was a Japanese actor and film director.

Career

Born in

Ishinomaki is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 138,538, and a population density of 250 persons per km2 in 61,919 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Ishinomaki is in northeastern Miya ...

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

, Kosugi first studied at the

Nihon Eiga Haiyū Gakkō Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

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 in 1925. He came to prominence in

tendency film is a genre of socially conscious, left-leaning films produced in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s. Tendency films reflected a perceived leftward shift in Japanese society in the aftermath of the 1927 Shōwa financial crisis. Japan's left-wing lit ...

s such as '' Ikeru ningyō'' (1929). He was the lead player in a series of critically acclaimed realist films made at Nikkatsu's Tamagawa studio in the 1930s, particularly

Tomu Uchida , born Tsunejirō Uchida on 26 April 1898, was a Japanese film director. The stage name "Tomu" translates to “spit out dreams”. Early career Uchida started out at the Taikatsu studio in the early 1920s, but came to prominence at Nikkatsu, ada ...

's ''

Jinsei gekijō , subtitled ''La Bonne Vie'' (''The Good Life'' in French), is a Japanese light novel series written by Ougyo Kawagishi and illustrated by Meruchi Nanase. Ten volumes were published by Shogakukan from January 2012 to March 2015 under their Ga ...

'' (1936) and '' Tsuchi'' (1939) and

Tomotaka Tasaka was a Japanese film director. Career Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, he began working at Nikkatsu's Kyoto studio in 1924 and eventually came to prominence for a series of realist, humanist films made at Nikkatsu's Tamagawa studio in the late 193 ...

's war films, '' Gonin no sekkōhei'' (1938) and ''

Mud and Soldiers is a 1939 Japanese war film directed by Tomotaka Tasaka. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ashihei Hino. Cast * Isamu Kosugi was a Japanese actor and film director. Career Born in Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, Kosugi first st ...

'' (1939). In 1937, he starred in the German-Japanese co-production, '' Atarashiki tsuchi'' (aka ''Die Tochter des Samurai''), directed by

Arnold Fanck Arnold Fanck (6 March 1889 – 28 September 1974) was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre. He is best known for the extraordinary alpine footage he captured in such films as '' The Holy Mountain'' (1926), '' The White He ...

and

Mansaku Itami Mansaku Itami (伊丹万作; real name Yoshitoyo Ikeuchi 池内義豊; 2 January 1900 – 21 September 1946) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter known for his critical, sometimes satirical portraits of Japan and its history. H ...

. He was renowned at the time as a skilled actor with an individual style. After

World War II 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 ...

, he moved into directing, working primarily at Nikkatsu, where he filmed comedy series and action films starring

Jō Shishido was a Japanese actor most recognizable for his intense, eccentric yakuza film roles and his artificially enlarged cheekbones. He appeared in some 300 films but is best known in the West for his performance in the cult film ''Branded to Kill'' ...

, while still appearing in films as an actor. His son was the composer Taichirō Kosugi, who did the music for ''

Cyborg 009 is a Japanese science fiction manga created by Shotaro Ishinomori. It was serialized in many different Japanese magazines, including '' Monthly Shōnen King'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'', ''Shōnen Big Comic'', '' COM'', '' ...

''.

Selected filmography

As actor

* ''

Tokyo March 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 ...

'' (東京行進曲, Tōkyō kōshinkyoku) (1929) * '' Ikeru ningyō'' (生ける人形) (1929) * ''

'' (人生劇場) (1936) * ''

The Daughter of the Samurai ''The Daughter of the Samurai'' (german: Die Tochter des Samurai, Japanese: ) is a 1937 German-Japanese drama film directed by Arnold Fanck and Mansaku Itami, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Starring Setsuko Hara, Ruth Eweler and Sessue H ...

'' (新しき土) (1937) * ''

Kagirinaki Zenshin is a film directed by Tomu Uchida that was released in 1937. It received the 1938 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film. The protagonist, Tokumaru, is laid off from his corporate job. Unable to accept this, he convinces himself that he has actually ...

'' (1937) * '' Gonin no sekkōhei'' (五人の斥候兵) (1938) * '' Robō no ishi'' (路傍の石) (1938) * '' Tsuchi'' (土) (1939) * ''

'' (土と兵隊) (1939) * '' The 47 Ronin'' (元禄忠臣蔵, Genroku chushingura) (1941/1942) * '' I Am Waiting'' (俺は待ってるぜ, Ore wa matteru ze) (1957) * ''

Jazz musume tanjō Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

'' (ジャズ娘誕生, Jazu musume tanjō) (1957) * ''

A Slope in the Sun aka ''A Slope in the Sun'' is a 1958 black-and-white Japanese film drama directed by Tomotaka Tasaka.日活アクションの華麗な世界：1954-1971 第四章言語のユートピア-裕次郎の青春ドラマの意味 2「一緒にいるた ...

'' (陽のあたる坂道, Hi no ataru sakamichi) (1958)

As director

* '' Jiruba no tetsu'' (ジルバの鉄) (1950)—screenplay by

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

* '' Tokyo gorin ondo'' (東京五輪音頭) (1964) * ''

Abare Kishidō is a 1965 Japanese action film directed by Isamu Kosugi. It stars Joe Shishido and Tetsuya Watari. Tetsuya Watari made his acting debut in the film, playing the role of Joe's younger brother. Joe participates in a European auto races, earns a lo ...

'' (あばれ騎士道) (1965)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kosugi, Isamu 1904 births 1983 deaths Japanese male silent film actors Japanese film directors People from Ishinomaki 20th-century Japanese male actors Actors from Miyagi Prefecture