kurahara koreyoshi

[Roland Domenig]

papers reported today the death of film director kurahara koreyoshi.
kurahara made his debut in 1957 with the film ORE WA MATTERU ZE starring
teenager idol ishihara yujiro with whom he continued to make a series of
action movies among them the masterly NIKUI ANCHIKUSHO (1962). after leaving
nikkatsu he made several films about animals such as KITAKIZUNE MONOGATARI
(the glacier fox, 1979) and NANKYOKU MONOGATARI (antarctica, 1983) that
became big box-office hits and that earned kurahara the reputation of a
hit-maker. NANKYOKU MONOGATARI headed the list of the highest grossing
japanese films until it was topped by miyazaki's MONONOKEHIME and SEN TO
CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSHI. after making STRAWBERRY ROAD in 1991 kurahara
retired from the film business, but in 1995 directed again the US-TV-feature
HIROSHIMA together with roger spottiswoode. kurahara died on december 28,
2002 of pneumonia at the age of 75.

kurahara koretsugu, kurahara koreyoshi's younger brother, was also a film
director, making mostly roman porno for nikkatsu.


roland domenig
institute of east asian studies
vienna university