Eiji Tsuburaya (1901 - 1970) Special effects director

Eiji Tsuburaya (円谷 英二, Tsuburaya Eiji^?) (born Eiichi Tsuburaya円谷 英一 (Tsuburaya Eiichi, Eiichi Tsuburaya円谷 英一^?) on July 7, 1901 – died January 25, 1970, in Sukagawa, Fukushima) was the Japanese special effects director responsible for many Japanese science-fiction movies, including the Godzilla series. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sukagawa (須賀川市; -shi) is a city located in the center of Fukushima, Japan. ... Special effects (abbreviated SPFX or SFX) are used in the film, television, and entertainment industry to create effects that cannot be achieved by normal means, such as depicting travel to other star systems. ... This article is about the character itself. ...

Early life

Tsuburaya described his childhood as filled with "mixed emotions." He was the first son of Isamu and Sei Tsuburaya, a Catholic family. His mother died when he was only three. He attended Sugugama-Chori Elementary School beginning in 1908 and graduated in 1916 at the age of 15. About the time he entered elementary school, he took up the hobby of building model airplanes, an interest he would retain for the rest of his life. His love of aviation led him to enroll in flying school at the age of 14. He was A Christian.

Early career

His first job in the film industry was as an assistant cinematographer at the Nippon-Tonnenshoku-Katsudo (Kokkatsu) Studios in Kyoto in 1919. After serving as a member of the correspondence staff to the military from 1921 to 1923, he joined Ogasaware Productions. He was head cameraman on Hunchback of Enmeiin (Enmeiin no semushiotoko), and served as assistant cameraman on Teinosuke Kinugasa's ground-breaking 1925 film, Kurutta Ippeiji (A Page of Madness). Kyoto )   is a city in the central part of the island of HonshÅ«, Japan. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... KINUGASA Teinosuke (Japanese: 衣笠貞之助) (born 1 January 1896 in Mie-ken, Japan; died 26 February 1982 in Kyoto, Japan) is a Japanese film director. ... A Page of Madness ) is a silent film by Japanese film director Kinugasa Teinosuke, made in the early 1920s. ...

He joined Shochiku Kyoto Studios in 1926 and became full-time cameraman there in 1927. He began using and creating innovative filming techniques during this period, including the first use of a camera crane in Japanese film. In the 1930 film Chohichiro Matsudaira, he created a film illusion by super-imposing an image. Thus began the work for which he would become known-- special effects. Shochiku Company, Limited ) TYO: 9601 is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

1930 was also the year of his marriage to Masano Araki. Hajime, the first of their three sons, was born a year later. During the 1930s, he moved between a number of studios and became known for his meticulous work. It was during this period that he saw a film that would point towards his future career. After his international success with Godzilla in 1954, he said, "When I worked for Nikkatsu Studios, King Kong came to Kyoto and I never forgot that movie. I thought to myself, 'I will someday make a monster movie like that.'" ^[1] This article is about the film. ... The Nikkatsu Company ) is Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. ... King Kong in the 1933 film. ... Kyoto )   is a city in the central part of the island of HonshÅ«, Japan. ...

In 1938 he became head of Special Visual Techniques at Toho Tokyo Studios, setting up an independent special effects department in 1939. He expanded his technique greatly during this period and earned several awards, but did not stay long at Toho. Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Toho Co. ...

During the war years he directed and produced the special effects for a number of propaganda films, including Kaigun Bakugeki-tai (The Naval Bomber Fleet) (1940) and Hawai-Marei Oki Kaisen (The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay) (1942). Tsuburaya's work on the latter film was so impressive that General MacArthur's film unit is said to have sold footage of the film to Frank Capra for use in Movietone newsreels as actual footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor.[1] This article is about the American general; for the municipality in the Philippines, see General MacArthur, Eastern Samar. ... This article is about the film director. ... Movietone News produced cinema newsreels from 1929-1979. ... A newsreel is a documentary film that is regularly released in a public presentation place containing filmed news stories. ... This article is about the actual attack. ...

As Japan tried to abandon militarism after the war, Tsuburaya's wartime association with propaganda films proved a hindrance to his finding work for some time. He went freelance with his own production company until he returned to Toho in 1950.

Toho years

As head of Toho's special effects department, he supervised 60 craftsmen, technicians and cameramen. It was here that he became part of the team, along with director Ishiro Honda and producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, that created the first Godzilla film in 1954. Ishirō Honda (本多 猪四郎 Honda Ishirō, May 7, 1911 in Yamagata Prefecture - February 28, 1993) was a Japanese film director. ... Tomoyuki Tanaka (田中友幸) was a Japanese movie producer, most famous for creating the Godzilla movies. ... This article is about the character itself. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

For his work in Godzilla (ゴジラ - Gojira), Tsuburaya won his first Film Technique Award. In contrast to the stop motion technique most famously used Willis O'Brien to create the 1933 King Kong, Tsuburaya used a man in a rubber suit to create his giant monster effects. This technique, now most closely associated with Japanese kaiju or monster movies, has come to be called suitmation. Through intense lighting and high-speed filming, Tsuburaya was able to add to the realism of the effects by giving them a slightly slower, ponderous weightiness. This article is about the film. ... Stop motion is an animation technique which makes things that are static appear to be moving. ... Willis OBrien with his Academy Award. ... King Kong in the 1933 film. ... KaijÅ« (怪獣) is a Japanese term that generically translates to monster. ... The Simpsons protest the next door construction of a stamp museum and successfully have it relocated to a cemetery lot. ...

The tremendous success of Godzilla led Toho to produce a series science fiction films, films introducing new monsters, and further films involving the Godzilla character itself. The most critically and popularly successful of these films were those involving the team of Tsuburaya, Honda and Tanaka, along with the fourth member of the Godzilla team, composer Akira Ifukube. Tsuburaya continued producing the special effects for non-kaiju films like The H-Man (1958), and The Last War (1961), and won another Japanese Movie Technique Award for his work in the 1957 science-fiction film The Mysterians. Akira Ifukube (伊福部 昭 Ifukube Akira, 31 May 1914 – 8 February 2006) was a Japanese composer of classical music and film scores, perhaps best known for his work on the soundtracks of the Godzilla movies. ... The H-Man ), is a tokusatsu film produced and released by Toho Studios in 1958. ... The Last War, known in Japan as The Great World War (世界大戦争 - Sekai daisenso), is a tokusatsu film produced and released by Toho Studios in 1961. ... The Mysterians, released in Japan as Chikyū Bōeigun lit. ...

Tsuburaya Productions

In 1963 Tsuburaya started his own special effects laboratory, and later that year founded Tsuburaya Productions. In 1966 alone, this company aired the first 'monster' series for television, Ultra Q beginning in January, followed it with the highly popular Ultraman in July, and premiered a comedy-monster series, Monster Booska in November. Ultraman became the first live-action Japanese television series to be exported around the world, and spawned the Ultra Series which continues to this day. Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tsuburaya Productions (円谷プロダクション) is the production company founded by the late special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and is now run by his family. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... This article is about the Japanese superhero. ... Monster Booska (快獣ブースカ - Kaijû Bûsuka) is a famous childrens tokusatsu sitcom, and the first to feature the friendly monster Booska. ... The Ultra Series is the collective name for all the shows featuring Ultraman and his many brethren (although few of these shows, like the first Ultra Series, Ultra Q, do not have any Ultramen in them). ...

He worked on around 250 films in total.

Footnotes

1. ^ Taylor, Al. "The Man Who Made Godzilla Famous." Fantastic Films and Other Imaginative Media January 1980, p.19.

References

• Eiji Tsuburaya at All Movie Guide
• Eiji Tsuburaya at filmreference.com
• Taylor, Al. "The Man Who Made Godzilla Famous." Fantastic Films and Other Imaginative Media January 1980, p.17-20.

All Movie Guide is a commercial database of information about movie stars, movies and television shows. ...

External links

• The Official Tsuburaya Productions Webpage
• Eiji Tsuburaya Official Site (Japanese and English)
• Eiji Tsuburaya at the Internet Movie Database

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