Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema

by Jasper Sharp

The cinema of Japan predates that of Russia, China, and India, and it has been able to sustain itself without outside assistance for over a century. Japanese cinema's long history of production and considerable output has seen films made in a variety of genres, including melodramas, romances, gangster movies, samurai movies, musicals, horror films, and monster films. It has also produced some of the most famous names in the history of Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki, Beat Takeshi, Toshirô Mifune, Godzilla , The Ring , Akira , Rashomon , and Seven Samurai .

The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema is an introduction to and overview of the long history of Japanese cinema. It aims to provide an entry point for those with little or no familiarity with the subject, while it is organized so that scholars in the field will also be able to use it to find specific information. This is done through a detailed chronology, an introductory essay, and appendixes of films, film studios, directors, and performers. The cross-referenced dictionary entries cover key films, genres, studios, directors, performers, and other individuals. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Japanese cinema.

564 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Jasper Sharp was born in and raised in the rural idyll of Devon, England, though has subsequently gone on to live in Montreal, Amsterdam, Finland, and Tokyo and has travelled extensively over four different continents. As well as curating the Japanese program of London's Raindance Film Festival, his writings on film have appeared in publications all over the world, from the US to Russia to Taiwan, including Variety, SFX, Film International and 3d World. He has also worked as a computer programmer on the Douglas Adams game Starship Titanic.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was extremely disappointed when I received and started to consult this "dictionary" as it failed in almost every respect to satisfy what you would normally expect from a dictionary. The main section of the book contains broad themes and only the most important and already well known directors. At the back of the book there is a list of directors and of films which are mentioned (somewhere) in the text but as there are no page references there is no way to locate where they are referred to or what is said. This, for me at least (and I imagine for most others too), renders the book completely useless. Two examples: Firstly, Heinosuke Gosho has no entry in the main section of the book but is listed at the back. A director of acclaimed films through over fifty years and famed for being the first Japanese director of 'sound' film but no way to find this information in the book except by guesswork about which section(s) he might be mentioned in. Secondly, Shinji Somai, who directed films between 1980 and 2000, is someone who Jasper Sharp himself has lamented as not being known in the West and questioning why, but again he has no entry in the main body of the text and in this case it would be even more difficult to guess in which section he might be referred to. Given the extortionate price of this book, an interested reader would do far better looking at the alternatives. For example, for approximately a third of the price of this you could purchase *both* the following: Alexander Jacoby's excellent Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors AND Donald Richie's Hundred Years of Japanese Film. The only advantage of Jasper Sharp's "dictionary" is the lengthy Bibliography but this would be of interest to a small minority and unless you are part of this minority I recommend that you avoid this very disappointing book.