was a Japanese

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Career

Morisaki was born in

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

and graduated from

Kyoto University , or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...

. After editing the film magazine ''Jidai Eiga'', he joined the

Shochiku is a Japanese entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed '' kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establis ...

studio in 1956. Moving from the Kyoto to Ofuna Studio, he wrote screenplays for

Yoji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy ('' The Twilight Samurai'', '' The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography Yamada was born in Osaka, but due to his father' ...

's comedies and made his directorial debut in 1969 with ''Woman Can't Be Beaten''. Known for his earthy, acerbic comedy, he also directed one episode of the ''

Otoko wa Tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō Kuruma, whose nickname is , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "''Tora-san''" by its fans. Spanning 48 installments rel ...

'' series. Turning freelance in 1975, he continued to make films. His last film, '' Pecoross' Mother and Her Days'' (2013), was made when he was 86 years old. He died on 16 July 2020 of a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

at a hospital in

Chigasaki, Kanagawa is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 242,798 and a population density of 6800 people per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography The city is located on the eastern bank of the Sagami R ...

Awards

Morisaki was given a best new artist award in the film category of the

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The age ...

's Geijutsu Senshō art awards for 1970, and then received the Minister of Education's award in the 2004 Geijutsu Senshō. He also received a special grand award for his career at the 25th

Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremony held in Yokohama, Japan. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year and various awards are given to personnel. The first festival, held on February 3, 1980, was a small affair by fans and film critics. In 1994, ...

in 1994. '' Pecoross' Mother and Her Days'' was selected as the best film of 2013 in the critics' polls conducted by both the ''

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

'' and ''Eiga Geijutsu'' magazines.

Selected filmography

*''Woman Can't Be Beaten'' (1969) *'' Tora-san, His Tender Love'' (1970) *''Stray Dog'' (1973) *'' Time and Tide'' (1983) *''Location'' (1984) *''The Nuclear Gypsies'' (1985) *''Guys Who Never Learn'' (1987) *''The Great Department Store Robbery'' (1987) *''Tsuribaka Nisshi Special'' (1994) *''

Oishinbo is a long-running Japanese cooking manga series written by Tetsu Kariya and drawn by . The manga's title is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "delicious", , and the word for someone who loves to eat, . The series depicts the adventur ...

'' (1996) *''Love Letter'' (1998) *''Chicken Is Barefoot'' (2004) *'' Pecoross' Mother and Her Days'' (2013)

Bibliography

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References

External links

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Interview

Directors Guild of Japan The is a trade union created to represent the interests of film directors in the film industry in Japan. It was founded in 1936, with Minoru Murata serving as the first president, and has continued to this day apart from a period between 1943 an ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morisaki, Azuma Japanese film directors 1927 births 2020 deaths Japanese screenwriters People from Nagasaki Prefecture Kyoto University alumni Writers from Nagasaki Prefecture