was a Japanese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

who was one of the major directors of the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

in Japan.

Career

Born in Tokyo, Murata started out as a

shingeki was a leading form of theatre in Japan that was based on modern realism. Born in the early years of the 20th century, it sought to be similar to modern Western theatre, putting on the works of the ancient Greek classics, William Shakespeare, Moli ...

actor on the stage. Murata's troupe appeared in the first " pure films" directed by

Norimasa Kaeriyama (1 March 1893 – 6 November 1964) was a pioneering Japanese film director and film theorist. Biography Beginning with articles he submitted to Yoshizawa Shōten's magazine ''Katsudō shashinkai'' while still a student, Kaeriyama develope ...

at Tenkatsu in 1918. On the recommendation of the playwright

Kaoru Osanai was a Japanese theater director, playwright, and actor central in the development of modern Japanese theater. Biography Kaoru Osanai was born on July 26, 1881, in Hiroshima, the second son of Director of Hiroshima Army Garrison Hospital, Takeshi ...

, he then joined

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not ...

in 1920 and participated in the actors school Osanai ran there. He ended up directing '' Souls on the Road'' (1921), a ground breaking reformist film that is one of the few films surviving from that era. Murata later moved to

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, literal ...

, where he directed such critical hits as '' Seisaku's Wife'' (1924) and '' The Street Juggler'' (1925) which were "important in establishing the form of Japanese films about contemporary life." He later worked at Shinkō Kinema. He started up the important journal, ''Eiga kagaku kenkyū'', in 1928 with

Kiyohiko Ushihara was a Japanese film director most famous for his gendaigeki of the silent era. Career Born in Kumamoto Prefecture and graduating from Tokyo University, Ushihara joined the Shochiku studio in 1920 on the invitation of Kaoru Osanai. Starting out ...

, and helped found the

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 and ...

in 1936, becoming its first president. Often battling illness, he died suddenly in 1937.

Selected filmography

As actor

*''

The Glow of Life is a Japanese film directed by Norimasa Kaeriyama made in 1918 and released in 1919 by Tenkatsu. It is considered the first in a series of films aimed at reforming and modernizing Japanese cinema. Plot A country girl Teruko falls in love with ...

'' (1918)

As director

* '' Souls on the Road'' (路上の霊魂 Rojō no reikon) (1921) * '' Seisaku's Wife'' (清作の妻 Seisaku no Tsuma) (1924) * '' The Street Juggler'' (街の手品師 Machi no tejinashi) (1925) * '' Nichirin'' (日輪 The Sun) (1926) * '' Muteki'' (霧笛 The Foghorn) (1934)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murata, Minoru Japanese film directors Japanese male actors 1894 births 1937 deaths People from Tokyo Silent film directors 20th-century Japanese screenwriters