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 ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and a pioneer of the ''

shomin-geki , literally ''common people drama'', is a pseudo-Japanese word invented by Western film scholars. It describes a genre of Japanese realist films which focus on the everyday lives of ordinary people. In Japanese the correct word for this genre is ...

'' (common people drama) genre at the

Shōchiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not ...

studios in pre-

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 ...

Japan.

Biography

Shimazu was 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 ...

, the second son of merchant Otojirō Shimazu. His father owned a long-established seaweed business named Kōshū-ya directly in front of the main

Mitsukoshi is an international department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, which also owns the Isetan department store chain. History It was founded in 1673 with the (shop name) , selli ...

department store in

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The current ...

. Shimazu entered Shōchiku in 1920 after answering an advertisement and began training under

Kaoru Osanai was a Japanese theater director, playwright, and actor central in the development of modern Japanese theater. Biography Kaoru Osanai was born on July 26, 1881, in Hiroshima, the second son of Director of Hiroshima Army Garrison Hospital, Take ...

. He gave his debut as director in 1921 at Shōchiku's recently established

Kamata Kamata can refer to: Places *Kamata, Tokyo, a neighborhood in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan **Kamata High School, a school located in the Kamata neighborhood, Ōta, Tokyo, Japan * Kamata Kingdom, a 13th-century kingdom in Assam, India * Kamata, New Zealand ...

studio, directing both comedy and melodrama films, often depicting the everyday life of the lower middle classes. ''Our Neighbor, Miss Yae'' (1934) and ''A Brother and His Younger Sister'' (1939) are regarded as his most exemplary and best films. By the end of the 1930s, he moved to Tōhō studios, where he made some films in cooperation with the

Manchuria Film Association or (Chinese: 株式會社滿洲映畫協會) was a Japanese film studio in Manchukuo during the 1930s and 1940s. Background Man'ei was established by the Kwantung Army in the occupied northeast part of China in 1937. Man'ei controlled the en ...

. He died of cancer just after the war ended. Many famous directors, such as

Heinosuke Gosho was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed Japan's first sound film, '' The Neighbor's Wife and Mine'', in 1931. His films are mostly associated with the shomin-geki (lit. "common people drama") genre. Among his most noted works ...

Shirō Toyoda was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed over 60 films during his career spanning 50 years. Career Born in Kyoto, Toyoda moved to Tokyo after finishing high school and studied scriptwriting under the pioneering film director ...

Kōzaburō Yoshimura was a Japanese film director. Biography Born in Shiga Prefecture, he joined the Shōchiku studio in 1929. He debuted as director in 1934, but continued working as an assistant director for such filmmakers as Yasujirō Ozu and Yasujirō Shimazu ...

, and

Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasu ...

, started their careers as his assistant.

Selected filmography

*1930: ''The Belle'' (麗人, ''Reijin'') *1931: ''Lifeline ABC'' (生活線ＡＢＣ, ''Seikatsusen ABC'') *1932: ''First Steps Ashore'' (上陸第一歩, ''Jōriku dai ippo'') *1934: ''Our Neighbor, Miss Yae'' (隣の八重ちゃん, ''Tonari no Yae-chan'') *1935: ''Okoto and Sasuke'' (春琴抄　お琴と佐助, ''Shunkinsho: Okoto to Sasuke'') *1936: ''Family Meeting'' (家族会議, ''Kazoku kaigi'') *1937: ''Three Crows' Engagement'' (婚約三羽烏, ''Kon'yaku sanbagarasu'') *1937: ''The Lights of Asakusa'' (浅草の灯, ''Asakusa no hi'') *1939: ''A Brother and His Younger Sister'' (兄とその妹, ''Ani to soto imōto'') *1940: '' Totsugu hi made'' (嫁ぐ日まで)

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shimazu, Yasujiro Japanese film directors 1897 births 1945 deaths People from Tokyo Silent film directors 20th-century Japanese screenwriters Deaths from cancer in Japan