Editing Yasujirō Ozu (section)

==Biography==
===Early life===
Ozu was born in the [[Fukagawa, Tokyo|Fukagawa]] district of [[Tokyo City|Tokyo]], the second son of merchant Toranosuke Ozu and his wife Asae.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Chiba |first1=Nobuo |title=Ozu Yasujirō to 20-seiki |last2=千葉伸夫 |date=2003 |publisher=Kokusho Kankōkai |isbn=4-336-04607-7 |edition=Shohan |pages=16, 20 |oclc=54757823}}</ref> His family was a branch of the Ozu Yoemon merchant family from [[Ise, Mie|Ise]], and Toranosuke was the 5th generation manager of the family's fertilizer business in [[Nihonbashi]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Matsuura |first=Kanji |title=Ozu Yasujirō, taizen = Ozu |date=2019 |others=Miyamoto Akiko |isbn=978-4-02-251599-5 |pages=154–158 |publisher=朝日新聞出版 |oclc=1101101857}}</ref> Asae came from the Nakajō merchant family.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Ozu had five brothers and sisters. When he was three, he developed [[meningitis]], and was in a coma for a couple of days. Asae devoted herself to nursing him, and Ozu made a recovery.<ref name=":0" /> He attended Meiji nursery school and primary school.<ref name="Hasumi-319">{{harvnb|Hasumi|2003|p=319}}</ref> In March 1913, at the age of nine, he and his siblings were sent by his father to live in his father's home town of [[Matsusaka, Mie|Matsusaka]] in [[Mie Prefecture]], where he remained until 1924.<ref name="Hasumi-319"/><ref>{{cite book|first=Mark|last=Weston|title=Giants of Japan|url=https://archive.org/details/giantsofjapanliv00west|url-access=registration|publisher=Kodansha International|year=1999|page=[https://archive.org/details/giantsofjapanliv00west/page/303 303]|isbn=978-1-56836-286-1}}</ref> In March 1916, at the age of 12, he entered what is now Ujiyamada High School.<ref group="n">宇治山田高等学校</ref> He was a boarder at the school and did judo.<ref name="Hasumi-319"/> He frequently skipped classes to watch films such as ''[[Quo Vadis (1913 film)|Quo Vadis]]'' or ''[[The Last Days of Pompeii (1913 film)|The Last Days of Pompeii]]''. In 1917, he saw the film ''[[Civilization (film)|Civilization]]'' and decided that he wanted to be a film director.<ref name="Hasumi-320">{{harvnb|Hasumi|2003|p=320}}</ref>

In 1920, at the age of 17, he was thrown out of the dormitory after being accused of writing a love letter to a good-looking boy in a lower class, and had to commute to school by train.<ref name="Hasumi-320"/>

In March 1921, Ozu graduated from the high school. He attempted the exam for entrance into what is now [[Kobe University]]'s economics department,<ref group="n">神戸高商, Kobe Kosho</ref> but failed. In 1922, he took the exam for a teacher training college,<ref group="n">三重県立師範学校, Mie-ken ritsu shihan gakko</ref> but failed it too. On 31 March 1922, he began working as a substitute teacher at a school in [[Mie Prefecture|Mie prefecture]]. He is said to have traveled the long journey from the school in the mountains to watch films on the weekend. In December 1922, his family, with the exception of Ozu and his sister, moved back to Tokyo to live with his father. In March 1923, when his sister graduated, he also returned to live in Tokyo.

===Entering the film business===
[[File:Yasujiro_Ozu_cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|Yasujiro Ozu during the filming of ''Dragnet Girl'' 1933]]

With his uncle acting as intermediary, Ozu was hired by the [[Shochiku|Shochiku Film Company]], as an assistant in the cinematography department, on 1 August 1923, against the wishes of his father.<ref name="Hasumi-320"/> His family home was destroyed in [[1923 Great Kantō earthquake|the earthquake of 1923]], but no members of his family were injured.

On 12 December 1924, Ozu started a year of military service.<ref name="Hasumi-320"/><ref group="n">Ozu's military service was of a special type called ''ichinen shiganhei'' (一年志願兵) where the usual two-year term of conscription was shortened to one year on condition that the conscriptee paid for himself.</ref> He finished his military service on 30 November 1925, leaving as a corporal.

In 1926, he became a third [[assistant director]] at Shochiku.<ref name="Hasumi-321">{{harvnb|Hasumi|2003|p=321}}</ref> In 1927, he was involved in a fracas where he punched another employee for jumping a queue at the studio cafeteria, and when called to the studio director's office, used it as an opportunity to present a film script he had written.<ref name="Hasumi-321"/> In September 1927, he was promoted to director in the ''[[jidaigeki]]'' (period film) department, and directed his first film, ''[[Sword of Penitence]]'', which has since been lost. ''Sword of Penitence'' was written by Ozu, with a screenplay by [[Kogo Noda]], who would become his co-writer for the rest of his career. On September 25, he was called up for service in the military reserves until November, which meant that the film had to be partly finished by another director.<ref name="Hasumi-321"/>

[[File:突貫小僧 (1929).webm|thumb|left|''A Straightforward Boy'' (1929), an early short film directed by Ozu]]
In 1928, Shiro Kido, the head of the Shochiku studio, decided that the company would concentrate on making short comedy films without star actors. Ozu made many of these films. The film ''Body Beautiful'', released on 1 December 1928, was the first Ozu film to use a low camera position, which would become his trademark.<ref name="Hasumi-321" /> After a series of the "no star" pictures, in September 1929, Ozu's first film with stars, ''[[I Graduated, But...]]'', starring {{ill|Minoru Takada|jp|高田稔}} and [[Kinuyo Tanaka]], was released. In January 1930, he was entrusted with Shochiku's top star, [[Sumiko Kurishima]], in her new year film, ''{{ill|An Introduction to Marriage|jp|結婚学入門}}''. His subsequent films of 1930 impressed Shiro Kido enough to invite Ozu on a trip to a hot spring. In his early works, Ozu used the pseudonym "James Maki"<ref group="n">ヂェームス・槇</ref> for his screenwriting credit.<ref>{{harvnb|Shindo|2004|p=11}}</ref> His film ''Young Miss'', with an all-star cast, was the first time he used the pen name James Maki, and was also his first film to appear in film magazine ''[[Kinema Jumpo]]''{{'s}} "Best Ten" at third position.<ref name="Hasumi-322">{{harvnb|Hasumi|2003|p=322}}</ref>

In 1932, his ''[[I Was Born, But...]]'', a comedy about childhood with serious overtones, was received by movie critics as the first notable work of [[social criticism]] in Japanese cinema, winning Ozu wide acclaim.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Scott|first1=A.O.|title=Revenge on the Bully, Silently, in Japan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/movies/25iwas.html?_r=0|access-date=19 May 2015|work=[[The New York Times]]|agency=New York Times Company|date=24 June 2010}}</ref>
In 1935, Ozu made a short documentary with a soundtrack: ''Kagami Jishi'', in which Kikugoro VI performed a [[Kabuki]] dance of the same title. This was made by request of the Ministry of Education.<ref name=richie />{{rp|p. 221}} Like the rest of Japan's cinema industry, Ozu was slow to switch to the production of [[talkie]]s: his first film with a dialogue sound-track was ''[[The Only Son (1936 film)|The Only Son]]'' in 1936, five years after Japan's first talking film, [[Heinosuke Gosho]]'s ''[[The Neighbor's Wife and Mine]]''.

===Wartime===
On 9 September 1937, at a time when Shochiku was unhappy about Ozu's lack of box-office success, despite the praise he received from critics, the thirty-four-year-old Ozu was conscripted into the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]. He spent two years in China in the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]. He arrived in Shanghai on 27 September 1937 as part of an infantry regiment which handled chemical weapons.<ref name="hasumi-327"/> He started as a corporal, but was promoted to sergeant on 1 June 1938.<ref name="hasumi-327"/> From January until September 1938, he was stationed in [[Nanjing]], where he met [[Sadao Yamanaka]], who was stationed nearby. In September, Yamanaka died of illness.<ref name=hasumi-327>{{harvnb|Hasumi|2003|p=327}}</ref> In 1939, Ozu was dispatched to [[Hankou]], where he fought in the [[Battle of Nanchang]] and the [[Battle of Xiushui River]]. In June, he was ordered back to Japan, arriving in Kobe in July, and his conscription ended on 16 July 1939.<ref name="hasumi-327"/>

Some of Ozu's published diaries cover his wartime experiences between 20 December 1938 and 5 June 1939.<ref name=tanakaAll>{{Cite book| last = Tanaka | first = Masumi | title = 全日記 小津安二郎 | publisher = Firumu Atosha | year = 1993 | isbn = 978-4-8459-9321-5}}</ref> Another diary from his wartime years ({{lang|ja|陣中日記}}) he expressly forbade from publication. In the published diaries, reference to his group's participation in chemical warfare (in violation of the [[Geneva Protocol]], though Japan had withdrawn from the [[League of Nations]] in 1933) can be found, for example, in various entries from March 1939. In one passage, he reflects on the systemic manipulation of Chinese soldiers, comparing them to insects in a way that illustrates their perceived loss of individuality due to propaganda.<ref name=tanakaWar>{{Cite book| last = Tanaka | first = Masumi | title = 小津安二郎と戦争 | publisher = Misuzu Shobo | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-4-622-07148-8 }}</ref> Although operating as a military squad leader, Ozu retains his directorial perspective, once commenting that the initial shock and subsequent agony of a man as he is hacked to death is very much like its depiction in period films.<ref name=sato>{{Cite book| last = Sato | first = Tadao| title = 小津安二郎の芸術 上 | publisher = Asahi Shimbun | year = 1978 | isbn = 978-4-02-259226-2}}</ref>

Ozu's writings also offers a glimpse into the Japanese military's use of [[comfort women]]. In a letter sent to friends in Japan on 11 April 1938, from [[Dingyuan County]] in China's [[Anhui|Anhui Province]], Ozu writes about the comfort station protocol in lightly coded terms.<ref name=tanaka76>{{Cite book| last = Tanaka | first = Masumi | title = 小津安二郎と戦争 | publisher = Misuzu Shobo | year = 2005 | pages = 76–77 |url= https://wam-peace.org/ianjo/resource/a-1902/ | isbn = 978-4-622-07148-8 }}</ref> In a 13 January 1939 diary entry, Ozu writes more openly about his group's upcoming turn for use of a comfort station near [[Yingcheng]]. He mentions that two tickets, ointment and prophylatics are provided, and that three Korean and twelve Chinese women were being held at the comfort station for their use. Comfort station rates and schedules are also given by Ozu.<ref name=tanaka231>{{Cite book| last = Tanaka | first = Masumi | title = 全日記 小津安二郎 | publisher = Firumu Atosha | year = 1993 | pages = 231, 233 |url= https://wam-peace.org/ianjo/resource/a-2495/| isbn = 978-4-8459-9321-5}}</ref>

In 1939, he wrote the first draft of the script for ''[[The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice]]'', but shelved it due to extensive changes insisted on by military censors.<ref name="hasumi-327"/> The first film Ozu made on his return was the critically and commercially successful ''[[Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family]]'', released in 1941. He followed this with ''[[There Was a Father]]'' (''Chichi Ariki'', 1942), which explored the strong bonds of affection between a father and son despite years of separation.

In 1943, Ozu was again drafted into the army for the purpose of making a propaganda film in [[Burma]]. However, he was sent to Singapore instead, to make a documentary ''Derii e, Derii e'' ("To Delhi, to Delhi") about [[Subhas Chandra Bose|Chandra Bose]].<ref name="shinario-jinsei">{{kaneto-shindo-shinario-jinsei}}</ref> During his time in Singapore, having little inclination to work, he spent an entire year reading, playing tennis and watching American films provided by the Army information corps. He was particularly impressed with Orson Welles's ''[[Citizen Kane]]''.<ref name="hasumi-329">{{harvnb|Hasumi|2003|p=329}}</ref> He occupied a fifth-floor room facing the sea in the [[Cathay Building]] where he entertained guests, drew pictures, and collected rugs. At the end of the Second World War, in August 1945, Ozu destroyed the script and all footage of the film.<ref name="shinario-jinsei"/> He was detained as a civilian, and worked in a rubber plantation. Of his film team of 32 people, there was only space for 28 on the first repatriation boat to Japan. Ozu won a lottery giving him a place, but gave it to someone else who was anxious to return.<ref name="shinario-jinsei"/><ref name="hasumi-329"/>

===Postwar===
Ozu returned to Japan in February 1946, and moved back in with his mother, who had been staying with his sister in [[Noda, Chiba|Noda]] in [[Chiba Prefecture|Chiba prefecture]]. He reported for work at the Ofuna studios on 18 February 1946. His first film released after the war was ''[[Record of a Tenement Gentleman]]'' in 1947. Around this time, the Chigasakikan<ref group="n">茅ケ崎館</ref> [[Ryokan (Japanese inn)|Ryokan]] became Ozu's favoured location for scriptwriting.

[[File:Grave of Yasujiro Ozu.jpg|thumb|Ozu's grave at [[Engaku-ji]], [[Kamakura]] in 2018]]

''[[Tokyo Story]]'' was the last script that Ozu wrote at Chigasakikan. In later years, Ozu and Noda used a small house in the mountains at [[Tateshina, Nagano|Tateshina]] in [[Nagano Prefecture]] called Unkosō<ref group="n">雲呼荘</ref> to write scripts, with Ozu staying in a nearby house called Mugeisō.<ref group="n">無芸荘</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Shindo|2004|pp=31–32}}</ref>

Ozu's films from the late 1940s onward were favourably received, and the entries in the so-called "Noriko trilogy" (starring [[Setsuko Hara]]) of ''[[Late Spring]]'' (1949), ''[[Early Summer]]'' (1951) and ''[[Tokyo Story]]'' (1953) are among his most acclaimed works, with ''Tokyo Story'' widely considered his masterpiece.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Parkinson|first1=David|title=Yasujiro Ozu – The Noriko Trilogy|url=http://www.moviemail.com/scripts/article.pl?articleID=150|website=MovieMail|publisher=MovieMail Ltd|access-date=19 May 2015}}</ref> ''Late Spring'', the first of these films, was the beginning of Ozu's commercial success and the development of his cinematography and storytelling style. These three films were followed by his first colour film, ''[[Equinox Flower]],'' in 1958, ''[[Floating Weeds]]'' in 1959 and ''[[Late Autumn (1960 film)|Late Autumn]]'' in 1960. In addition to Noda, other regular collaborators included [[cinematographer]] Yuharu Atsuta, along with the actors [[Chishū Ryū]], [[Setsuko Hara]] and [[Haruko Sugimura]].

His work was only rarely shown overseas before the 1960s; however, ''Tokyo Story'' gained recognition after winning the Sutherland Trophy at the 1958 London Film Festival. Ozu's last film was ''[[An Autumn Afternoon]],'' which was released in 1962. He then directed the television drama {{Ill|After the End of Youth|ja|青春放課後}} (1963), co-writing it with novelist [[Ton Satomi]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-10-10 |title=小津安二郎監督「幻のドラマ」放送へ |trans-title=Director Yasujirō Ozu’s 'Lost Drama' to Be Broadcast |url=http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20131010/k10015170161000.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010052932/http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20131010/k10015170161000.html |archive-date=2013-10-10 |access-date=2025-03-14 |work=[[NHK|NHK News Web]] |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Ma |first=Kevin |date=2013-10-11 |title=Rediscovered Ozu TV drama to air |url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/rediscovered-ozu-tv-drama-to-air |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022155814/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/rediscovered-ozu-tv-drama-to-air |archive-date=2013-10-22 |access-date=2025-03-14 |magazine=[[Film Business Asia]]}}</ref>

He served as president of the [[Directors Guild of Japan]] from 1955 until his death in 1963.<ref name="Nenpyo">{{cite web|url=http://www.dgj.or.jp/about_g/chronology.html|title=Nihon eiga kantoku kyōkai nenpyō|publisher=Nihon eiga kantoku kyōkai|language=ja|access-date=17 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726084327/http://www.dgj.or.jp/about_g/chronology.html|archive-date=26 July 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 1959 he became the first recipient from the field of cinema to win the Japan Art Academy Prize.

Ozu was known for his drinking. He and Noda measured the progression of their scripts by how many bottles of [[sake]] they had drunk. Ozu never married.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49594|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803012819/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49594|archive-date=3 August 2012|last=Rayns|first=Tony|title=Ozu Yasujiro, tofu maker
|year=2010|access-date=19 February 2019}}</ref> He lived with his mother until she died in 1961.<ref>Darrell William Davis, 'Ozu's mother,' in David Desser (ed.), ''Ozu's Tokyo Story,'' [[Cambridge University Press]] 1997 {{isbn|978-0-521-48435-0}} pp.76-100, p.95.</ref>

A heavy smoker, Ozu died of [[throat cancer]] in 1963 on his sixtieth birthday. The grave he shares with his mother at [[Engaku-ji]] in [[Kamakura, Kanagawa|Kamakura]] bears no name—just the character ''[[Mu (negative)|mu]]'' ("nothingness").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.easterwood.org/ozu/gravesite/directions2.html|last=Easterwood|first=Kurt |title=Yasujiro Ozu's gravesite in Kita-Kamakura: How to get there (Part Two). |year=2004|access-date=20 August 2009 }}</ref>