Born in 1947, in Tottori Prefecture, Tottori City, Taniguchi started creating manga in earnest after graduating from high school, while he was working for a clothing company in Kyoto. He worked as an assistant to Kyuta Ishikawa, then made his professional debut in 1971 with "Kareta Heya" (A desiccated Room) published in "Young Comic". He made a hit with "Jikenyakagyo" (Trouble is my business) (’79-81, ’82-94) which was co-created with Natsuko Sekikawa. Another of his collaborative works with Sekikawa, "Botchan no jidai" (The times of Botchan) (’87-96), won the 22nd Japan Cartoonists Association Award for Excellence (’93) and the 2nd Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, Manga Grand Prize (’98). In 1994, serialization began of his work "Kodoku no Gourmet" (Solitary gourmet) with the story written by Masayuki Kusumi. In that same year, it was adapted as a TV drama, to huge acclaim. The series "Chichi no koyomi" (All those days of his fatherfood) which began in the same year, won the 28th Angouleme International Comics Festival Award (’01) in France, followed by a succession of other highly regarded overseas awards. After that, he expanded his work abroad and produced works such as "Mon année" (My one year) (’09) with writer Jean-David Morvan, and "Sennen no tsubasa, hyakunen no yume" (Guardians of the Louvre) (’14) commissioned by the Louvre Museum. Jiro Taniguchi passed away in 2017.