[KineJapan] Shinoda Masahiro

[Aaron Gerow]

Probably the last great director of the Japanese New Wave, Shinoda Masahiro, has died at age 94. I probably don’t need to summarize his film career, which is known to most if not all fans of Japanese film, but I wanted to note a couple of things. 

First, that Shinoda majored in theater at Waseda (where he also ran Hakone Ekiden), and always maintained the spirit of a researcher. He was in particular interested in “kawarakojiki,” the outcast artists of the premodern era who roamed the country performing. He even published several books related to the topic:

河原者ノススメ: 死穢と修羅の記憶
路上の義経
アイドルはどこから: 日本文化の深層をえぐる

Among others. I’ve still to see much writing on Shinoda’s cinema that extensively uses this work, even though he repeatedly references older theatrical forms in his films. Shinoda’s politics are complicated, but worth investigating.

I was also lucky to meet Shinoda-kantoku on a number of occasions. The first was when Peter Grilli, who invited him to Boston, let us invite him to Yale. We showed Spy Sorge, but I remember helping Dudley Andrew tell him that Demon Pond was one of his favorite films. Shinoda was also involved in the film project at Josai University that Akira Lippet spearheaded, and that I helped with. He was always the gentleman. 

Students were just writing about Pale Flower for the midterm this term. An absolutely fascinating film by one of the great artists of Japanese cinema. RIP.

https://natalie.mu/eiga/news/617592


Aaron Gerow
Alfred W. Griswold Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Film and Media Studies
Chair, East Asian Languages and Literatures
Director of Graduate Studies, EALL (Spring 2025)
Yale University
320 York Street, Room 108
PO Box 208201
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Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6729
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
website: www.aarongerow.com