Teinosuke Kinugasa

(Film Director and Actor, 1896-1982) Born in Kameyama, Mie. Kinugasa starred in films as a Shinpa Onnagata actor, then switched to directing in 1922 with “Aa, Konishi junsa” (Makino Kyoiku Eiga). He re-leased “A Page of Madness” ('26) together with Yasunari Kawabata as a Shinkankakuha film, which was to be credited as Japan’s first art film. He then helps establish the new-comer actor Chōjiro Hayashi’s (later Kazuo Hasegawa) career in Shochiku Shimogamo studio, which’s jidaigeki were mainly rough and battle-based at the time, teaching him expressions of elegance and charm, becoming a main player to advance Shochiku’s jidaigeki scene. He continued to incorporate the beauty of ancient Japanese art, archi-tecture and customs into his cinematic expressions, establishing his own stylistic beau-ty. In the period of his maturity post-war, he directed “Gate of Hell” in 1953 at Daiei Kyoto Studios, and appraised by the Honorary President of the Cannes Film Festival, Jean Cocteau, he was awarded the Grand Prize.