Manga creator Hiroyuki Shoji passed away on Thursday in Gose city in Nara prefecture after what police suspect is a biking accident. He was 46.

According to prefectural police, a male passerby noticed a man lying face-down by the side of National Route 24 at around 9:50 p.m. on Thursday, beside a recumbent bicycle. The man was bleeding from his head. The passerby called the emergency number, and the man was brought to the hospital, and pronounced dead an hour later. Police later identified the man as Shoji.

Because the place Shoji was found is a flat area right after a steep incline, and the bicycle exhibited no signs of contact with other vehicles, police suspect that Shoji was riding the bike at a high speed on the incline before tumbling and hitting his head. According to police, Shoji had notified his family that he would "go cycling in Wakayama prefecture."

Shoji was born in Moriguchi city in Osaka prefecture in 1970, and resided there until his death. He debuted in 1997 with his "Koroshi no License" story, for which he won the Chiba Tetsuya award. He serialized his first series, Ichabod no Seikatsu , in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 2000 to 2002. He serialized a number of series after that, including: Kagefumi-san ( Genzo , Gentosha), Raise de Aimashō ( Comic Birz , Gentosha), Gokko ( Super Jump and Grand Jump Premium , Shueisha), Hanzai-Ō Poponepo ( Jump Kai , Shueisha), and Sokubakuai ~Kareshi o Hikikomaraseru 100 no Hōhō ( Young Champion Retsu , Akita Shoten). Shoji also wrote Meta Love , which ran in Kodansha's Monthly Morning two magazine from 2014 to 2016. Kodansha published the third and final volume of Meta Love in April.

Shoji had launched the 10-sai Kaa-san manga in the August issue of the Monthly Comic Flapper magazine on July 5. The manga was also running on the Comic Walker website.

Sources: Yomiuri Online, Mainichi Shimbun (川畑展之) via Hachima Kikō