Raised by his mother in difficult circumstances due to absence of his father who disappeared. After primary school, he had to work. He didn't feel well in his adolescence and at the age of 14 he embarks as a stowaway on a cargo ship for the United States, but is found by the coastal guards. At 16, he begins drawing for small rental libraries. This market, a parallel market, to the normal manga market, disappeared in the following decade which left him without a job. Poverty (he even sold his own blood) led him to suicide attempts.
He got a new chance on Garo magazine in 1965. From then on, he presents his works, real masterpieces, in this magazine. Tsuge has always tried to break through the way of telling a story established by Tezuka.
From 1966 to 1976, he travels through all of Japan, visiting the small villages, uninhabited regions and other places unknown to the public. This is where he gets a lot of ideas for new stories.
Tsuge wrote three categories of stories: those who he called "travel stories" which came from his numerous voyages across Japan. Secondly, stories coming from his dreams with a surreal atmosphere. Thirdly, autobiographical stories, published mainly in the seventies and eighties.
Depression has halted Tsuge's career several times, and today he doesn't draw anymore. Even so, his works are timeless and get reprinted since the sixties even though he isn't an author known to the masses. Critics are unanimously positive about his works and about his inestimable importance for the manga scene. Two of his works have been made into a movie. He's considered to be a cult-mangaka.
Tsuge passed away due to aspiration pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo on March 3, 2026.
