was a Japanese

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He is most noted for his 1938

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

film '' Fallen Blossoms'', which is now regarded as one of the outstanding works of 1930s Japanese cinema.

Biography

Ishida was born in Masuda (now Yokote),

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

, Japan. He gave his directing debut at Toa Kinema in 1926, specialising in chanbara (sword fight) films, the majority of which are regarded as lost. In the mid-1930s, Ishida made himself a name with literary adaptations, often in collaboration with the

Bungakuza is a Japanese theatre company. Along with the Mingei Theatre Company and the Haiyuza Theatre Company it is considered one of the "Big Three" among Shingeki theatre troupes. History The company was founded by Kunio Kishida, Mantarō Kubota ...

theatre troupe, and films with female casts. Nowadays, his films set in entertainment districts are regarded as his standout works, most notably the 1938 ''Fallen Blossoms'', a formally innovative film about the inhabitants of a

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

geisha house in the late

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. Other notable films of the era include ''Yoru no hato'' (1937), ''Mukashi no uta'' and ''Hanatsumi nikki'' (both 1939), ''Keshōyuki'' (1940, based on a story by

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily Shoshimin-eiga, shōshimin-eiga ("common people drama") films with f ...

) and ''Asagiri gunka'' (1943). After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Ishida directed only one more film before his early retirement from film business, instead running a teahouse with his wife in

Kamishichiken , pronounced locally as Kamihichiken, is a district of northwest Kyoto, Japan. It is the oldest hanamachi (geisha district) in Kyoto, and is located just east of the Kitano Tenman-gū shrine. The name Kamishichiken literally means "Seven Upper Hou ...

Selected filmography

* 1927: ''Keyamura Rokusuke'' (毛谷村六助) * 1927: ''Date hiroku: Matsumae Tetsunosuke'' (伊達秘録松前鉄之助) partially extant film * 1934: ''Osen'' (おせん) partially extant film * 1937: ''Hanabi no machi'' (花火の街) * 1937: ''Yoru no hato'' (夜の鳩) * 1938: ''Fallen Blossoms'' (''Hana chirinu'') * 1939: ''Mukashi no uta'' (むかしの歌) * 1939: ''Hanatsumi nikki'' (花つみ日記) * 1940: ''Keshōyuki'' (化粧雪) * 1943: ''Asagiri gunka'' (あさぎり軍歌) * 1947: ''En wa ina mono'' (縁は異なもの)

Legacy

In 2022, the

National Film Archive of Japan The is an independent administrative institution and one of Japan's seven national museums of art which specializes in preserving and exhibiting the film heritage of Japan. In its previous incarnation, it was the National Film Center, which was pa ...

presented a small retrospective in commemoration of Ishida with seven of his films. ''Fallen Blossoms'' was screened at the Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in 2017 and included in the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's ''The best Japanese film of every year – from 1925 to now'' list.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ishida, Tamizo Japanese film directors 1901 births 1972 deaths Artists from Akita Prefecture People from Yokote, Akita