was a Japanese filmmaker best remembered for the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning '' Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto'', which was released in 1954.

Career

Born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

as the son of a

shinpa (also rendered ''shimpa'') is a form of theater in Japan, usually featuring melodramatic stories, contrasted with the more traditional ''kabuki'' style. It later spread to cinema. Art form The roots of ''Shinpa'' can be traced to a form of agi ...

actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining the

Nikkatsu is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...

studio as an actor in 1922. Wishing to become a director, he joined Chiezō Kataoka's Chiezō Productions and made his directorial debut with ''Tenka taiheiki'' (1928). Returning to Nikkatsu, he continued making

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

and participated in the Naritaki Group of young filmmakers such as

Sadao Yamanaka was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed 26 films between 1932 and 1938. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the ''jidaigeki'', or historic ...

and

Fuji Yahiro (18 July 1904 – 9 November 1986) was a Japanese screenwriter, mostly of chanbara films. His real name was Minoru Yahiro. Leaving Meiji University before graduating, he began writing screenplays at Shōzō Makino's Makino Film Production ...

who collaboratively wrote screenplays under the made up name "Kinpachi Kajiwara". Like others in the group, Inagaki was known for his cheerful and intelligent

samurai film , 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 '' ...

s. Inagaki later moved to Daiei and then

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

, where he made big budget color spectacles as well as delicate works depicting the feelings of children. He also produced many films and wrote the scripts for dozens of others.

Recognition

His film ''Muhōmatsu no isshō'' (''Rickshaw Man'', 1943) was selected as the 8th best Japanese film of all time in a 1989 poll of Japanese critics and filmmakers. The color remake, ''

Rickshaw Man , also released as ''Muhomatsu, the Rickshaw Man'' or ''The Rikisha-Man'', is a 1958 color Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. It is a remake of his own 1943 film. In the 1943 version Tsumasaburo Bando played the role of Muhōmatsu. In Oct ...

'' (1958), won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

award at that year's

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

. His film '' Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto'' (1954) won the honorary

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

Selected filmography

Director

* ''Tenka taiheiki'' (天下太平記) (1928) * ''Hōrō zanmai'' (放浪三昧) (1928) * ''Muhōmatsu no isshō'' (無法松の一生) (Rickshaw Man) (1943) * '' Noroshi wa Shanghai ni agaru'' (狼火は上海に揚る春江遺恨 literally: ''Signal Fires of Shanghai'') (1944) * '' Sword for Hire'' (戦国無頼 Sengoku burai) (1952) * ''

Samurai Trilogy The ''Samurai Trilogy'' is a film trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro Mifune as Musashi Miyamoto and Kōji Tsuruta as Kojirō Sasaki. The films are based on '' Musashi'', a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa about the famous duelist an ...

'' ** '' Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto'' (宮本武蔵) (1954) ** '' Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple'' (続宮本武蔵一乗寺の決闘 Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijōji no kettō) (1955) ** '' Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island'' (決闘巌流島 Kettō Ganryūjima) (1956) * ''

The Lone Journey , also known as ''The Road'', is a 1955 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. Production design was by Takeo Kita and Makoto Sono and sound recording was by Choshichiro Mikami. The lighting technician Electrical lighting ...

'' a.k.a. ''The Road'' (旅路 Tabiji) (1955) * ''

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999 ...

'' (嵐) (1956) * ''

Yagyu Secret Scrolls is a 1957 color Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. Other English titles include: ''Yagyu Bugeicho – Ninjitsu part 1'', ''Secret Scrolls'', ''Yagyu Secret Scrolls Part I''. It was followed by a sequel in 1958, . Cast * Toshirō Mifun ...

'' (柳生武芸帳 Yagyū Bugeichō) (1957) * ''

'' (無法松の一生) (1957) * ''

part II'' (柳生武芸帳双龍秘剣 Yagyū Bugeichō–Sōryū hiken) a.k.a. ''Ninjitsu'' (1958) * ''

The Birth of Japan is a 1959 Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. The film is based on the legends '' Kojiki'' and '' Nihon Shoki'' and the origins of ''Shinto''. The film was the highest-grossing film of 1959 for Toho and the second highest grossing domestic ...

'' (日本誕生, Nippon Tanjō), also called ''The Three Treasures'' (1959) *''

Life of an Expert Swordsman is a 1959 samurai film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro Mifune. Its story is an adaptation of the 1897 Edmond Rostand play ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', and its basic plot faithfully follows that of the play. The film was released in ...

'' (或る剣豪の生涯 Aru kengō no shōgai) (1959) * ''

The Story of Osaka Castle is a 1961 Japanese drama film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film is based on historical events taking place in Japan during the beginning of the 17th century. Plot The plot is set about a decade aft ...

'' (大阪城物語 Ōsaka-jō monogatari) (1961) with

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

* '' Chushingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki'' (忠臣蔵花の巻雪の巻) (1962) with

* '' The Secret Sword'' (秘剣 Hiken) (1963) * ''

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a weather phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow (current) gradients. Whirlwinds occur all over the world and i ...

'' (Shikonmado - Dai tatsumaki) (1964) * ''Sasaki Kojiro—Zenpen: Fuun Osaka-jo Kohen: Ketto Ganryushima'' (a.k.a. ''Kojiro'') (1967) * ''

Samurai Banners is a Japanese samurai drama film released in 1969. It was directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and is based on the novel ''Furin kazan'' by Yasushi Inoue. Plot Yamamoto Kansuke (Toshiro Mifune) is a general of warlord Takeda Shingen ( Nakamura Kinno ...

'' (風林火山 Fūrin Kazan) (1969) * ''

Machibuse ''Machibuse'' ( ja, 待ち伏せ) is a 1970 Japanese drama film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. Cast * Toshiro Mifune − 'Yojimbo' * Yujiro Ishihara − Yataro * Ruriko Asaoka − Okuni * Shintaro Katsu − Gentetsu * Kinnosuke Nakamura − Heim ...

'' (待ち伏せ) (1970)

Producer

* ''

Shinsengumi The was a special police force organized by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was active until 1869. It was founded to protect the shogunate representatives in Kyoto at a time when ...

'' (新選組) (1969)

Bibliography

References

External links

* *
Hiroshi Inagaki's grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inagaki, Hiroshi Japanese film directors Samurai film directors 1905 births 1980 deaths People from Tokyo Japanese film producers Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Directors of Golden Lion winners 20th-century Japanese screenwriters