, also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.

Life and career

Graduating from the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, where he studied

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

, Yoshida entered 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 ...

studio in 1955 and worked as an assistant to

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 ...

, before debuting as a director in 1960 with ''Rokudenashi''. He was a central member of what came to be called the "Shōchiku Nouvelle Vague" along with

Nagisa Oshima NaGISA (Natural Geography in Shore Areas or Natural Geography of In-Shore Areas) is an international collaborative effort aimed at inventorying, cataloguing, and monitoring biodiversity of the in-shore area. So named for the Japanese word "nagisa ...

and

Masahiro Shinoda is a retired Japanese film director, originally associated with the Shochiku Studio, who came to prominence as part of the Japanese New Wave in the 1960s. Early life Shinoda attended Waseda University, where he studied theater and also partici ...

, and his works have been studied under the larger rubric of the

Japanese New Wave The is a group of loosely-connected Japanese filmmakers during the late 1950s and into the 1970s. Although they did not make up a coherent movement, these artists shared a rejection of traditions and conventions of classical Japanese cinema in ...

, a linkage which Yoshida himself disliked. Like many of his New Wave cohorts, he felt restricted under the studio system. After Shōchiku's re-editing of his ''Escape from Japan'' (1964), he left the studio to start his own production company, for which he directed such films as ''

Eros + Massacre In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the earli ...

''. Between 1960 and 2004, Yoshida directed more than 20 films, some of which starred his wife, actress

Mariko Okada is a Japanese stage and film actress who starred in films of directors Mikio Naruse, Yasujirō Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita and others. She was married to film director Yoshishige Yoshida. Biography Okada was born the daughter of silent film actor ...

. After a long absence from the screen following the 1973 '' Coup d'État'', he returned with '' A Promise'', which was shown in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section of the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. Two years later, his film ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...

'' would compete for the

Golden Palm The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the 1988 Festival. In 2002, '' Women in the Mirror'' followed after another hiatus of 14 years. In addition to his theatrical films, Yoshida directed a series of documentaries for Japanese TV. Yoshida named European cinema as a great influence on his work, most notably the directors

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...

and Michelangelo Antonioni, and pre-war French films like the works of

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent film, silent era to the end of the 1960s. ...

. He also published a number of books on the topic of cinema, including one on his own cinematic work and an analysis of the films of

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

. Yoshida died from pneumonia at a hospital in

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

, on 8 December 2022, at the age of 89.

Selected filmography

Film

* ''Good-for-Nothing'' (1960) * ''Blood is Dry'' (1960) * '' Bitter End of a Sweet Night'' (1961) * ''

Akitsu Springs is a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida, starring Mariko Okada and Hiroyuki Nagato. Plot Shortly before the end of World War II, young soldier Shusaku, ill with tuberculosis, arrives at Akitsu, expecting to die soon. Shink ...

'' (1962) * ''18 Who Cause a Storm'' (1963) * ''Escape from Japan'' (1964) * ''A Story Written with Water'' (1965) * ''

Woman of the Lake is a 1966 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. It is based on Yasunari Kawabata's novel ''The Lake (Yasunari Kawabata novel), The Lake''. Plot Miyako, comfortably married to businessman Yuzo Mizuki, is having an affair with Kitan ...

'' (1966) * '' The Affair'' (1967) * ''Impasse'' ''Flame and Women '' (1967) * ''

Affair in the Snow is a 1968 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. Plot Yuriko and her lover, high school teacher Sugino, take a vacation together, which she intended to use to put an end to their affair. Sugino insists that she stays with him, but ...

'' (1968) * ''Farewell to the Summer Light'' (1968) * ''

'' (1969) * ''

Heroic Purgatory is a Japanese black-and-white arthouse film released in 1970. It was directed by Yoshishige Yoshida , also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Graduating from the University of Tokyo, where ...

'' (1970) * ''Confessions Among Actresses'' (1971) * '' Coup d'État'' (1973) * '' A Promise'' (1986) * ''

'' (1988) * ''

Lumière and Company ''Lumière and Company'' (original title: ) is a 1995 anthology film made in collaboration between forty-one international film directors. The project consists of short films made by each of the filmmakers using the original camera invented by the ...

'' (segment, 1995) * '' Women in the Mirror'' (2002) * ''Welcome to São Paulo'' (segment, 2004)

Television

* ''The Cinema of Ozu According to Kiju Yoshida'' (1993)

Selected bibliography

* * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshida, Yoshishige 1933 births 2022 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Japan Japanese film directors Japanese screenwriters People from Fukui Prefecture University of Tokyo alumni Writers from Fukui Prefecture