was a Japanese
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 ...
most famous for collaborating with
Yasujirō Ozu
was a Japanese filmmaker. 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 the 1930s.
The most pr ...
on many of the director's films.
Born in
Hakodate
is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of January 31, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 239,813 with 138,807 househol ...
, Noda was the son of the head of the local tax bureau and younger brother to Kyūho, a
Nihonga
''Nihonga'' () is a Japanese style of painting that typically uses mineral pigments, and occasionally ink, together with other organic pigments on silk or paper. The term was coined during the Meiji period (1868–1912) to differentiate it from ...
painter.
He moved to
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...
after completing elementary school and later went to
Waseda University
Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...
.
After graduating, he worked for the city of Tokyo while also serving as a reporter for ''
Katsudō kurabu'', one of the major film magazines, using the pen name Harunosuke Midorikawa.
On the recommendation of a scriptwriter friend from junior high,
Takashi Oda, he joined the script department at
Shōchiku
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 establishe ...
after the
Great Kantō earthquake
Great may refer to:
Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
* Artel Great (bo ...
.
He soon became one of the studio's central screenwriters, penning for instance ''
Aizen katsura'' (1938), one of its biggest pre-war hits.
He is most known for his collaborations with Ozu, which began with Noda supplying the script for the director's first feature ''
Sword of Penitence
is a 1927 Japanese silent film written and directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It is the first film directed by Ozu and was also the first of his many collaborations with screenwriter Kogo Noda. It is a lost film. No script, negative or prints survive.
...
'' (1927), and led to such postwar works as ''
Tokyo Story
is a 1953 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama, about an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children.
Upon release, it did not immediately gain international reco ...
'' (1953), regarded by many critics as one of the greatest films of all time. He co-wrote thirteen of Ozu's fifteen post-war films.
When the
Writers Association of Japan was formed in 1950, Noda served as its first chair.
Selected filmography
References
External links
Noda Kōgo's grave ''Rekishi ga nemuru Tama Reien''
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noda, Kogo
1893 births
1968 deaths
People from Hakodate
Waseda University alumni
20th-century Japanese screenwriters
Burials at Tama Cemetery