Tanaka Masumi

[Roland Domenig]

The New Year indeed started with the very sad news of Tanaka Masasumi's
death. 
Although mostly remembered for his books on Ozu, he had a much broader
interest than his publication list suggests. It's a pity that Japanese
publishers weren't more broadminded. They only wanted to publish his
Ozu-related work, but showed little interest in his other research. To me
Tanaka-san seemed like a living encyclopedia and I was always amazed about
his profound knowledge and I deeply admired his thorough and meticulous
research. We often met at the newspaper reading room at the National Diet
Library or in recent years at the library of the National Filmcenter where
he worked as a kyakuin kenkyuin or "visiting researcher" (it's a shame
they didn't employ him as a permanent staff).
His first name was actually spelled Masasumi. I remember that in the
column he wrote for Kinema Junpô in the 1990s he once was quite upset that
his name was transcribed wrongly as Masumi in a French publication about
Ozu. 
He will truly be missed.

Roland Domenig
University of Vienna

  
  



Am 01.01.12 17:38 schrieb "Aaron Gerow" unter <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>:

>Wujung reminds me of the issue of Tanaka-san's name reading. The Library
>of Congress reads 真澄 as Masumi--which is how I usually read it. But the
>Diet Library reads it as Masasumi. I seem to recall him saying "Masumi,"
>but perhaps that was a nickname and his real name was Masasumi?
>
>Aaron
>
>
>On Jan 1, 2012, at 11:20 AM, Wujung Ju wrote:
>
>> I am deeply saddened to hear about Tanaka Masasumi’s sudden death. I
>>haven’t had a chance to meet him in person (I really should have…), but
>>his enormous works including books and compilations on Ozu were great
>>influence and help for my study. May his soul rest in good peace...
>
>
>
>