Biography
Koyoharu Gotouge is a Japanese manga artist, best known as the creator of the series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Born on 5 May 1989 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Gotouge uses a pen name and debuted in 2013 with the one-shot Kagarigari in a Shueisha newcomer contest. This was followed by further one-shots before the serialisation of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba in Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 2016 to May 2020.
The manga, collected in 23 volumes, has sold over 220 million copies worldwide. Its anime adaptations and films, including Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle (2025), for which Gotouge is credited with the original story and on which the screenplay is based, have brought widespread recognition. Gotouge received the Noma Prize in 2020, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the Japan Cartoonists Association Award in 2021, and was named to Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in 2021.
