Eiichiro Oda

Okay, let me be real: the man has been drawing One Piece every single week since 1997, and I genuinely don't understand how his hand still works. The world-building alone makes my head spin, all those islands, factions, and Devil Fruits clicking into place. And the foreshadowing? He'll plant something and quietly let it sit for a decade before paying it off, and you can practically hear him grinning. What gets me most, though, is that he donated to Kumamoto earthquake relief under Luffy's name. That tells you everything: a kid from Kumamoto who worshipped Akira Toriyama grew up to hand an entire generation a treasure map of their own. I respect the obsession. I just hope he's sleeping a little.

Eiichiro Oda is a Japanese manga artist born on January 1, 1975, in Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture. He began his career while still in high school, earning a runner-up placement in Weekly Shonen Jump's Tezuka Award in 1992 with his short story "WANTED!" After dropping out of Kyushu Tokai University in 1994 and working as an assistant to several manga artists, he launched ONE PIECE in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. ONE PIECE became the best-selling manga series by a single author in history, certified by Guinness World Records, and had surpassed 500 million copies in circulation worldwide by 2022.

Name (English)

Eiichiro Oda

Name (Japanese)

尾田栄一郎

Reading

おだ えいいちろう

Born

January 1, 1975 (age 51)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Rabbit

Origin

Kumamoto City, Kumamoto, Japan

Blood type

A

Agency

Shueisha (Weekly Shonen Jump)

Active years

1992–present

Occupation

Manga artist

High school

Tokai University Second High School (now Tokai University Affiliated Kumamoto Seisho High School)

University

Kyushu Tokai University, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture — dropped out

Debut

In 1992, while still in high school, his short story "WANTED!" was awarded runner-up in Weekly Shonen Jump's Tezuka Award. In 1994 he dropped out of university and moved to Tokyo, working as an assistant to multiple manga artists. In 1997 he made his serialization debut with ONE PIECE.

Awards & achievements

• 1992 Weekly Shonen Jump Tezuka Award – Runner-up (short story "WANTED!")
• 1993 Weekly Shonen Jump Hop☆Step Award – Selected (short story "Ikki Yako")
• 2006 Japan Media Arts 100 – Manga Division Selection (ONE PIECE)
• 2012 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award – Grand Prize (ONE PIECE)
• 2015 Guinness World Record – Best-selling manga series by a single author (ONE PIECE)
• 2018 Kumamoto Prefecture People's Honor Award
• 2019 Yahoo! Search Award – Author Category
• 2022 Guinness World Record update – ONE PIECE cumulative circulation exceeds 500 million copies worldwide
• 2023 18th Watanabe Shin Award
• 2023 42nd Fujimoto Award – Special Prize

Timeline

1. 1992Short story "WANTED!" earns runner-up in the Tezuka Award while still in high school
2. 1994Drops out of Kyushu Tokai University, moves to Tokyo, and works as assistant to Shinobu Kaitani, Masaya Tokuhiro, and Nobuhiro Watsuki
3. 1997ONE PIECE begins serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump issue No. 34
4. 1999ONE PIECE anime adaptation premieres
5. 2004Marries Chiaki Inaba
6. 2009Serves as executive producer and scriptwriter for ONE PIECE FILM STRONG WORLD (box office: 4.8 billion yen)
7. 2012Serves as general producer for ONE PIECE FILM Z (box office: 6.87 billion yen)
8. 2015ONE PIECE certified by Guinness World Records as best-selling manga series by a single author
9. 2016Donates 800 million yen under the name Monkey D. Luffy in support of Kumamoto earthquake recovery
10. 2018Receives Kumamoto Prefecture People's Honor Award

Spouse

Chiaki Inaba (married November 7, 2004; former model and actress)

Children

First daughter (born 2005), second daughter (born 2009)

Hobbies

• Watching movies (yakuza films, westerns)
• Listening to music (Mr.Children)

Specialties

• Manga creation
• Character design

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%BE%E7%94%B0%E6%A0%84%E4%B8%80%E9%83%8E

Tags

• Manga artist
• ONE PIECE
• Weekly Shonen Jump
• From Kumamoto
• Guinness record holder
• Shueisha
• Pirate manga

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.