Was raised by his mother after his father died when he was nine. When he was a junior high student his mother bought him ISHINOMORI Shotaro’s Manga Nyuumon and aspired to become a mangaka because of it. In 1976 his mother passed away.

Famed for being one of the most punctual serialised mangaka and never took a single break during his serialization of Kochira Katsushikaku Kameari Kouenmae Hashutsujo on Weekly Shonen Jump. Kochikame was the longest running shonen manga, serialized for 40 years from 1976 and concluded in 2016. Kochikame also received Guinness World Record for the most collected books for a manga with 200 volumes until overtaken by Golgo 13 in 2021.
He used the pen name YAMADOME Tatsuhiko (山止たつひこ) at the time of his debut until volume 6 of Kochikame, it is a parody of YAMAGAMI Tatsuhiko.

He is a fan of HOSHINO Yukinobu, OSHIMA Yasuichi and MOCHIZUKI Mikiya.

NOBE Toshio, TAKAIWA Yoshihiro, TOMISAWA Chinatsu, ARO Hiroshi, USUNE Masatoshi, OSHIYAMA Yuichi, KUWASAWA Atsuo and AZUMA Naoki are his former assistants.

Close friends with KURUMADA Masami and Yudetamago. He and HARA Tetsuo went to the same high school.