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Bonten Taro (福谷たかし; 1928 – 30th June, 2008) was a Japanese manga artist,tattoo artist, painter,and designer. He is best known for his manga series 'Half-Breed'.

Early life
Bonten Tarō was born as Ishii Kiyomi in Tokyo in 1928.

Manga Career
In 1979 he used own experiences about his near destitute life, living and drinking in the bohemian districts Asagaya and Koenji, while working as a day labourer on civil engineering works as inspiration for his manga. His first published work was the story Bohemian Rhapsody in the Weekly Manga Goraku in 1979.

He took some of his stories to publishing company Yoshifusa, owners of magazine Weekly Manga Times who immediately began to serialize the stories as 'Dokudami Tenement'. The popular series ran for 35 volumes, and a revival for a further 7 volumes. It was also adapted as a live action movie in 1988 and three volumes of original video animation in 1989.

Fukutani died of pulmonary edema in 2000.

Related Works
Legend - The Definitive Dokudami Tenement (Seirinkogeisha, 1 volume)