Film director. In 1920 he was hired as an assistant director at the Nikkatsu studio in Muko-jima, Asakusa. He debuted as a full-fledged director with the film Ai ni Yomigaeru Hi (The Resurrection of Love) in 1923 and moved to the Daiichi film studio in 1934 where he produced his representative works of the pre-war period, Naniwa Erejii (Naniwa Elegy) and Gion no Shimai (Sisters of the Gion), both in 1936. In the post-war period his works Saikaku Ichidai Onna (The Life of Oharu) (1952), Ugetsu Monogatari (Ugetsu) (1953) and Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff) (1954) won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival consecutively and he found himself in the limelight. Before and even after World War II, he was recognized as a renowned director who filmed strong women characters struggling in feudal society with a realistic touch.