Juzo Itami

Juzo Itami (伊丹 十三, Itami Jūzō), born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi (池内 義弘, Ikeuchi Yoshihiro, May 15, 1933 – December 20, 1997), was a Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director. He directed eleven films, all of which he wrote himself.

Juzo Itami
伊丹 十三
Born	Yoshihiro Ikeuchi (池内 義弘) May 15, 1933 Kyoto, Japan
Died	December 20, 1997 (aged 64) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, actor
Years active	1960–1997
Spouse(s)	Kazuko Kawakita (1960–66) Nobuko Miyamoto (1969–1997)

Early life

Itami was born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi in Kyoto.[1] The name Itami was passed on from his father, Mansaku Itami—who was a renowned satirist and film director before World War II. He was the brother-in-law of Kenzaburō Ōe and uncle of Hikari Ōe. He played the father Ishihara in the comic TV program Cometa-san.

At the end of the war, when he was in Kyoto, Itami was chosen as an prodigy and educated at Tokubetsu Kagaku Gakkyū (特別科学学級; "the special scientific education class") as a future scientist who was expected to defeat the Allied powers. Among his fellow students were the sons of Hideki Yukawa and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. This class was abolished in March 1947.

He moved from Kyoto to Ehime Prefecture when he was a high school student. He attended the prestigious Matsuyama Higashi High School, where he was known for being able to read works by Arthur Rimbaud in French. But, due to his poor academic record, he had to remain in the same class for two years. It was here that he became acquainted with Kenzaburō Ōe, who later married his sister. When it turned out that he could not graduate from Matsuyama Higashi High School, he transferred to Matsuyama Minami High School, from which he graduated.

After failing the entrance exam for the College of Engineering at Osaka University, Itami worked at times as a commercial designer, a television reporter, a magazine editor, and an essayist.

Acting career

Itami and Miyamoto in 1992

Itami studied acting at an acting school called Butai Geijutsu Gakuin in Tokyo. In January 1960 he joined Daiei Film and was given the stage name Itami Ichizō (伊丹 一三) by Masaichi Nagata. In May 1960, Itami married Kazuko Kawakita, the daughter of film producer Nagamasa Kawakita. He first acted on screen in Ginza no Dora-Neko (1960). In 1961 he left Daiei and started to appear in foreign-language films such as 55 Days at Peking. In 1965 he appeared in the big-budget Anglo-American film Lord Jim. In 1965 he published a book of essays which became a hit, Yoroppa Taikutsu Nikki ("Diary of boredom in Europe"). In 1966 he and Kazuko agreed to divorce.

In 1967, when working with Nagisa Oshima on a film Sing a Song of Sex (Nihon Shunka Kō) he met Nobuko Miyamoto. He and Miyamoto married in 1969. Around this time, he changed his stage name to "伊丹 十三" (Itami Jūzō) with the kanji "十" (ten) rather than "一" (one), and worked as a character actor in film and television.

In 1968 he played Saburo Ishihara, the father of Takeshi and Koji during season II, in the series for children Cometo-San. He is well known for these series, even today, in most Spanish speaking countries along singer Yumiko Kokonoe who played Cometo-San.

In the 1970s, he joined the TV Man Union television production company and produced and presented documentaries for television, which influenced his later career as a film director. He also worked as a reporter for a TV programme called Afternoon Show.

In 1983, Itami played the father in Yoshimitsu Morita's The Family Game, and The Makioka Sisters for which roles he won the Yokohama Film Festival and Hochi Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Aside from the acting career, he translated several English books to Japanese, including Papa, You're Crazy by William Saroyan.

Director

Director Juzo Itami

Itami's debut as director was the movie Osōshiki (The Funeral) in 1984, at the age of 50. This film proved popular in Japan and won many awards, including Japanese Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. However, it was his second movie, the "noodle western" Tampopo, that earned him international exposure and acclaim.[2]

On May 22, 1992, six days after the release of his anti-yakuza satire Minbō no Onna, Itami was attacked, beaten, and slashed on the face by five members of the Goto-gumi, a Shizuoka-based yakuza clan, who were angry at Itami's film's portrayal of yakuza members.[3] This attack led to a government crackdown on the yakuza.

His subsequent stay in a hospital inspired his next film Daibyonin, a grim satire on the Japanese health system. During a showing of this film in Japan, a cinema screen was slashed by a right-wing protester.[4]

Death

Itami died on December 20, 1997[5] in Tokyo, after falling from the roof of the building where his office was located. On his desk was found a suicide note stating he had been falsely accused of an affair and took his life to clear his name; two days later, a tabloid magazine published a report of such an affair.[6] None of his family believed that he would so take his life or that he would be mortally embarrassed by a real or alleged affair. One theory is that Itami's suicide was forced by members of the Goto-gumi yakuza faction. A former member of the Goto-gumi faction told journalist Jake Adelstein in 2008, “We set it up to stage his murder as a suicide. We dragged him up to the rooftop and put a gun in his face. We gave him a choice: jump and you might live or stay and we’ll blow your face off. He jumped. He didn’t live.”[7]

Tributes

His brother-in-law and childhood friend Kenzaburo Oe wrote The Changeling (2000), which modeled their relationship.[8]

Matsuyama has a Juzo Itami Museum.[9]

Filmography

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Ginza no dora-neko
1961	A False Student	Soratani (Ichizo Itami)
1961	Her Brother	Son of Factory Owner	Uncredited
1961	The Big Wave	Toru
1961	Ten Dark Women	Hanamaki
1963	Onna no tsuribashi	Saburô Ôki	(Episode 2)
1963	55 Days at Peking	Col. Shiba
1964	Shûen	Takuji Yoshii
1965	Lord Jim	Waris
1966	Otokonokao wa rirekisho
1967	Sing a Song of Sex	Ôtake
1967	Choueki juhachi-nen: kari shutsugoku
1968	Shôwa genroku Tokyo 196X-nen
1968	Ah kaiten tokubetsu kogekitai
1968	Ah, yokaren	Miyamoto
1969	Kinpeibai	Hsi Men Ching
1969	Eiko e no 5,000 kiro
1969	Heat Wave Island	Iino
1970	Hiko shonen: Wakamono no toride	Ishizaka
1971	Yasashii Nippon jin
1973	Kunitori Monogatari	Ashikaga Yoshiaki	TV Series
1973	Shinsho Taikōki	Araki Murashige	TV Series
1974	Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance	Ransui Tokunaga
1974	Imôto	Kazuo Wada
1974	Waga michi
1975	Wagahai wa neko de aru	Meitei
1979	Collections privées		(segment "Kusa-Meikyu")
1979	No More Easy Life	Takamizawa - Landlord
1979	Grass Labyrinth	Principal / Priest / Old man	Short
1980	Yūgure made	Sasa
1981	Slow na boogie ni shitekure	Lawyer
1981	Shikake-nin Baian	Sahei Oumiya
1981	Akuryo-To	Ryuhei Ochi
1982	Kiddonappu burûsu (Kidnap Blues)
1983	The Makioka Sisters	Tatsuo Makioka, Tsuruko's husband
1983	The Family Game	Mr. Numata, the father
1983	Meiso chizu	Itakura
1983	Izakaya Chōji	Kawara
1984	Make-up	Kumakura
1984	MacArthur's Children (Setouchi shonen yakyu dan)	Hatano
1985	The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl	Professor Hirayama	[10]
1985	Haru no Hatō	Itō Hirobumi	TV Series
1989	Sweet Home	Yamamura	(final film role)

As director

Year	Title	Notes
1962	Rubber Band Pistol	Short
1984	The Funeral
1985	Tampopo
1987	A Taxing Woman
1988	A Taxing Woman's Return
1990	A-Ge-Man: Tales of a Golden Geisha
1992	Minbo
1993	Daibyonin
1995	Shizuka na Seikatsu	"A Quiet Life"
1996	Supermarket Woman
1997	Marutai no Onna	"Woman in Witness Protection"

Awards

• 1985 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year—The Funeral
• 1988 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year—A Taxing Woman

References

1. The Independent
2. Vincent Canby (March 26, 1987). "New Directors/New Films; 'Tampopo,' A Comedy from Japan". The New York Times.
3. The New York Times
4. Associated Press
5. Crow, Jonathan. "Juzo Itami". AllMovie. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
6. Chicago Tribune
7. "Reposted: The high price of writing about anti-social forces–and those who pay. 猪狩先生を弔う日々 : Japan Subculture Research Center". www.japansubculture.com. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
8. Tayler, Christopher (June 12, 2010). "The Changeling by Kenzaburo Oe". The Guardian.
9. Juzo Itami Museum.
10. Fandango.com

External links

• Juzo Itami at IMDb
• Juzo Itami at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
• Juzo Itami's grave
• Itami Juzo Museum (in Japanese)
• Juzo Itami at Rotten Tomatoes