Kitazawa Yasuji, better known by the pen name Kitazawa Rakuten, was a Japanese manga artist and nihonga artist. He drew many editorial cartoons and comic strips during the years from the late Meiji era through the early Shōwa era. He is considered by many historians to be the founding father of modern manga because his work was an inspiration to many younger manga artists and animators.
He was the first professional cartoonist in Japan, and the first to use the term "manga" in its modern sense.