was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Career

Born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

, Miyagawa was taken with sumi-e Chinese ink painting from the age of eleven and began to sell his work as an illustrator while a teenager. He became interested in the cinema during the 1920s, particularly admiring the German Expressionist silents. He joined the

Nikkatsu is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...

film company in 1926 after graduating from Kyoto Commercial School. He began as a laboratory technician before becoming an assistant cameraman. Miyagawa is best known for his tracking shots, particularly those in ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/ crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura as v ...

'' (1950), the first of his three collaborations with filmmaker

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

. The other films with Kurosawa were '' Yojimbo'' (1961) and ''

Kagemusha is a 1980 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate the dying ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords fr ...

'' (1980). He also worked on multiple films directed by

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Ugets ...

, including ''

Ugetsu , is a 1953 Japanese historical drama and fantasy film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi starring Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō. It is based on two stories in Ueda Akinari's 1776 book of the same name, combining elements of the '' jidaigeki'' ( ...

'' (1953), but only on a single

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

production, '' Floating Weeds'' (1959). He oversaw 164 cameramen for

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary '' Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won ...

's ''

Tokyo Olympiad ''Tokyo Olympiad'', also known in Japan as , is a 1965 Japanese documentary film directed by Kon Ichikawa which documents the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Like Leni Riefenstahl's '' Olympia'', which documented the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berli ...

'' (1965), a documentary which necessitated the development of new exposure meters and viewfinders. Earlier, he had worked with Ichikawa on the drama films, ''

Enjō is a 1958 Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa and adapted from the Yukio Mishima novel '' The Temple of the Golden Pavilion''. Its English title is ''Conflagration''. Synopsis Told in an intricate flashback structure, ''Enjō'' dramatizes ...

'' ("The Temple of the Golden Pavilion", 1958), ''

Odd Obsession is a 1959 Japanese drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It was entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize. It was based on the novel '' The Key'', by Japanese novelist Junichirō Tanizaki. Plot A man who suspects ...

'' (aka, ''The Key'', 1959) and ''The Broken Commandment'' (1962). Miyagawa worked with Masahiro Shinoda in the 1980s, and at the end of his life was supervising the director's ''

Owls' Castle is a 1999 Japanese ninja-themed jidaigeki film directed by Masahiro Shinoda. It was co-written by Shinoda and Katsuo Naruse, and stars Kiichi Nakai It is the second adaptation of Ryōtarō Shiba's 1959 novel '' Fukurō no Shiro'', the first bein ...

'' ("Fukuro no Shiro"/"Castle of Owls", 1999). Miyagawa is considered the inventor of the cinematographic technique known as

bleach bypass Bleach bypass, also known as skip bleach or silver retention, is a chemical effect which entails either the partial or complete skipping of the bleaching function during the processing of a color film. By doing this, the silver is retained in t ...

, for Ichikawa's film ''

Her Brother is a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. The film is based on the novel ''Otōto'' by Aya Koda. It was entered into the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a prize for Special Distinction. Plot 17-year-old Gen takes care ...

'' (1960).

Selected filmography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * '' Floating Weeds'' (1959) * * ''

'' (1960) * * * * * * '' A Certain Killer'' (1967) * ''

Zatoichi and the Fugitives is a 1968 Japanese ''chambara'' film directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda and starring Shintaro Katsu as the blind masseur Zatoichi. It was originally released by the Daiei Film, Daiei Motion Picture Company (later acquired by Kadokawa Pictures). ''Zato ...

'' (1968) * '' Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo'' (1970) * ''

Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival is a 1970 Japanese ''Chambara'' film directed by Kenji Misumi and starring Shintaro Katsu, who also produced and co-wrote the script. It is the twenty-first of a series of films featuring the blind swordsman Zatoichi. The protagonist, who works a ...

'' (1970) * '' Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril'' (1972) *

References

External links

* 1908 births 1999 deaths Japanese cinematographers {{Japan-film-bio-stub