Hinomaru Bunko

Hinomaru Bunko was one of the major publishers in the rental manga industry of the 50's and 60's, with its magazine Kage being one of the leading works in the format (which peaked in the late 50's). Though it was eventually overtaken by the highly popular traditional manga magazines, in its time it helped publish some amateur artists and more adult stories in a medium that was generally aimed at children.

Among the creators it helped get their start by being the first to publish their work were Takao Saito, Shinji Mizushima and Hiroshi Motomiya who would all go on to be some of the most prolific mainstream mangaka of the 20th century (and when first published by Hinomaru, all of them were still teenagers).