Kihachi Okamoto

Template:Short description Template:Infobox person Template:Nihongo was a Japanese film director who worked in several different genres.

Career

Born in Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted into the Air Force 1943 and entered World War II, an experience that had a profound effect on his later film work, one third of which dealt with war.<ref name=Mes>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Bergen>Template:Cite news</ref> Finally graduating after the war, he entered the Toho studies in 1947 and worked as an assistant under such directors as Mikio Naruse, Masahiro Makino, Ishirō Honda, and Senkichi Taniguchi.<ref name=Mes /> He made his debut as a director in 1958 with All About Marriage.<ref name=kotobank>Template:Cite web</ref>

Okamoto directed almost 40 films and wrote the scripts for at least 24, in a career that spanned almost six decades. He worked in a variety of genres, but most memorably in action genres such as the jidaigeki and war films. He was known for making films with a twist.<ref name=DGJ>Template:Cite web</ref> Inspired to become a filmmaker after watching John Ford's Stagecoach,<ref name=kotobank /> he would insert elements of the Western in war films like Desperado Outpost (1959) and Westward Desperado (1960), and eventually even filmed his own samurai Western in East Meets West (1995).<ref name=Mes /><ref name=Bergen /> A fan of musicals, he made over-the-top films such as Template:Ill (1964), a gangster Noh musical, and Dixieland Daimyo (1986), about jazz musicians entering Bakumatsu Japan. Over all, he took on "a very rhythmic approach to filming and editing action sequences. Carefully timed placement of sound effects and music combined with camera movement and movement within the frame to form a very rhythmic, almost musical whole."<ref name=Mes /> His basically critical stance towards Japanese society led him to often pursue satire and black comedy, with his The Age of Assassins (1967) becoming so dark and absurd, Toho initially refused to release it.<ref name=DGJ />

Okamoto could also be serious. His samurai films, such as Samurai Assassin (1965), starring Toshiro Mifune, about a group of 19th century political agitators planning to kill an important government official, The Sword of Doom (1966), or Kill! (1968), were often critical of bushidō and Tokugawa period Japan.<ref name=Mes /> Yet he approached this critique from his own perspective. Toho entrusted him with the epic Japan's Longest Day (1968), a cinematic version of what happened to official Japan at the end of the war, but the next year he also made The Human Bullet for Art Theatre Guild, a more personal and satirical vision of an everyman's experience of World War II.<ref name=DGJ /> To pursue some of his projects, Okamoto formed Okamoto Productions. His wife, Mineko Okamoto, often worked as producer on his later works.<ref name=DGJ />

He won the 1992 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year for Rainbow Kids.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Alongside Akira Kurosawa, Okamoto was also a candidate for directing the Japanese sequences for Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) but instead Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda were chosen.Template:Citation needed

On February 19, 2005, just two days after his 81st birthday, Okamoto died at home from esophageal cancer.

A photograph of Okamoto was used to portray the character of Goro Maki in the 2016 film Shin Godzilla, which was directed by Hideaki Anno, a self-professed fan of Okamoto.

Selected filmography

Title	Romanization	Release date	Notes
All About Marriage Template:Nihongo2	Kekon no Subete	1958
The Big Boss Template:Nihongo2	Ankokugai no kaoyaku	1959
Desperado Outpost Template:Nihongo2	Dokuritsu Gurentai	1959
Ankokugai no Taiketsu Template:Nihongo2	Ankokugai no Taiketsu	1959
Westward Desperado Template:Nihongo2	Dokuritsu Gurentai Nishi e	1960
Blueprint of Murder Template:Nihongo2	Ankokugai no Dankon	1961
Warring Clans Template:Nihongo2	Sengoku Yarō	1963
The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman Template:Nihongo2	Eburiman-shi no yūgana seikatsu	1963
Oh Bomb Template:Nihongo2	Aa! Bakudan	1964
Samurai Assassin Template:Nihongo2	Samurai	1965
Blood and Sand Template:Nihongo2	Chi to Suna	1965
The Sword of Doom Template:Nihongo2	Daibosatsu Tōge	1966
The Age of Assassins Template:Nihongo2	Satsujinkyō jidai	1967
Japan's Longest Day Template:Nihongo2	Nihon no Ichiban Nagaihi	1967
Kill! Template:Nihongo2	Kiru	1968
The Human Bullet Template:Nihongo2	Nikudan	1968
Red Lion Template:Nihongo2	Akage	1969
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo Template:Nihongo2	Zatōichi to Yōjinbō	1970
Battle of Okinawa Template:Nihongo2	Gekidō no Shōwashi: Okinawa Kessen	1971
Aoba Shigereru Template:Nihongo2	Aoba Shigereru	1974
Tokkan Template:Nihongo2	Tokkan	1975
Sugata Sanshirō Template:Nihongo2	Sugata Sanshirō	1977
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Movie Template:Nihongo2	Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman	1978	Executive producer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Blue Christmas Template:Nihongo2	Burū Kurisimasu	1978
At This Late Date,the Charleston Template:Nihongo2	Chikagoro Nazeka Charleston	1978
Dixieland Daimyo Template:Nihongo2	Jazu daimyō	1986
Rainbow Kids Template:Nihongo2	Daiyukai	1991
East Meets West		1995
Vengeance for Sale Template:Nihongo2	Sukedachi ya Sukeroku	2002	Final work<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Appearance

• Shin Godzilla (2016) as Goro Maki (stock photo double)

External links

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