Editing Masaki Kobayashi (section)

====Peak of recognition (1959-1967)====
[[File:Kinema-Junpo-1959-January-Special-1.jpg|thumb|right|Kobayashi (bottom, second from left) with the cast of [[The Human Condition I: No Greater Love|No Greater Love]] in 1959]]

From 1959 to 1961, Kobayashi directed ''[[The Human Condition (film series)|The Human Condition]]'' (1959–1961), a trilogy on the effects of [[World War II]] on a Japanese [[pacifism|pacifist]] and socialist. The total length of the films is almost ten hours, which makes it one of the longest fiction films ever made for theatrical release.<ref name=I1996 />

In 1962 he directed ''[[Harakiri (1962 film)|Harakiri]]'', which won the [[Jury Prize (Cannes Festival)|Jury Prize]] at the [[1963 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1963/allAward.html |title=Awards 1963: All Awards |website=[[Cannes Film Festival|Festival de Cannes]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225120236/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1963/allAward.html |archive-date=25 December 2013}}</ref>

In 1964, Kobayashi made ''[[Kwaidan (film)|Kwaidan]]'' (1964), his first color film, a collection of four ghost stories drawn from books by [[Lafcadio Hearn]]. Kwaidan won the [[Jury Prize (Cannes Film Festival)|Special Jury Prize]] at the [[1965 Cannes Film Festival]],<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2895/year/1965.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Kwaidan |access-date=March 4, 2009|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref> and received an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]].<ref name="Oscars1966">{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1966 |title=The 38th Academy Awards (1966) Nominees and Winners |access-date=November 6, 2011|work=oscars.org}}</ref>