Japanese Cinema

Introduction
Japanese Cinema is historically one of the world's most critical national cinemas, and its
films and directors continue to appeal to a wide range of domestic and international
audiences. Before this project, I was exposed to the artistic yet mass-popular Cinema of Japan
like Tokyo Story, few movies of Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai) and Hayao Miyazaki
(Spirited Away, Ponyo, Nausicaa of the valley), I considered these movies wholly as
Japanese Cinema, but I was wrong. Just as one cannot describe the great peaks of the
Himalayas one after another and reach an accurate picture of this place called "roof of the
world," it is impossible to get a precise picture of the films of a particular society if we
merely assemble a series of works considered to be artistically superior or those from the top
10 lists of film journals or that garner box office receipts. While I was researching, I learned
more about the history, nature and characteristics of Japan through its Cinema. Japanese
Cinema, and for that matter, no national cinema, is ever intrinsically static, and it is always
wrong to seek to define any non-Western cinema in terms of its supposed relation to a set of
different, equally mutable, mainstream norms. Japanese Cinema's history has been
remarkably porous, and it is continually marked by a productive engagement with other film
cultures; most noticeably perhaps the international practices of Hollywood, but also other
parts of the world, including Europe and indeed, of course, the Asian region itself like that of
India and China. The first film to be shot in Japan by a Japanese person was in the year 1879.
Since then, Japanese Cinema has enjoyed two golden ages and also it obtained a significant
international status in the art cinema movement. The first golden age was from the late 1920s
through the early 1930s, and the second was from the 1950s through the 1960s. Japanese film
industry rapidly declined in the 1960s-1970s because of the popularity of TV. Currently, with
the Japanese government's institutionalization of new measures to promote Japanese films as
content, Japanese Cinema appears to be booming again in the domestic market and
international film festivals. The following information is just a curation of my readings and
the articles and books I came across while researching.
The Beginnings of Japanese Cinema

The nineteenth century in Japan was an era of expansion. Nearly after three hundred years of
self-imposed seclusion, Japan had opened its doors to the rest of the world and begun that
programme of modernization that continues to this day. Among the modernity imported was
that newest of Western wonders, the motion picture, and its instantaneous popularity. In 1897
the Cinematograph Lumiere and the Edison Vitascope made debuts in a week of each other;
the following months, both were playing in Tokyo. This episode influenced and started a new
wave of expression for the masses. The first motion-picture camera imported into the country
was a Gaumont camera used to shoot traditional geishas within the everyday eateries of
Shimbashi, which got the approval of the Japanese audience. The film made up of these
geishas shots is considered to be the primary film made for entertainment in Japan. In 1899, a
photographic mastermind named Tsunekichi Shibata made what is supposed to be the
preliminary Japanese cinematographic work, a movie of purely theatrical content that showed
a kabuki play called Maple Viewing or Momijigari. From there, the pioneering actors,
directors and producers such as Shozo Makino, Yokota Shokai, Matsunosuke Onoe,
Yoshizawa Shoten and more begin to explore with documentaries and stories from traditional
Japanese plays and folklore.
The Emergence of Different Genres
From a descendant of the early Cinema, the foundations of the Japanese Cinema as its own
independent national Cinema were set. The budding directors and artists, or as we can say,
the new blood of Japan's art form, started to experiment with different genre movies which
influenced world cinema but primarily by Hollywood. The experimentation also led to the
creation of new genres specifically unique to Japan, which influenced world cinema.
Haiku Form
The narrative structure of haiku is the understanding of the foundations of Japanese
filmmaking. Once that base was defined, that country's film school split into two: realism and
fiction. The authenticity found its first great representation in the movie Otome-gokoro-
Sannin-shimai (1935) by Mikio Naruse, while Mizoguchi took imagination to its extreme in
1953 with the beautiful Ugetsu Monogatari.
Samurai Cinema
Samurai cinema is a genre equivalent to the Hollywood western: duels in which, instead of
Colt pistols, Qantas are used, with horror as the theme of the plot, and revenge feeds the
structure of the dialogue special dress codes, among other elements. Akira Kurosawa headed
samurai cinema, and his best films in this genre could be Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro
(1962).
Japanese war cinema
The Japanese war cinema has an emotional connection with the Japanese audience. After
World War II, the anti-war movement started to gain momentum, and the audience expressed
the same message through its Cinema during the time. The anti-war films of Kon Ichikawa,
influential and socially responsible stories, such as The Burmese Harp (1956). It is worth
noting that without those films, there would have been no contemporary classics such as The
Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick, 1998 or Letters from Iwo Jima by Clint Eastwood, 2006.
We could also count the anti-nuclear Cinema of creatures in this anti-war genre, directed by
Ishiro Honda and his creation, the monster Godzilla, from 1954.
Yakuza Form
Yakuza is another curious genre in Japanese film from the late 1950s is. With its relation to
the Hollywood gangster films, this genre documented the uses and customs of the Japanese
mafia. This cultural phenomenon has its antecedents in the samurai tradition with its codes of
humour. Over time, Yakuza cinema would become ultra-violent in the hands of directors
such as Takashi Miike with films such as Gozu (2003)
Anime
Japanese anime is mesmerizing. Without a doubt, the exponent of this genre is Hayao
Miyazaki. His work stands out for its highlighting of human values and culture based on an
exceptional technique that connects with the emotion on an aesthetic level, creating a mirror
suspended in time. Essential films are Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001),
while two other directors to take note of are Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and Satoshi Kon
(Paprika).
Pioneers of Japanese Cinema

Of course, we cannot give full credit to few personalities as the pioneers of national cinema
movements. Yashujiro Ozu's names, Kaneto Shindo, Koji Wakamatsu, Nagisa Oshima, Kon
Ichikawa, Shohei Imamura, Takeshi Kitano and more which I discovered during the research
of the project, and I have not seen all of their movies. I am biased towards Akira Kurosawa
and Hayao Miyazaki as I have personally seen their films I love from my heart.
Akira Kurosawa
Many consider Kurosawa as one of the influential people in not only Japanese Cinema but
around the world. Kurosawa made his debut in the film industry in 1936 and made his
directorial debut in 1943 with Shansiro Sugata. Kurosawa left his mark on American Cinema
by influencing George Lucas's epic science fiction Star wars from Akira's Hidden fortress.
European Cinema has character if American film is full of action, as Kurosawa's work
showed, making Japanese movies rich in mood and atmosphere. Kurosawa's movie presented
characters in nature and raised issues like the universal topic concerning basic humanity.
However, how the story is told and seen is a brand its identity to the worldwide stage. Even
though unique to Japanese culture, his work has a relatability to the person who doesn't even
know what and how is Japanese culture. His detailed work, there is a lot one can learn only
through watching his movies.
Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki is renowned for creating enchanting worlds in his animated films. He
became a freelancer at an early age, produced Future Boy Conan, and directed his first
theatrical animated film, The Castle of Cagliostro. In 1984, along with Isao Takahata, Toshio
Suzuki and Yasuyoshi Tokum co-founded Studio Ghibli. Since then, he has directed
numerous notable animated films such as My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service,
Howl’s Moving Castle, The Wind Rises, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. All his
movies have an environment-conscious approach; his style has a soothing, relaxing nature.
We can say that every frame in his films is a masterpiece in itself.
Conclusion
The Japanese film, which was among the last to achieve an individual flavour, is now the
latest to retain this individuality. It continues to show, for all who care to see, the perfect
reflection of a people in the history of world cinema. This profile of Japan is easy to catch;
the likeness is unmistakable yet challenging to define. In the broadest of generalizations, it
might be this: if the American film is most robust in action, and if the European is most
substantial, then the Japanese Cinema is richest in mood or atmosphere, in presenting
characters in their surroundings. The relationship between humans and their nature of
surroundings is the continual theme of the Japanese film, accurately reflecting the oneness
with nature that is both the triumph and the escape of the Japanese people. I have personally
listed down many Japanese movies which I am going to watch. There is something unique
and mesmerizing about Japanese Cinema which makes a person curious about it.

Japanese Cinema

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Japanese Cinema

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Introduction

The Beginnings of Japanese Cinema

Japanese war cinema

Pioneers of Japanese Cinema

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