Kon Ichikawa

Template:Nihongo was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films The Burmese Harp (1956) and Fires on the Plain (1959), to the documentary Tokyo Olympiad (1965), which won two BAFTA Film Awards,<ref name="BAFTAs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the 19th-century revenge drama An Actor's Revenge (1963). His film Odd Obsession (1959) won the Jury Prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="Cannes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

At his death in 2008, The New York Times recalled that "The Globe and Mail, the Canadian newspaper, called him in 2001 “the last living link between the golden age of Japanese cinema, the spunky New Wave that followed and contemporary Japanese film.”"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Biography

Early life

Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture as Giichi Ichikawa (市川儀一).<ref name=filmbook>Template:Cite video</ref> His father died when he was four years old, and the family kimono shop went bankrupt, so he went to live with his sister.<ref name=filmbook/> He was given the name Kon by an uncle who thought the characters in the kanji 崑 signified good luck, because the two halves of the Chinese character look the same when it is split in half vertically.<ref name=filmbook/>

As a child, Ichikawa loved drawing and his ambition was to become an artist.<ref name="filmbook" /> He also loved films and was a fan of "chambara" or samurai films.<ref name="filmbook" /> In his teens he was fascinated by Walt Disney's "Silly Symphonies" and decided to become an animator.<ref name="filmbook" /> He attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O Studio, in their animation department. Decades later, he told the American writer on Japanese film Donald Richie, "I'm still a cartoonist and I think that the greatest influence on my films (besides Chaplin, particularly The Gold Rush) is probably Disney."<ref>Richie, Donald. "The Several Sides of Kon Ichikawa". in Template:Harvp.</ref>

Film career

He moved to the feature film department as an assistant director when the company closed its animation department,<ref name=filmbook/> working under directors including Yutaka Abe and Nobuo Aoyagi.

In the early 1940s J.O Studio merged with P.C.L. and Toho Film Distribution to form the Toho Film Company. Ichikawa moved to Tokyo. His first film was the puppet play A Girl at Dojo Temple (Musume Dojoji 1946),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which was confiscated by the interim U.S. Occupation authorities under the pretext that it was too "feudal", but some sources suggest the script had not been approved by the occupying authorities. Thought lost for many years, it is now archived at the Cinémathèque Française.

It was at Toho that he met Natto Wada. Wada was a translator for Toho. They agreed to marry sometime after Ichikawa completed his first film as director. Natto Wada's original name was Yumiko Mogi (born 13 September 1920 in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan); the couple both had failed marriages behind them. She graduated with a degree in English literature from Tokyo Woman's Christian University. She married Kon Ichikawa on 10 April 1948, and died on 18 February 1983 of breast cancer.Template:Sfnp

Ichikawa was among the first group of Toho staff that broke from the labor union during the Toho strikes, which became part of Shintoho. Due to a shortage of directorial talent at the new company, he made his debut as director with A Thousand and One Nights with Toho.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

It was after Ichikawa's marriage to Wada that the two began collaborating, first on Design of a Human Being (Ningen moyo) and Endless Passion (Hateshinaki jonetsu) in 1949. The period 1950–1965 is often referred to as Ichikawa's Natto Wada period. It's the period that contains the majority of Ichikawa's most highly respected works, such as Tokyo Olympiad (Tōkyō Orinpikku), for which he was awarded the Olympic Diploma of Merit,<ref name="Encyclopedia">Template:Cite book</ref> as well as the BAFTA United Nations Award and the Robert Flaherty Award (now known as the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary).<ref name="BAFTAs" /> It is also during this period that Wada wrote 34 screenplays, most of which were adaptations.

He gained Western recognition during the 1950s and 1960s with two anti-war films, The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain, and the technically formidable period-piece An Actor's Revenge (Yukinojo henge) about a kabuki actor.

Among his many literary adaptations were Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's The Key (Kagi), Natsume Sōseki's The Heart (Kokoro) and I Am a Cat (Wagahai wa neko de aru), in which a teacher's cat critiques the foibles of the humans surrounding him, and Yukio Mishima's Conflagration (Enjo), in which a priest burns down his temple to save it from spiritual pollution. The Key, released in the United States as Odd Obsession, was entered in the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, and won the Jury Prize with Antonioni's L'Avventura.<ref name="Cannes" />

After Tokyo Olympiad Wada retired from screenwriting, and it marked a significant change in Ichikawa's films from that point onward. Concerning her retirement, he said "She doesn't like the new film grammar, the method of presentation of the material; she says there's no heart in it anymore, that people no longer take human love seriously."Template:Sfnp

His final film, 2006's Inugamis, a remake of Ichikawa's own 1976 film The Inugami Family, was entered into the 29th Moscow International Film Festival.<ref name="Moscow2007">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Also in 2006, Ichikawa was the subject of a feature-length documentary, The Kon Ichikawa Story, directed by Shunji Iwai.

Ichikawa died of pneumonia on 13 February 2008 in a Tokyo hospital. He was 92 years old.<ref name = "Obit">Template:Cite news</ref>

The Magic Hour marked Ichikawa's last appearance and was dedicated to his memory. (This message can be seen in the end of this film.) In this film, a movie director played by Ichikawa is shooting Kuroi Hyaku-ichi-nin no Onna ('A hundred and one dark women'), a parody of Ten Dark Women.

Filmography

Year	English title	Japanese title	Romanized title	Notes	Ref
1935	Cowardly Samurai Squad		Yowamushi Chinsengumi	Animated short film	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1945	A Girl at Dojo Temple		Musume Dōjōji	Puppet film	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="CinemathequeOntario">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="britannica">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1947	A Thousand and One Nights with Toho	Template:Nihongo2	Tōhō sen'ichiya		<ref name="JapaneseCinema">Template:Cite book</ref>
1948	A Flower Blooms		Hana hiraku		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	365 Nights		Sanbyaku-rokujūgoya		<ref>Joseph L. Anderson and Donald Richie. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. New York: Grove Press, 1960, 168.</ref><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/><ref name="TohoStudiosStory">Template:Cite book</ref>
1949	Human Patterns		Ningen moyō	Also known as Design of a Human Being	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Passion Without End		Hateshinaki jōnetsu		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1950	Sanshiro of Ginza		Ginza Sanshirō	Also known as A Ginza Veteran	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Heat and Mud		Netsudeichi	Also known as The Hot Marshland or Money and Three Bad Men	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Pursuit at Dawn		Akatsuki no tsuiseki	Also known as Police and Small Gangsters	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1951	Nightshade Flower		Ieraishan		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Sweetheart		Koibito	Also known as The Lover	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Man Without a Nationality		Mukokuseki-sha		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Stolen Love		Nusumareta koi		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Bengawan Solo		Bengawan Solo		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Wedding March		Kekkon kōshinkyoku		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1952	Mr. Lucky		Rakkī-san		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Young People		Wakai hito	Also known as The Young Generation	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Woman Who Touched Legs		Ashi ni sawatta onna	Remake of Yutaka Abe's 1926 film of the same name<ref name="allmovie">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	This Way, That Way		Ano te kono te		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1953	Mr. Pū		Pū-san	Based on a comic book<ref name="allmovie"/>	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/><ref name="britannica"/>
	The Blue Revolution		Aoiro kakumei		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Youth of Heiji Zenigata		Seishun Zenigata Heiji		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Lover		Aijin		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1954	All of Myself		Watashi no subete o	Also known as All About Me	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	A Billionaire		Okuman chōja		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Twelve Chapters About Women		Josei ni kansuru jūnishō		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1955	Ghost Story of Youth		Seishun kaidan		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Heart	こころ	Kokoro		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1956	The Burmese Harp	ビルマの竪琴	Biruma no tategoto		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Punishment Room		Shokei no heya		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1957	Bridge of Japan		Nihonbashi		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Crowded Street Car		Man'in densha	Also known as A Full-Up Train or The Crowded Train	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Men of Tohoku		Tōhoku no zunmutachi		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Hole	穴	Ana	Also known The Pit or Hole in One	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1958	Conflagration	炎上	Enjō		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1959	Goodbye, Hello		Sayonara, konnichiwa		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Odd Obsession	鍵	Kagi	Also known as The Key	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Fires on the Plain	野火	Nobi		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1960	A Woman's Testament	女経	Jokyō	Directed the second segment	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Bonchi		Bonchi		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Her Brother	おとうと	Otōto		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1961	Ten Dark Women	黒い十人の女	Kuroi jûnin no onna		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1962	The Broken Commandment		Hakai	Also known as The Outcast or The Sin	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Being Two Isn't Easy	私は二歳	Watashi wa nisai	Also known as I Am Two	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1963	An Actor's Revenge	雪之丞変化	Yukinojō henge	Also known as Revenge of a Kabuki Actor	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Alone Across the Pacific	太平洋ひとりぼっち	Taiheiyō Hitori-botchi	Also known as My Enemy the Sea	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1964	Money Talks		Dokonjo monogatari: Zeni no odori	Also known as The Money Dance	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1965	Tokyo Olympiad	東京オリンピック	Tōkyō Orinpikku	Documentary	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1967	Topo Gigio and the Missile War	トッポ・ジージョのボタン戦争	Toppo Jîjo no botan sensō	Puppet film	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1968	Youth: The 50th National High School Baseball Tournament		Seishun	Documentary	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="DVD">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/>
	Kyoto: Heart of Japan	京	Kyōto	Short documentary	<ref name="DVD"/><ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1970	Japan and the Japanese		Nihon to Nihonjin	Short documentary, also known as Mt. Fuji	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1971	To Love Again	愛ふたたび	Ai futatabi		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1972–1973	Kogarashi Monjirō	木枯し紋次郎	Kogarashi Monjirō	Television series	<ref name="DoramaEncyclopedia">Template:Cite book</ref>
1973	The Wanderers	股旅	Matatabi		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Visions of Eight			Documentary, segment: "The Fastest"	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/>
1975	I Am a Cat		Wagahai wa neko de aru		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="HistoricalDictionary">Template:Cite book</ref>
1976	Between Women and Wives		Tsuma to onna no aida		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	The Inugami Family	股旅	Inugami-ke no ichizoku	Also known as The Inugamis; first film starring Kōji Ishizaka as Kosuke Kindaichi	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1977	The Devil's Bouncing Ball Song		Akuma no temari-uta	Also known as Rhyme of Vengeance; second film starring Kōji Ishizaka as Kosuke Kindaichi	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Island of Horrors		Gokumontō	Also known as Hell's Gate Island or The Devil's Island; third film starring Kōji Ishizaka as Kosuke Kindaichi	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1978	Queen Bee	女王蜂	Joōbachi	fourth film starring Kōji Ishizaka as Kosuke Kindaichi	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Phoenix	火の鳥	Hi no Tori		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1979	The House of Hanging	病院坂の首縊りの家	Byōinzaka no kubi kukuri no ie	Fifth film starring Kōji Ishizaka as Kosuke Kindaichi	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1980	Ancient City	古都	Koto	Also known as The Old Capital	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1981	Lonely Heart	幸福	Kōfuku	Also known as Happiness	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1983	The Makioka Sisters	細雪	Sasame-yuki		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1984	Ohan	おはん	Ohan		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1985	The Burmese Harp	ビルマの竪琴	Biruma no tategoto	Remake of The Burmese Harp	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1986	The Adventures of Milo and Otis	子猫物語	Koneko Monogatari	Associate director	<ref name="TohoStudiosStory2">Template:Cite book</ref>
	The Hall of the Crying Deer		Rokumeikan	Also known as High Society of Meiji	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1987	Actress		Eiga joyū	Also known as Film Actress	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Princess from the Moon	竹取物語	Taketori Monogatari		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1988	Crane		Tsuru		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1991	Template:Ill		Tenkawa densetsu satsujin jiken		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1993	The Return of Monjirō Kogarashi	帰って来た木枯し紋次郎	Kaettekita Kogarashi Monjirō	Based on the 1972 television series	<ref name="TohoStudiosStory3">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="CriticalHandbook">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="FilmDirectors">Template:Cite book</ref>
1994	47 Ronin	四十七人の刺客	Shijūshichinin no shikaku		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
1996	Template:Ill		Yatsuhaka-mura		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
2000	Template:Ill		Shinsengumi		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
	Dora-heita		Dora-heita	Also known as Alley Cat	<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
2001	Template:Ill	かあちゃん	Kah-chan		<ref name="CinemathequeOntario"/><ref name="JapaneseCinema"/>
2006	Ten Nights of Dreams		Yume jûya	Segment: "The Second Dream"	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
	The Inugamis	犬神家の一族	Inugami-ke no ichizoku	Sixth film starring Kōji Ishizaka as Kosuke Kindaichi; remake of The Inugami Family	<ref name="Moscow2007"/>

Style and themes

Ichikawa's films are marked with a certain darkness and bleakness, punctuated with sparks of humanity.

It can be said that his main trait is technical expertise, irony, detachment and a drive for realism married with a complete spectrum of genres. Some critics class him with Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujirō Ozu as one of the masters of Japanese cinema.<ref name="Alastair Phillips">Template:Cite book</ref>

Legacy

The Kon Ichikawa Memorial Room, a small museum dedicated to him and his wife Natto Wada displaying materials from his personal collection, was opened in Shibuya in 2015, on the site of his former home.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• Template:Official site (official site, in Japanese)
• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0406728

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• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• Strictly Film School: Kon Ichikawa
• Template:Jmdb