was a Japanese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. Born in Arasaka,

Tokyo Prefecture Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Gosha graduated from high school and served in the Imperial Navy during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After earning a business degree at Meiji University, he joined Nippon television as a reporter in 1953. In 1957 he moved on to the newly founded

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

and rose through the ranks as a producer and director. One of his television shows, the

chambara , also commonly spelled "''chambara''", meaning "sword fighting" films,Hill (2002). denotes the Japanese film genre called samurai cinema in English and is roughly equivalent to Western and swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub-category of '' ...

Three Outlaw Samurai is a 1964 Japanese '' chambara'' film directed and co-written by Hideo Gosha in his feature-length debut. The film is an origin-story offshoot of Gosha's 1963 Japanese television series of the same name, with the same lead actors, Tetsuro Tamb ...

'', so impressed the heads of the Shochiku film studio that he was offered the chance to adapt it as a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

in 1964. Following this film's financial success, he directed a string of equally successful chambara productions through the end of the 1960s. His two most critical and popular successes of the period are ''

Goyokin is a 1969 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Hideo Gosha. Set during the late Tokugawa period, the story follows a reclusive ''rōnin'' who is trying to atone for past transgressions. Plot Magobei Wakizaka is a samurai for the Sabai clan. A ...

'' and '' Hitokiri'' (also known as ''Tenchu''), both released in 1969 and both considered to be two of the finest examples of the chambara genre. In ''The Samurai Film'', the first book-length study of the genre in English, film historian

Alain Silver Alain Silver is a US film producer, director, and screenwriter; music producer; film critic, film historian, DVD commentator, author and editor of books and essays on film topics, especially film noir, the samurai film, and horror films. Filmm ...

devoted an entire chapter to Gosha's work and noted that "''Tenchu/Hitokiri'' may, with some justice, be cited as one of the most accomplished examples of the samurai genre since World War II." During the 1970s Gosha abandoned pure chambara and turned his productive energies toward films in the yakuza genre but he still produced period sword films such as '' The Wolves'' (1971), ''

Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron is a 1978 Japanese film directed by Hideo Gosha. Based on the novel ''Kumokiri Nizaemon'' written by Shōtarō Ikenami. Cast *Tatsuya Nakadai as Kumokiri Nizaemon *Shima Iwashita as Chiyo *Kōshirō Matsumoto as Shikubu Abe * Takashi Yamaguchi a ...

'' (1978), and ''

Hunter in the Dark ''Hunter in the Dark'' is a young adult novel by Monica Hughes, first published in 1982 and has been the subject of school study. It is about a boy with leukemia who goes on a hunting expedition. Plot summary Mike Rankin is an athletic teenag ...

'' (1979). His films ''Three Outlaw Samurai'' and ''

Sword of the Beast is a 1965 jidaigeki film co-written and directed by Hideo Gosha. Set in 1857 at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the story follows a fugitive samurai who has killed a counselor in his clan and is on the run. He gets involved in a scheme to poac ...

'' (1965) have been released by Criterion. By the early 1980s, Gosha began making period films that featured prostitutes as protagonists that were renowned for their realism, violence, and overt sexuality. They were critically panned for those very reasons, but they were also all box office successes. In 1984 he was awarded the

Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year The of the Japan Academy Film Prize The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本ア� ...

for ''

The Geisha ''The Geisha, a story of a tea house'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts. The score was composed by Sidney Jones to a libretto by Owen Hall, with lyrics by Harry Greenbank. Additional songs were written by Lionel Monckton and James ...

''. Gosha’s films have influenced directors including

Chang Cheh Chang Cheh (; 10 February 1923 – 22 June 2002) was a Chinese people, Chinese filmmaker, screenwriter, lyricist and producer active in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Chang Cheh directed more than 90 films in Greater China, the majority of them wi ...

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over one hundred theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films run through a variety of different genres, and range from violent an ...

,Janus FIlms and Criterion Present Samurai Classics at the Ritz : Fantastic Fest
/ref> and

Yoshiaki Kawajiri is a writer and director of Japanese animation. He is the creator of titles such as '' Wicked City'', ''Ninja Scroll'', and '' Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust''. Biography Kawajiri was born on November 18, 1950 and grew up in Yokohama, Kanagawa Pr ...

.Sutajio yū (2008). Plus Madhouse 02 - Yoshiaki Kawajiri (PLUS MADHOUSE 2 川尻善昭?). Inc./Hatsubai Kinemajunpōsha. . OCLC 233684835. Japanese edition

Filmography

* 1964 ''

'' * 1965 ''

'' * 1966 ''

Cash Calls Hell In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-imm ...

'' * 1966 ''The Secret of the Urn'' * 1966 ''Samurai Wolf'' * 1967 ''Samurai Wolf II'' * 1969 ''

'' * 1969 '' Hitokiri'' (a.k.a. ''Tenchu'') * 1971 '' The Wolves'' * 1974 ''Violent Streets'' * 1978 ''

'' * 1979 ''

'' * 1982 ''

Onimasa is a 1982 Japanese film directed by Hideo Gosha. Based on the novel of Tomiko Miyao. It was Japan's submission to the 55th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee. Cast * Tatsuya Nak ...

'' * 1983 ''

'' * 1984 ''

Fireflies in the North is a 1984 Japanese film directed by Hideo Gosha. The lead star is Tatsuya Nakadai. Plot The film depicts the conflict between the prisoners forced to work as manpower of Hokkaido settlers and the administrators of the Kabato district as well a ...

'' * 1985 ''Oar''/''Kai'' * 1985 ''Tracked''/''Usugesho'' * 1986 ''Death Shadows'' * 1986 ''The Yakuza Wives'' * 1987 ''Tokyo Bordello'' * 1988 ''Carmen 1945'' * 1989 ''226''/''Four Days of Snow and Blood'' * 1991 ''Kagero'' * 1992 ''

The Oil-Hell Murder is a 1992 Japanese film directed by Hideo Gosha. It was Japan's submission to the 65th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Ar ...

References

External links

A Director's Cuts: The Samurai Savvy Of Hideo Gosha
at washingtonpost.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gosha, Hideo 1929 births 1992 deaths People from Tokyo Japanese film directors Samurai film directors Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners