Yasujirō Shimazu

Yasujirō Shimazu (島津 保次郎, Shimazu Yasujirō, 3 June 1897 – 18 September 1945) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who was one of the major creators of the shōshimingeki genre at the Shōchiku studios in pre-World War II Japan.

Born in Kanda, Tokyo, Shimazu entered the Shōchiku studio in 1920 after answering an advertisement and began training under Kaoru Osanai.^[1][2] He was recognized as a director from 1923 and began specializing in the films about the middle class (shōshimingeki) that were favored at Shōchiku's Kamata studio.^[1] He especially came into his own in the sound era, but eventually moved to the Tōhō studio. There he made some films in cooperation with the Manchuria Film Association.^[3] He died of lung cancer just after the war ended.^[1] Many famous directors, such as Heinosuke Gosho, Shirō Toyoda, Kōzaburō Yoshimura, and Keisuke Kinoshita, trained under him.^[3]

Selected filmography

• First Steps Ashore (Jōriku dai ippo 上陸第一歩) (1932)
• Tonari no Yae-chan (隣の八重ちゃん) (1934)
• Asakusa no hi (浅草の灯) (1937)
• Ani to sono imōto (兄とその妹) (1939)
• Totsugu hi made (嫁ぐ日まで) (1940)

References

Bibliography

• Wada-Marciano, Mitsuyo (2008). Nippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3240-7. 

External links

• Yasujirō Shimazu at the Internet Movie Database
• Shimazu Yasujirō at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)