Masahiro Shinoda

Template:Nihongo was a Japanese film director, whose career spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio from 1960 to 1965, before turning to independent cinema from 1966 onward. His film style was characterized by socially marginalized characters, many of whom turn to crime or suicide, and meticulous attention to pictorial beauty. He drew on traditional Japanese fiction and theater and some of his films bear the influence of Kenji Mizoguchi, whom he admired.

Early life

Shinoda was born on March 9, 1931,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> in Gifu Prefecture<ref name=":1" /> and attended Waseda University, where he studied theater and also participated in the Hakone Ekiden long-distance race.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Shinoda joined the Shōchiku Studio in 1953 as an assistant director,<ref name=kotobank>Template:Cite web</ref> where he worked on films by such directors as Yasujirō Ozu.<ref name=Melbourne>Template:Cite web</ref> He debuted as a director in 1960 with One-Way Ticket for Love, which he also scripted.<ref name=kotobank />

His focus on youth and the cultural and political turmoil of 1960s Japan made him a central figure in the Shōchiku New Wave alongside Nagisa Ōshima and Yoshishige Yoshida. He worked in a variety of genres, from the yakuza film (Pale Flower) to the samurai film (Assassination), but he particularly became known for his focus on socially marginal characters and for an interest in traditional Japanese theater, which found its greatest expression in Double Suicide, in which actors are manipulated like Bunraku puppets.<ref name=Hirano>Template:Cite web</ref> He also was interested in sports, directing a documentary on the 1972 Winter Olympics.<ref name=Hirano /> Also known for his collaborations with such artists as Shūji Terayama and Tōru Takemitsu, Shinoda left Shōchiku in 1965 to form his own production company, Hyōgensha.<ref name=Hirano />

He retired from directing after the release of Spy Sorge, a biopic on the life of Richard Sorge, in 2003.<ref name="kotobank2" />

Awards

His film Gonza the Spearman (1986) was entered into the 36th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear for an outstanding artistic contribution.<ref name="Berlinale 1986">Template:Cite web</ref> He won the 1991 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year for Childhood Days.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His film Moonlight Serenade (1997) was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.<ref name="Berlinale 1997">Template:Cite web</ref> He also won the Izumi Kyōka Prize in 2010 for a novel (Shinoda himself had earlier adapted a Kyōka novel for the screen for the 1979 film Demon Pond).<ref name=kotobank />

Personal life and death

Masahiro Shinoda's first marriage was with Kazuko Shiraishi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The pair had one daughter, the artist Yuko Shiraishi. In 1967 he married the actress Shima Iwashita, who appears in several of his films.<ref name=kotobank />

Shinoda died of pneumonia on March 25, 2025, at the age of 94.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

• One-Way Ticket to Love (恋の片道切符) (1960)<ref name="kotobank2">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Kawaita mizuumi (乾いた湖) (Dry Lake a.k.a. Youth in Fury) (1960)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• My Face Red in the Sunset (a.k.a. Killers on Parade) (夕陽に赤い俺の顔) (1961)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Love New and Old (三味線とオートバイ) (1961)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Epitaph to My Love (わが恋の旅路) (1961)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Our Marriage (私たちの結婚) (1962)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Tears on the Lion's Mane (涙を、獅子のたて髪に) a.k.a A Flame at the Pier (1962)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Glory on the Summit (山の讃歌 燃ゆる若者たち) (1962)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Kawaita hana (乾いた花) (Withered Flower, a.k.a. Pale Flower) (1964)<ref name=":0" />
• Ansatsu (暗殺) (Assassination) (1964)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• With Beauty and Sorrow (美しさと哀しみと) (1965)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke (異聞猿飛佐助) (The Strange Story of Sarutobi Sasuke, a.k.a. Samurai Spy) (1965)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Captive's Island a.k.a. Punishment Island (処刑の島) (1966)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Clouds at Sunset (あかね雲) (1967)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Shinjū ten no Amijima (心中天網島) (Amijima Effaced to Heaven by Lovers' Suicide, a.k.a. Double Suicide) (1969)<ref name=":0" />
• The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan (無頼漢) (1970)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Chinmoku / Silence (沈黙 / Silence) (1971)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Sapporo Winter Olympics (札幌オリンピック) (1972)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• The Petrified Forest (化石の森) (1973)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Himiko (卑弥呼) (1974)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees (桜の森の満開の下) (1975)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Ballad of Orin (はなれ瞽女おりん) (1977)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Demon Pond (夜叉ケ池) (1979)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Akuryo Island (悪霊島) (1981)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• MacArthur's Children (瀬戸内少年野球団) (1984)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Allusion (転生譚)(1985)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Gonza the Spearman (近松門左衛門 鑓の権三) (1986)<ref name=":0" />
• The Dancing Girl (舞姫) (1989)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Childhood Days (少年時代) (1990)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Sharaku (写楽 Sharaku) (1995)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Setouchi Moonlight Serenade (1997)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Owls' Castle (1999)<ref name="kotobank2" />
• Spy Sorge (2003)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• The Movie Experience: Conversation with actress Shima Iwashita and director Masahiro Shinoda at the Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley
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