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 ...

, most famous for the stylized, folk tale-influenced

horror films Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...

he made in the 1950s and 1960s.

Career

Born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, Nakagawa was early on influenced by

proletarian literature Proletarian literature refers here to the literature created by left-wing writers mainly for the class-conscious proletariat. Though the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' states that because it "is essentially an intended device of revolution", it is ...

and wrote amateur film reviews to the ''

Kinema Junpō , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

'' film magazine. He joined

Makino Film Productions Makino Film Productions was a successful early film producing company active in Japanese cinema in the 1920s and 1930s. It was founded by the pioneering film director Shozo Makino in 1923. Makino produced many prominent films of the early era, and ...

in 1929 as an assistant director and worked under

Masahiro Makino was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was , but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including , , and ). Career Masa ...

. When that studio went bankrupt in 1932, he switched to

Utaemon Ichikawa was a Japanese film actor famous for starring roles in jidaigeki from the 1920s to the 1960s. Trained in kabuki from childhood, he made his film debut in 1925 at Makino Film Productions under Shōzō Makino. Quickly gaining popularity, he follow ...

's production company and made his debut as a director in 1934 with '' Yumiya Hachiman Ken''. He later moved to

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 comedies starring Enoken and even documentaries during the war. It was at

Shintoho was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big six film studios (which also included Daiei, Nikkatsu, Shochiku, Toei Company, and Toho) during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Toho company fol ...

after the war that he became known for his cinematic adaptations of Japanese

kaidan is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 (''kai'') meaning "strange, mysterious, rare, or bewitching apparition" and 談 (''dan'') meaning "talk" or "recited narrative". Overall meaning and usage In its broadest sense, ''kaidan'' refers ...

, especially his masterful version of ''

Tokaido Yotsuya kaidan is a 1959 Japanese horror film directed by Nobuo Nakagawa. The film is based on the kabuki play ''Yotsuya Kaidan''. The was among the many horror films that Nakagawa adapted for Shintoho in the late 1950s and was one of the many adaptations of th ...

'' in 1959. To Western audiences, his most famous film is '' Jigoku'' (1960), which he also co-wrote. The film was released on DVD by the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

in 2006. He also filmed many ''kaidan'' for television. His last film was 1982's '' Kaidan: Ikiteiru Koheiji''.

Filmography

(incomplete) *''

Gekka no Wakamusha is the 30th single by Japanese entertainer Akina Nakamori. Written by Gorō Matsui and Shūgō Kajiwara, the single was released on October 5, 1994, by MCA Victor. Background "Gekka" was initially recorded by composer Kajiwara and released as ...

'' (1938) *'' Itahachi Jima'' (1938) *'' Shinpen Tange Sazen: Sekigan no Maki'' (1939) *'' Tange Sazen: Sekigan no Maki'' (1939) *'' Rinchi'' (1949) *''

Shinya no Kokuhaku Shinya (Shin'ya) is a Japanese given name, usually for males. It is pronounced as "Shin-ya", not "Shi-nya". Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese curler and curling coach *, Japanese politician *Shinya Aoki (born 1983), professional mi ...

'' (1949) *'' Wakasama Samurai Torimonocho: Nazo no Nomen Yashiki'' (1950) *''

Kyo wa Kaisha no Getsuyobi Kyo can refer to: ;Anime, game and manga * Kusanagi 'Kyo', KOF 1994, one of the main characters of the ''King of Fighters'' series of video games * ''Kyo'', a manga comic created by Ryōji Minagawa in 1996 * Kyo Sohma, a character in the manga a ...

'' (1952) *'' Kinsan Torimonocho: Nazo no Ningyoshi'' (1953) *'' Shishun no Izumi'' (1953) *'' Horafuki Tanji'' (1954) *'' Wakaki Hi no Takuboku: Kumo wa Tensai de aru'' (1954) *'' Natsume Soseki no Sanshiro'' (1955) *'' Ningyo Sashichi Torimonocho Yoen Roku Shibijin'' (1956) *'' Kaii Utsunomiya Tsuritenjo'' (1956) *''

Koi sugata kitsune goten is a 1956 black and white Japanese film directed by Nobuo Nakagawa. Cast * Hibari Misora as Maruya, Tomone * Haruhisa Kawada as Akinobu * Senjaku Nakamura * Chieko Naniwa as Okon * Chikage Oogi as Akemi * Shunji Sakai as Heihachi * Kyu Saz ...

'' (1956) *'' Vampire Moth'' (''Kyuketsuki-ga'') (1956) *''

Kaidan Kasane-ga-fuchi (''Ghost Story of Kasane Swamp''), also known as ''The Depths'', or ''The Ghost of Kasane'', is a 1957 black-and-white/ Scope J-Horror, Japanese horror film directed by Nobuo Nakagawa for Shintoho Films. The screenplay was based on a story called ...

'' (1957) aka ''The Depths'', aka ''The Ghost of Kasane Swamp'' *''

Borei Kaibyo Yashiki is a 1958 Japanese supernatural horror film directed by Nobuo Nakagawa for Shintoho. The film is presented in a nonlinear narrative, taking place in the characters' present and past (which are filmed in blue-tinted black-and-white), and in the ...

'' (1958) aka ''Black Cat Mansion'' *'' Dokufu Takahashi Oden'' (1958) *'' Kenpei to yurei'' (1958) * ''

Kyōen Kobanzame is a 1958 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Nobuo Nakagawa. There are two parts of the film: the first part and the second part . Both parts have the same staff and the same actors. Cast * Kanjūrō Arashi ( 嵐寛寿郎) * Misako U ...

'' (侠艶小判鮫) - first part is ''Kyōen Kobanzame zenpen'' (侠艶小判鮫前篇) and the second part is ''Kyōen Kobanzame kōhen'' (侠艶小判鮫後篇). *''

'' (1959) aka ''The Ghost of Yotsuya'' *'' Nippon Romansu Kyuko'' (1959) *'' Onna Kyuketsuki'' (1959) aka ''Woman Vampire'', ''Lady Vampire'' *'' Onna Shikeishu no Datsugoku'' (1960) aka ''Death Row Woman'' *'' Jigoku'' (1960) aka ''Hell'', ''Sinners of hell'' *'' Hatamoto Kenka Taka'' (1961) *'' Nendo no Omen Yori: Kaachan'' (1961) *'' Inazuma to Uge no Ketto'' (1962) *''

Kaidan Hebi-onna is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 (''kai'') meaning "strange, mysterious, rare, or bewitching apparition" and 談 (''dan'') meaning "talk" or "recited narrative". Overall meaning and usage In its broadest sense, ''kaidan'' refers ...

'' (1968) aka ''Ghost of the Snake Woman'' *'' Yoen Dokufuden: Hitokiri Okatsu'' (1969) *'' Yoen Dokufuden: Okatsu Kyojo Tabi'' (1969) *'' Kaidan: Ikiteiru Koheiji'' (1982)

References

External links

*
"Hell on Earth" essay
by Chuck Stephens for

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakagawa, Nobuo People from Kyoto Japanese film directors Samurai film directors Horror film directors 1905 births 1984 deaths