He began his career by lettering comic books and wrote and illustrated The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy; a comic series with a medieval setting, influenced by Sergio Aragonés' Groo the Wanderer. The characters first appeared in Albedo #1 in 1984, and were subsequently featured in issues of Critters, Grimjack, Amazing Heroes and Furrlough. Sakai became famous with the creation of Usagi Yojimbo, the epic saga of Miyamoto Usagi, a samurai rabbit living in late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth-century Japan. First published in 1984, the comic continues to this day, with Sakai as the lone author and nearly sole artist. He also created a futuristic spinoff series Space Usagi. His favorite movie is Satomi Hakkenden. The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo presented an exhibit entitled "Year of the Rabbit: Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo" from July 9 through October 30, 2011. Sakai wrote and illustrated the story "I'm Not in Springfield Anymore!" for Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #7 and illustrated the back cover of Treehouse of Horror #6. Sakai was the artist for Riblet, the back-up feature in the trade paperback of Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails. In 2013, Sakai illustrated the limited comic book series47 Ronin, an adaptation of the famed story of the 47 Ronin written by Dark Horse Comics Publisher Mike Richardson and with Lone Wolf and Cub writer Kazuo Koike as an editorial consultant. The seventh episode of the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series' fifth season, "Yojimbo", was written by Sakai and features Miyamoto Usagi, who has appeared in a few TMNT shows to date. In 2020, it was revealed that Sakai will serve as an executive producer on the upcoming Netflix original CGI animated series Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles, which is based on "Usagi Yojimbo".
Awards
1990 Parents' Choice Award for "Skillful weaving of facts and legends into his work"
From 1993 through 2005, Stan Sakai has received twenty-one Eisner Award nominations. He has also been nominated for the Comics Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 1999 and 2000.
''Usagi Yojimbo''
Other works
47 Ronin – collects #1–5, story by Mike Richardson, colors by Lovern Kindzierski, and letters by L. Lois Buhalis and Tom Orzechowski
The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy – collect stories from Albedo Anthropomorphics #1 and #5; Critters Special #1; Critters #5, 16, and 27; Usagi Yojimbo #19; Usagi Yojimbo Color Special #1–3; Usagi Yojimbo #9; and Dark Horse Presents #30; colors by Ryan Hill and Tom Luth
