Editing Masaki Kobayashi (section)

===Early life (1916–1946)===
====Childhood and schooling (1916–1942)====
Kobayashi was born on February 14, 1916, in [[Otaru]], a port city on the island of [[Hokkaido]].<ref name=I1996/><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=World film directors|publisher=H.W. Wilson|year=1988|isbn=0-8242-0763-7|editor-last=Wakeman|editor-first=John|location=New York|pages=527|oclc=778946190}}</ref> Kobayashi's family was a part of the upper-middle class, as his father, Yuichi, worked for [[Mitsui & Co.]], and his mother, Hisako, was part of a merchant family.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kuramoto |first1=Sō |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51299958 |title=Gusha no tabi |last2=倉本聰 |date=2002 |publisher=Rironsha |isbn=4-652-07709-2 |edition=Shohan |pages=137 |oclc=51299958}}</ref><ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru">{{cite book |last=Prince |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Prince |date=November 16, 2017 |title=A Dream of Resistance: The Cinema of Kobayashi Masaki |chapter=Conjoining Spirit and World |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |pages=13-19 |isbn=978-0-8135-9235-0}}</ref> He had two older brothers and a younger sister.<ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru"/> He was also a second cousin of the actress and director [[Kinuyo Tanaka]].<ref name=Jasper>{{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=Jasper |date=2011 |title=Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema |publisher=Scarecrow Press |pages= 240–242|isbn=978-0-8108-7541-8}}</ref> The Kobayashi family descends from a samurai from [[Shimonoseki]].<ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru"/> Kobayashi lived in [[Tokyo]] while in elementary school, but otherwise lived in Otaru until he was 17 years-old.<ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru"/> Kobayashi's household was warm and tolerant, and his parents encouraged the exploration of the arts.<ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru"/> He saw a movie for the first time when he was 7 years-old, and he frequently watched movies and visited art exhibitions, concerts, and theatre performances with his mother.<ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru"/> Kobayashi's older brother, Yasuhiko, who attended film study groups while in university, also helped further Kobayashi's understanding of film.<ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru"/>

In 1938, Kobayashi enrolled in [[Waseda University]] in Tokyo.<ref name=":0"/><ref name="PrinceDreamAizu">{{cite book |last=Prince |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Prince |date=November 16, 2017 |title=A Dream of Resistance: The Cinema of Kobayashi Masaki |chapter=Conjoining Spirit and World |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |pages=19-30 |isbn=978-0-8135-9235-0}}</ref> At the university, Kobayashi was taught by [[Aizu Yaichi]], a poet and historian who became a mentor of Kobayashi and influenced Kobayashi's perspectives on life and art.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Aizu specialized in [[Buddhist]] art, particularly that of the [[Nara period]], and frequently brought his class to Buddhist temples.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Outside of class, Kobayashi accompanied Aizu on trips to [[Nara Prefecture|Nara]] and often visited Aizu's house.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Due in part to Aizu's influence, Kobayashi decided to study East Asian art and philosophy.<ref name=":0"/><ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Kobayashi wrote his thesis on [[Murō-ji]], a Buddhist temple located in Nara.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> He spent a month living at Murō-ji while researching its history for his thesis.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Kobayashi would later work on a documentary about Aizu released in 1996.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/>

While attending Waseda University, Kobayashi would visit [[Shochiku Studio]] to watch Kinuyo Tanaka, his second cousin, while she worked.<ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru"/> It was during his time at Waseda University that Kobayashi began to want to become a film director.<ref name="PrinceDreamOtaru"/>

After graduating from Waseda University in 1941, Kobayashi worked at Shochiku as a director in training for eight months.<ref name=I1996 /><ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> While at Shochiku, Kobayashi assisted [[Hiroshi Shimizu (director)|Hiroshi Shimizu]] on ''Dawn Chorus'' and [[Hideo Ōba]] on ''Kaze kaoru niwa''.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> During this time, Kobayashi began writing a book set in Nara, about an Oriental art scholar who enlisted in the army.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/>

====Wartime (1942-1946)====
In January 1942, Kobayashi was drafted into the Azabu Third Regiment of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]].<ref name=I1996 /><ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> After three months of training as a heavy machine gunner, Kobayashi was sent near [[Harbin]] in [[Manchuria]].<ref name=I1996 /><ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> In September 1943, Kobayashi's squad was sent to patrol along the [[Ussuri]] river.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> In June 1944, his regiment returned to Japan, from which they were to be transferred to the [[Philippines]].<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> However, [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] submarines prevented the Azabu Third Regiment from reaching the Philippines, so they headed for [[Okinawa Island]] instead.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> While traveling to Okinawa, Kobayashi's group diverted to [[Miyako-jima]] in the [[Ryukyu Islands]], where they remained until the end of the war.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> During that time, his group worked towards building an airfield.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Kobayashi's time on the island was difficult, with his group frequently resorting to eating grasshoppers and dogs to survive.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> He kept a diary during his time on Miyako-jima, which documented his experience in the war and included an [[I-novel]] about the loss of his youth.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> In his diary, Kobayashi shows support for the Japanese war effort, but laments the death and destruction that the war caused.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Kobayashi never participated in frontline fighting during his time in the army.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Kobayashi regarded himself as a pacifist and a socialist, and resisted by refusing promotion to a rank higher than [[private (rank)|private]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/381 |title=Harakiri: Kobayashi and History – From the Current – The Criterion Collection |publisher=Criterion.com |access-date=January 19, 2013}}</ref>

After the war ended, Kobayashi spent nearly a year in a [[prisoner of war]] labor camp in [[Kadena, Okinawa]].<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/><ref>{{Cite book|title=Japanese film directors|last=Bock|first=Audie|publisher=Kodansha International|year=1985|isbn=978-0-87011-714-5|pages=248|language=en|oclc=1015968920}}</ref> At the camp, Kobayashi ran a theater company with other inmates, and produced several shows.<ref name="PrinceDreamAizu"/> Kobayashi was released from the labor camp in November 1946.<ref name=I1996 /><ref name="PrinceDreamKinoshita">{{cite book |last=Prince |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Prince |date=November 16, 2017 |title=A Dream of Resistance: The Cinema of Kobayashi Masaki |chapter=Conjoining Spirit and World |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |pages=30-38 |isbn=978-0-8135-9235-0}}</ref> Upon returning home, he learned that his father had died in 1945 and that his older brother, Yasuhiko, died in battle in China in 1944.<ref name="PrinceDreamKinoshita"/>