was a pioneering

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

film director and writer. So far, only two of his works have been released on DVD: ''

Orochi , or simply , is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed Japanese dragon/serpent. Mythology Yamata no Orochi legends are originally recorded in two ancient texts about Japanese mythology and history. The 712 AD transcribes this dragon name ...

'' ( ja, 雄呂血, ''The Serpent'', 1925) and the short film ''Backward Flow'' ( ja, 逆流, ''Gyakuryū'', 1924). As a writer, he used another name: Otsuma Shinozuka ( ja, 紫之塚乙馬).''日本映画監督全集'' ,

Kinema Junpo , 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'' ...

, 1976, p.345.

Life

Futagawa was born Kichinosuke Takizawa on 18 June 1899, in Misaki, Shiba,

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

(present-day

Mita Mita or MITA can refer to: *Mita (name) *''Mit'a'' or ''mita'', a form of public service in the Inca Empire and later in the Viceroyalty of Peru * Mita, Meguro, Tokyo, a neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan * Mita, Minato, Tokyo, a neighborhood in Tokyo, J ...

Minato, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits ...

), to a family of tea merchants. His younger brother by three years was film director

Eisuke Takizawa (alternate name: Kinpachi Kajiwara) was a Japanese film director. Career Born in Tokyo, Takizawa worked at Tōa Cinema and Makino Film Productions before debuting as a director in 1929 with ''Aru onna to gaka''. He later directed primarily jid ...

. He studied business at

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private flagship research university in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1885 as Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (the English Law School), Chuo is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the country. The univer ...

, but dropped out to join

Taishō Katsuei was a Japanese film studio active in the early 1920s. Founded in April 1920 by Ryōzō Asano, the son of Asano zaibatsu head Sōichirō Asano, it was mostly known as Taikatsu for short. Its origins can be traced back to Tōyō Film (also known as ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

in April 1921. In the silent era, Futagawa worked with actor Tsumasaburō Bandō.

References

External links

* * * Japanese film directors Samurai film directors 1899 births 1966 deaths People from Tokyo Place of birth missing Place of death missing {{Japan-film-director-stub