, known by his pen name

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 , is a Japanese manga artist

Mangaka

is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...

. His most significant work is the manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series Bleach

Bleach (manga)

is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...

.
Kubo was the son of a town council member in Fuchu

Fuchu, Hiroshima (Aki)

is a town located in Aki District, Hiroshima, Japan.As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 49,839 and a density of 4,769.28 persons per km². The total area is 10.45 km².It has the headquarters of Mazda.-External links:*...

, Aki District

Aki District, Hiroshima

Aki is a district located in Hiroshima, Japan.As of 2004 population data but counting decreases due to the March 20, 2005 merger, the district has an estimated population of 116,573 and a density of 1588 persons per km²...

, Hiroshima

Hiroshima Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Hiroshima.- History :The area around Hiroshima was formerly divided into Bingo Province and Aki Province. This location has been a center of trade and culture since the beginning of Japan's recorded...

. He never took drawing seriously until he was 17, and after reading the manga Saint Seiya

Saint Seiya

, also known as Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac or simply Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1991, and adapted into an anime TV series by Toei Animation from 1986 to 1989.The story follows...

which influenced him to become a manga artist. His first one-shot was "Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine", written for the Weekly Shōnen Jump

Weekly Shonen Jump

is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...

in 1996. He wrote his first manga Zombiepowder, which was also published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1999.