Takeo Kimura
Japanese film director
title: "Takeo Kimura" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1918-births", "2010-deaths", "20th-century-japanese-writers", "21st-century-japanese-writers", "deaths-from-pneumonia-in-japan", "japanese-art-directors", "japanese-film-directors", "japanese-screenwriters", "film-people-from-tokyo"] description: "Japanese film director" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeo_Kimura" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Japanese film director ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Takeo Kimura |
| image | Takeo Kimura 2003-07-22.jpg |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Tokyo, Japan |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Tokyo, Japan |
| occupation | Art director, writer, film director |
| :: |
| name = Takeo Kimura | image = Takeo Kimura 2003-07-22.jpg | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = Tokyo, Japan | death_date = | death_place = Tokyo, Japan | occupation = Art director, writer, film director | spouse = | children = | website = Takeo Kimura was a Japanese art director, writer and film director. Beginning his career in 1945 he art-directed well over 200 films. He was one of Japan's best known art directors, most famously for his collaborations with cult director Seijun Suzuki through the 1960s at the Nikkatsu Company, exemplified by Tokyo Drifter (1966). Other directors with whom he frequently worked include Toshio Masuda, Kazuo Kuroki, Kei Kumai and Kaizo Hayashi. At age 90 he made his feature film directorial debut with Dreaming Awake (2008). He had also worked as a critic, writer, painter, photographer and teacher.
Career
Kimura was born in Tokyo on April 1, 1918. A graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University with a background in theatre, Kimura joined the Nikkatsu Company's scenography department in 1941. | editor-last = Müller | editor-first = Marco | editor2 = Dario Tomasi | title = Racconti crudeli di gioventù: nuovo cinema giapponese degli anni 60 | url = http://www.edt.it/shop/dettaglio.php?isbn=8870630870 | publisher = EDT srl | date = December 1990 | language = Italian | isbn = 978-88-7063-087-9 | page = 272 | access-date = July 31, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110722033601/http://www.edt.it/shop/dettaglio.php?isbn=8870630870 | archive-date = July 22, 2011 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all The same year, the government ordered the ten major movie studios to consolidate into two. A counteroffer of three was accepted and Nikkatsu merged with Daito and Shinko, the first shutting down their film production unit, and the new company was named Daiei.{{cite book |last = Richie |first = Donald |authorlink = Donald Richie |title = A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos |publisher = Kodansha International |year = 2005 |isbn = 4-7700-2995-0 |url = http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/html/en/9784770029959.html |pages = 96–97 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20081121034830/http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/html/en/9784770029959.html |archivedate = November 21, 2008 |df = mdy-all | title = The Clone Returns Home: Technical Information/Cast/Crew | publisher = Seattle International Film Festival | url = http://press.siff.net/_Festival%202009/Press%20Information/Film%20Information/CLONE_RETURNS_HOME_34680/Press_Kit_Materials/Clone%20pamphlet%20text%20EN%2009.doc |format = DOC | accessdate = August 13, 2009
::quote
::
| last = Puterman | first = Brian |author2=Robert Graves | year = 1998 | title = The Seijun Suzuki interview | journal = Asian Cult Cinema | volume = 21 | pages = 44–45 | publisher = Vital Books
At Nikkatsu he worked with many of the studio's directors, including top action director Toshio Masuda,{{cite web | last = Schilling | first = Mark | title = Looking back, one last time | publisher = The Japan Times |date=October 2008 | url = http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20081024a1.html | accessdate = July 21, 2009 | people = Suzuki, Seijun; Takeo Kimura; Tadao Sato (Interviewees) |date=July 2005 | title = Story of a Prostitute: Interviews | url = http://www.criterion.com/films/862 | medium = DVD | publisher = The Criterion Collection | last = Weisser | first = Thomas | year = 1998 | title = The Films of Seijun Suzuki | journal = Asian Cult Cinema | volume = 21 | page = 51 | publisher = Vital Books | last = Suzuki | first = Seijun | title = Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun | publisher = Institute of Contemporary Arts | year = 1994 | isbn = 0-905263-44-8 | page = 25 | chapter = Suzuki on Suzuki | last = Hasumi | first = Shigehiko | title = De woestijn onder de kersenbloesem—The Desert under the Cherry Blossoms | publisher = Uitgeverij Uniepers Abcoude |date=January 1991 | isbn = 90-6825-090-6 | pages = 7–25 | chapter = Een wereld zonder seizoenen—A World Without Seasons | script-title=ja:木村威夫 | publisher = Japanese Movie Database | url = http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0359330.htm | language = Japanese | accessdate = August 6, 2009
The Japanese film industry lost much of its viewership to television through the 1960s and, in order to avoid bankruptcy, Nikkatsu shut down regular productions in August 1971, and in November began producing low cost Roman Pornos, romantic softcore pornography films.{{cite book |last = Schilling |first = Mark |title = No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema |publisher = FAB Press |year = 2007 |isbn = 978-1-903254-43-1 |url = http://www.fabpress.com/vsearch.php?CO=FAB080 |pages = 20–26 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20081011075659/http://www.fabpress.com/vsearch.php?CO=FAB080 |archivedate = October 11, 2008 |df = mdy-all | last = Schilling | first = Mark | title = In the director's chair at 90 | publisher = The Japan Times |date=October 2008 | url = http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20081024i1.html | accessdate = July 5, 2009 | script-title=ja:木村威夫 | publisher = Allcinema | url = http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_p.php?num_p=265843 | language = Japanese | accessdate = August 13, 2009 | script-title = ja:木村 威夫学院長 祝 ★ ギネス・ワールド・レコード認定！！ | publisher = Nikkatsu | url = http://www.nikkatsu.com/school/information/no52.php | language = Japanese | accessdate = August 8, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110927075013/http://www.nikkatsu.com/school/information/no52.php | archive-date = September 27, 2011 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all The film was based on his own novel, which touches on autobiographical elements, and more closely resembles his surrealistic collaborations with Suzuki—who appears in the film as an actor—than his more realistic art direction.
He remained among Japan's best known art directors, most famously for his work with Suzuki through the 1960s. In addition to film, Kimura had worked as a film and art critic, painter, writer, photographer, teacher and on the lecture circuit.
He died of interstitial pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital on March 21, 2010, at the age of 91.
Filmography
Main article: Takeo Kimura filmography
Awards
Kimura has been nominated for nine Japanese Academy Awards for his art direction and won twice. At the 2nd annual ceremony in 1979, he was nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in a Technical Field for Love and Faith. He won the 1981 award for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction for An Ocean to Cross, Zigeunerweisen, A Long Way for a Motor Car and The Woman. The following year, he was nomination in the same category for Kei Kumai's Willful Murder, and again in 1983 for the international co-production The Go Masters and Yukko no okurimono: Cosmos no yō ni. At the 12th annual ceremony in 1989, he was co-nominated with Noriyoshi Ikeya for their work on Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis. Kimura received another nomination in 1990 for Kumai's The Death of a Tea Master. His second win came in 1991 for Mt. Aso's Passions, Childhood Days and Hong Kong Paradise. Bandō Tamasaburō's Yearning earned Kimura his last nomination at the 1994 ceremony.
He won three Mainichi Film Awards for Best Art Direction. At the 9th annual ceremony in 1955, he won for A Certain Woman, made at Daiei, and Black Tide, made after he had moved to Nikkatsu.{{cite web | script-title=ja:毎日映画コンクールの歩み: 09 1954年 | publisher = Mainichi Film Awards | url = http://www.japan-movie.net/about/history09.html | language = Japanese | accessdate = August 7, 2009 | script-title=ja:毎日映画コンクールの歩み: 36 1981年 | publisher = Mainichi Film Awards | url = http://www.japan-movie.net/about/history36.html | language = Japanese | accessdate = August 7, 2009 | script-title=ja:毎日映画コンクールの歩み: 41 1986年 | publisher = Mainichi Film Awards | url = http://www.japan-movie.net/about/history41.html | language = Japanese | accessdate = August 7, 2009
Additional awards include Best Artistic Contribution for Mt. Aso's Passions, at the 1990 Montreal World Film Festival,{{cite web |title = Les Passions du Mont-Aso |publisher = Montreal World Film Festival |url = http://www.ffm-montreal.org/palmares/27-palmares-du-festival-des-films-du-monde-de-montreal-1990.html |accessdate = August 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527094703/http://www.ffm-montreal.org/palmares/27-palmares-du-festival-des-films-du-monde-de-montreal-1990.html |archive-date=27 May 2018 |url-status=usurped}} and Best Art Director for The Soul Odyssey, at the 2003 Yokohama Film Festival.{{cite web |script-title = ja:第２５回ヨコハマ映画祭 日本映画個人賞 |publisher = Yokohama Film Festival |url = http://homepage3.nifty.com/yokohama-eigasai/25-2003/25_2003_shou.html |language = Japanese |accessdate = August 7, 2009 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20040505011023/http://homepage3.nifty.com/yokohama-eigasai/25-2003/25_2003_shou.html |archivedate = May 5, 2004 |df = mdy-all
References
References
- (March 25, 2010). "Movie art director Kimura dies at 91". Japan Today.
- [[Japan Academy Prize (film). Japan Academy Prize]]. link
- Japan Academy Prize. link
- Japan Academy Prize. link
- Japan Academy Prize. link
- Japan Academy Prize. link
- Japan Academy Prize. link
- Japan Academy Prize. link
- Japan Academy Prize. link
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::