Manga creator Jinpachi Mori passed away on November 21 at 7:24 a.m. due to Barrett's esophagus leading to esophageal cancer. He was 57.

Mori was born in Sasebo, Nagasaki in 1958. After graduating from the Nihon University College of Art , he began writing in magazines, launching his Kasai no Hito debut manga in Shogakukan 's Big Comic Original magazine in 1988, with art by Osamu Uoto . The manga centered on a family court judge who loved flowers, and it was adapted into a live-action television drama in 1993.

His other manga included Benkei in New York ( N.Y. no Benkei ), Tsuchi no Ko , Tajikarao , Saiban'in no Megami , and Nozomi . Viz Media first published his Benkei in New York in North America in 2000 in its Pulp magazine, and then released its single volume in 2001.

Mori challenged the strengthening of Japanese juvenile law, and encouraged social and community-based rehabilitation of delinquent juveniles. His last work is a book titled Kasai no Hito kara Kimi e no Yuigon: Sasebo Kōichi Dōkyūsei Satsugai Jiken to Shōnen-hō , wherein he outlines the history of juvenile law in Japan.

Mori revealed his esophageal cancer in July 2014.

Source: The Chugoku Shimbun