Tezuka In English Discussion Forums

Forgive my ignorance, but I was surprised to see Tezuka's name published as "Osamusi Tezuka". Can anyone enlighten me about this variation?

Example here:

A total guess - but maybe Osamushi is his proper name and Osamu is his "nick" name. Kinda like my mom and her name: Belle and Bella. Her given name is Belle, but she goes by Bella.

While his real Japanese name was 手塚治, Osamu Tezuka used the Pen Name 手塚治虫. Both names are pronounced exactly the same, the 虫 (mushi) means insect in Japanese and Tezuka was extremely interested in insects. He decided to add 虫 to his name when he learned about an insect called Osamushi.

Copy pasted from animenewsnetwork.com because I am to lazy to rephrase it

OH that is very interesting

Yeah. And in Japanese, "si" is the same thing as "shi", it's just a matter of aesthetic preference when using english letters

The Tezuka Manga Biographie (from Casterman in French, also available in Italian but not alas in English!) has a lovely section about this in Vol 1. Young Osamu is getting into insects and decides that the beetle called osamushi in Japanese (I think it's a ground beetle but I am no entomologist!) looks a bit like him because it has a long thin neck, so he adds the character to his name and announces to his teacher that from now on on wants to be called Osamushi Tezuka. It's such a typical teenage thing to do, and I thought it was very sweet the way the Biographie presented it.

His given name, Osamu, is an alternate reading of the last character of Emperor Meiji's throne name. He was born on the same day as Emperor Meiji, which is why his parents chose it.[/u]