portrayed them in situations "unusual, abnormal or unexpected" to their status or personalities, using the contrast to make the piece humorous. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister, was Lat's frequent target for much of his political career, providing more than 20 years worth of material to the cartoonist—enough for a 146-page compilation Dr Who?! (2004). Lat's political wit targeted not only local politicians, but also Israeli actions in the Middle East and foreign figures such as prominent Singaporean politician Lee Kwan Yew. Despite his many works of political nature, Lat does not consider himself a political cartoonist and openly admits that there are others better than he is in this field.

Lat prefers to portray his ideas with as little antagonism as possible. He heeds the advice of his mentor, Rejabhad, and is aware of sensitivities, especially those of race, culture, and religion. As he devises the concept for his cartoon, he eliminates anything he believes to be malicious or insensitive. At the Fourth Asian Cartoon Exhibition in Tokyo, Lat revealed that when it came to making religious comments in his work, he only did so on his own religion (Islam). In such cases, Lat uses his art to help educate the young about his faith. Lat trusts his editors to do their jobs and cull what is socially unacceptable for print. In an interview, he revealed his discomfort with the concept of self-publishing, believing that unadulterated or unsupervised cartoon drawing could lead to "rubbish". He prefers to be assertive in areas with which he is comfortable or competent. Lat is adamant on not changing what he has already drawn; several pieces of his cartoons remain unpublished because editors refused to print them unchanged. When that happens, the editors spike (blank) the space for his regular cartoon in the newspaper. Lat admitted of his unprinted works: "Okay, maybe I've pushed the line a little bit, but I've never got into trouble and, frankly, only a handful of my cartoons were ever spiked."

## Interests and beliefs

Music has played a crucial part in Lat's life since his youth; he revealed in an interview that listening to songs such as Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him" and Paul & Paula's "Hey Paula" helped him learn English. Listening to music had also become an important ritual in his work, providing him with inspiration in his art. When he sketches "fashionable girls", he puts on Paul McCartney's tracks, and switches to Indonesian gamelan when he needs to draw intricate details. He enjoys pop music, particularly rock music of the 1950s and 60s, listening to The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley. Lat is also partial to country music, and to singers such as Hank Williams and Roy Rogers because he finds their tunes "humble". His enjoyment of music is more than a passive interest; he is proficient with the guitar and piano, and can play them by ear.

Malaysian society used to look down on cartoonists, assuming that those who practised the trade were intellectually inferior to writers, or were lesser artists; Lat was not the only cartoonist to be paid with movie tickets in the 1950s; Rejabhad once received one ticket for ten cartoons, and many others were likewise recompensed, or were paid very little money. Despite the lowly reputation of his profession at that time, Lat is very proud of his choice of career; he once took umbrage with an acquaintance's girlfriend for her presumption that the words and ideas in his cartoons were not his own. Drawing cartoons is more than a career to him:

> If it is a job then how come it's been going on for 33 years, from childhood to now? A job is something you do at a certain time. You go to work, you finish it, you retire. If this is a job, then by now I should have retired. But I am still drawing. It's not a job to me. It is something expected of me.

The elongated "L" in Lat's signature was born from his joy in completing a work. He professes that his primary aim in drawing cartoons is to make people laugh; his role as a cartoonist is "to translate the reaction of the people into humorous cartoons". He has no intentions to preach his beliefs through his art, believing that people should be free to make up their own minds and that the best he can do is to make readers ponder the deeper meanings behind a humorous scene. The reward he has sought from drawing since his youth is simple:

> It gives a good feeling when people are amused by your funny drawings, especially for a kid. I felt like an entertainer when my drawings were shown to relatives and friends, and they laughed or even smiled.

Lat's pride in cartooning pushed him to promote the art as a respectable career. In 1991, he banded together with fellow cartoonists Zunar, Rejabhad, and Muliyadi to start "Pekartun" (Persatuan Kartunis Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur). This association holds exhibitions and forums, to raise public awareness of cartooning and to build relationships among its members. It also helps to clarify legal issues such as copyrights to its members, and acts as an intermediary between them and the government. In the previous year, Lat's company, Kampung Boy, had organised the first Malaysian International Cartoonists Gathering, bringing together cartoonists from several countries across the world to exhibit their art and participate in conferences to educate others in their work. In Redza's opinion, Lat played a great role in making cartooning respectable among his fellow Malaysians.

Aside from promoting the rights of fellow cartoonists, Lat developed an interest in encouraging conservation of the natural environment. Several of his works caricature the consequences of pollution and over-exploitation of resources. Invited to give a speech at the 9th Osaka International Symposium on Civilisation in 1988, Lat talked about the environmental problems associated with overpopulation and heavy industrialisation. He further reminisced about the simple cleaner life he had enjoyed as a child in the kampung. In 1977, when a protest was organised against logging activities in the Endau-Rompin Reserves, Lat helped gain support for the movement by drawing cartoons in the newspapers that highlighted the issue. Lat is also particularly concerned over what he sees as the negative side of urban development. He believes that such developments have contributed to the loss of the traditional way of life; people forget the old culture and values as they ingratiate themselves with the rapid pace and sophistication of urban lifestyles. His defence and fondness of the old ways are manifested in his The Kampung Boy, Town Boy, Mat Som, and Kampung Boy: Yesterday and Today, which champion the old lifestyles as spiritually superior.

## Influence and legacy

Recognised globally, and widely popular in his country, Lat has been styled "cultural hero", "his nation's conscience in cartoon form" and "Malaysian icon" among other effusive titles. The Malaysian Press Institute felt Lat had "become an institution in [his] own right", honouring him with their Special Jury Award in 2005. Cartoonists in the Southeast Asian region, such as Muliyadi, Chua, and Rejabhad, have given high praise to Lat, and his admirers further abroad include North American cartoonists Matt Groening and Eddie Campbell. Groening, creator of The Simpsons, gave a testimonial for the United States version of The Kampung Boy, praising Lat's signature work as "one of the all-time great cartoon books". Sergio Aragonés, the creator of Groo the Wanderer, is another of Lat's American fans. After visiting Malaysia in 1987, Aragonés used the experience to create a story for Groo in which the bumbling swordsman chances on the isle of Felicidad, whose inhabitants and natural habitat were modelled after those of the Southeast Asian country. Aragonés drew the noses of the islanders in Lat's distinctive style, and named one of the prominent native characters—an inquisitive boy—after the Malaysian cartoonist.

Lent (2003) and Shimizu (1996) both suggest that the Malaysian comic industry began to boom after Lat joined the profession on a full-time basis in 1974. Lent further hazards that the cartoonist profession was made more respectable in Malaysia by the award to Lat in 1994 of a datuk title (equivalent to a knighthood). Bestowed on Lat by the Sultan of Perak, the title was Malaysia's highest recognition of the cartoonist's influence on his countrymen and his contributions to the country. Before Lat's emergence, Malaysian cartooning was largely unappreciated by the public, despite the popular works of Raja Hamzah and Rejabhad. Lat's successes showed Malaysians that they could thrive and succeed as cartoonists, and inspired them to look to the cartooning profession for potential careers. Several younger artists imitated his style in the hopes of capturing equivalent rewards. Zambriabu and Rasyid Asmawi copied the distinctive three loop noses and hairstyles of Lat's characters. Others, such as Reggie Lee and Nan, incorporated Lat's detailed "thematic and stylistic approaches" in their works. Muliyadi dubbed Lat the "Father of Contemporary Malaysian Cartoons", for being the first Malaysian cartoonist to achieve global recognition and for helping to improve the industry's image in their country.

The effects of Lat's works were not confined to the artistic sector. In the period before his debut, Malaysian cartoonists supported calls for national unity. The characters in a cartoon were often of one race, and negative focus on the foibles of particular races or cultures worked its way into the mainstream. Such cartoons did not help to soothe racial tensions that were simmering then. The situation erupted with the racial riots of 1969, and for several years after these incidents relationships among the races were raw and fragile. According to Redza, Lat soothed the nation's racial woes with his works. Drawing members of various races in his crowd scenes and showing their interactions with one another, Lat portrayed Malaysians in a gentle and unbiased comic manner. Redza pointed out although one may argue that Lat was forced into the role of racial and cultural mediator (because of his employment with his country's "leading English-language newspaper serving a multi-racial readership"), he possessed the necessary qualities—intimate knowledge of various races and culture—to succeed in the job. Lat's fans recognised the trademark of his oeuvre as "a safe and nice humour that made everyone feel good and nostalgic by appealing to their benevolent sides rather than by poking at their bad sides". It proved to be a successful formula; more than 850,000 copies of his books were sold in the twelve years after the first compilation of his editorial cartoons went on sale in 1977. The comfort that readers sought from his works was such that when in September 2008 Lat deviated from his usual style, to draw a cartoon about racially charged politicking in his country, it shocked journalist Kalimullah Hassan. She found the illustration of a group of Malaysians huddled under an umbrella, taking shelter from a rain of xenophobic phrases, full of profound sadness.

Lat's works have been used in academic studies—the fields of which are diverse, spanning law, urban planning, and diets. The academics use his drawings to help them illustrate their points in a humorous yet educational manner. Foreign embassy officials have sought Lat for his insight into the cultures of their societies. They have invited him to tour their countries, in the hope that he will record his experiences in cartoon form to share with the world. The first country to do so was the United States, followed by others such as Australia, Germany, and Japan. In 1998, Lat became the first cartoonist to be made an Eisenhower Fellow and revisited the United States; his research programme was the study of relationships among the many races in United States society. In 2007, the National University of Malaysia awarded him an honorary Doctorate in Anthropology and Sociology. Lat's works are recognised as visual records of Malaysia's cultural history; he was awarded a Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2002 for preserving Malay rural culture in his works. In 2018, Lat was awarded the Tokoh Ar Ridzuan at the Perak state level of the Tokoh Maal Hijrah award. In 2019, the Taylor's University honoured him a Honorary Doctorate in Arts during the university's 18th convocation ceremony for his contribution to the development of the Malaysia's visual arts. Lat was awarded the 2023 National Journalists' Day Award for his contribution in conveying information and educating the communities on various issues through his works that is done with humour and prudence with a dash of sarcasm. He also awarded the Royal Artist by the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, making him the first Perakian to receive a such award.

In 1986, Lat became the first cartoonist to exhibit his work at the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur; the event drew a record number of 600,000 visitors in two months. He is treated as a celebrity, and his cartoon characters decorate stamps, financial guides, and aeroplanes. When Reader's Digest asked Malaysians in 2010 to rank which of 50 local personalities was most worthy of trust, Lat was returned fourth on the list. According to Jaafar, "100% of Malaysians respect and admire Lat, and see a Malaysian truth, whether he is drawing a policeman, teachers, or hookers."

## List of major honours

- 1994 – Honorific title of datuk
- 1998 – Eisenhower Fellowship
- 2002 – Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize
- 2005 – Petronas Journalism Awards (Special Jury Award)
- 2007 – Honorary Doctorate in Anthropology and Sociology
- 2010 – Civitella Ranieri Visual Arts Fellowship
- 2014 – Merdeka Award for Education and Community category
- 2018 – Tokoh Maal Hijrah
- 2019 – Honorary Doctorate in Arts from the Taylor's University
- 2023 – National Journalists' Day Award
- 2023 – The title of Royal Artist

## List of selected works

This is a partial list of Lat's books (first prints); excluded are translations and commissioned works, such as Latitudes (1986) for Malaysian Airlines and the annual personal financial management guides (since 1999) for Bank Negara Malaysia.

Malaysian cartoonist