Masaki Kobayashi

Masaki Kobayashi

Masaki Kobayashi (February 14, 1916–October 4, 1996) was a Japanese director. Among his films is Kwaidan (1965), a collection of four ghost stories drawn from the book by Lafcadio Hearn, each of which has a surprise ending. Kobayashi also directed The Human Condition, a trilogy on the effects of World War II on a Japanese pacifist and socialist. The total length of the films is over 9 hours. Other notable films include Harakiri (1962) and Samurai Rebellion (1967). Harakiri won him an award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, solidifying his place in the history of cinema. In 1969, he was a member of the jury at the 19th Berlin International Film Festival. He was also a candidate for directing the Japanese sequences for Tora! Tora! Tora!, once Akira Kurosawa left the film. But instead Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda were chosen. Kobayashi, himself a pacifist, was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, but refused to fight and refused promotion to a rank higher than private. Description above from the Wikipedia article Masaki Kobayashi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

  • Title: Masaki Kobayashi
  • Popularity: 3.763
  • Known For: Directing
  • Birthday: 1916-02-14
  • Place of Birth: Otaru, Hokkaidō, Japan
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Масаки Кобаяси, 小林正树, 고바야시 마사키, 코바야시 마사키, 마사키 고바야시, 마사키 코바야시
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Masaki Kobayashi Movies

  • 1993
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    Masaki Kobayashi on 'The Human Condition'

    Masaki Kobayashi on 'The Human Condition'

    1 1993 HD

    In this 1993 video interview, filmed for the Directors Guild of Japan at Tokyo’s Haiyuza Theatre, director Masaki Kobayashi talks to fellow...

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  • 1965
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    Kwaidan

    Kwaidan

    7.7 1965 HD

    Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money...

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  • 1959
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    The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

    The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

    8.1 1959 HD

    After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labor chief at a large mining operation in...

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  • 1959
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    The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

    The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

    8.1 1959 HD

    After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labor chief at a large mining operation in...

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  • 1967
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    Samurai Rebellion

    Samurai Rebellion

    8.2 1967 HD

    The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to...

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  • 1959
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    The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

    The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

    8.2 1959 HD

    Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts...

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  • 1959
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    The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

    The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

    8.2 1959 HD

    Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts...

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  • 1959
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    The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

    The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

    8.2 1959 HD

    Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts...

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  • 1961
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    The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

    The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

    8.4 1961 HD

    After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old...

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  • 1961
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    The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

    The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

    8.4 1961 HD

    After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old...

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  • 1961
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    The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

    The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

    8.4 1961 HD

    After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old...

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  • 1962
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    Harakiri

    Harakiri

    8.4 1962 HD

    Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a...

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  • 1931
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    The Revenge Champion

    The Revenge Champion

    1 1931 HD

    Lost film, directed by Tomu Uchida. This film is a very funny comedy that makes fun of the moral code of the samurai Bushido, which has become...

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  • 1971
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    Inn of Evil

    Inn of Evil

    6.3 1971 HD

    The story takes place in feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world was strictly prohibited. An idealist suddenly appears in an...

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  • 1957
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    Black River

    Black River

    6.9 1957 HD

    A university student moves into an apartment building and becomes involved with a waitress. The landlord then attempts to evict the tenants and sell...

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  • 1978
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    Glowing Autumn

    Glowing Autumn

    1 1978 HD

    A very beautiful Japanese woman is in love with Persian carpets. She is being chased by lecherous Saburi Shin and a handsome young photographer....

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  • 1956
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    I Will Buy You

    I Will Buy You

    7 1956 HD

    A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising athlete to the baseball team the Toyko Flowers.

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  • 1956
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    Fountainhead

    Fountainhead

    5.8 1956 HD

    A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.

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  • 1983
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    Tokyo Trial

    Tokyo Trial

    6.4 1983 HD

    One of the major documentaries on a specific chapter in modern Japanese history, this look at the trial of Japanese militarists accused of war crimes...

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  • 1983
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    Tokyo Trial

    Tokyo Trial

    6.4 1983 HD

    One of the major documentaries on a specific chapter in modern Japanese history, this look at the trial of Japanese militarists accused of war crimes...

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  • 1952
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    Youth of the Son

    Youth of the Son

    6.4 1952 HD

    The story of a father and two teenaged sons, and the rivalry between the two siblings as they begin to discover the attraction of girls.

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  • 1953
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    Sincere Heart

    Sincere Heart

    6.2 1953 HD

    A young student falls into a hopeless romantic attraction to a sick girl, whom he can only see from afar.

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  • 1956
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    The Thick-Walled Room

    The Thick-Walled Room

    7.1 1956 HD

    A group of rank-and-file Japanese soldiers are jailed for crimes against humanity, themselves victims of a nation refusing to bear its burdens as a...

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  • 1962
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    The Inheritance

    The Inheritance

    7.2 1962 HD

    On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts are...

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  • 1954
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    Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky

    Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky

    6 1954 HD

    This drama of middle-class life in postwar Japan tells the story lower-middle-class workers in the city of Kawasaki, and their troubles and travails.

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  • 1968
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    Hymn to a Tired Man

    Hymn to a Tired Man

    7.8 1968 HD

    Zensaku, middle-aged and deaf in one ear, learns that his son's fallen for the daughter of a war officer responsible for the maiming.

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  • 1965
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    Tokyo Olympiad

    Tokyo Olympiad

    7.8 1965 HD

    This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual competitive...

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  • 1955
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    Beautiful Days

    Beautiful Days

    6.7 1955 HD

    Masaki Kobayashi directs this romantic drama concerning a family of florists.

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  • 1985
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    The Empty Table

    The Empty Table

    5.3 1985 HD

    One year has passed since the Kidojis' eldest son Otohiko was arrested for his part in a terrorist kidnapping, which resulted in multiple deaths....

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  • 1949
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    Broken Drum

    Broken Drum

    6.7 1949 HD

    When the future of his construction company falls into danger, a controlling father pushes his children into unsatisfying marriages and careers in...

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  • 1975
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    The Fossil

    The Fossil

    6.5 1975 HD

    An industrialist is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He is on a trip to Europe at the time, and a glimpse of a Japanese woman in that setting causes...

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  • 2000
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    Dora-heita

    Dora-heita

    5.1 2000 HD

    A new magistrate in the town of Horisoto—widely reputed to be the most lawless township in Japan, uses guile and his opponents' own...

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  • 1962
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    The Inheritance

    The Inheritance

    7.2 1962 HD

    On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts are...

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  • 1949
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    Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1

    Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1

    6.7 1949 HD

    Iemon Tamiya is an impoverished masterless samurai who craves a better life, which he cannot have because of his marriage to Oiwa, who is completely...

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  • 1951
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    Carmen Comes Home

    Carmen Comes Home

    6.2 1951 HD

    A rural village elder plans an event on the return of a farmer's daughter from the city, unaware that she has become a Westernized burlesque artist.

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  • 1948
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    Apostasy

    Apostasy

    5.8 1948 HD

    In the Meiji period, a schoolteacher tries to hide his lower-class upbringing as he supports a visiting liberal intellectual.

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  • 1948
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    The Portrait

    The Portrait

    6 1948 HD

    The mistress of a crook real estate broker comes to terms with her soulless existence after an artist paints her portrait.

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  • 1949
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    Broken Drum

    Broken Drum

    6.7 1949 HD

    When the future of his construction company falls into danger, a controlling father pushes his children into unsatisfying marriages and careers in...

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  • 1954
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    Three Loves

    Three Loves

    6 1954 HD

    In a mountain village, Heita, a translator's son, is a gifted boy but is shunned by the villagers. He can imitate birds' cry and befriends another...

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  • 1954
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    Three Loves

    Three Loves

    6 1954 HD

    In a mountain village, Heita, a translator's son, is a gifted boy but is shunned by the villagers. He can imitate birds' cry and befriends another...

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  • 1985
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    The Empty Table

    The Empty Table

    5.3 1985 HD

    One year has passed since the Kidojis' eldest son Otohiko was arrested for his part in a terrorist kidnapping, which resulted in multiple deaths....

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  • 1970
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    Dodes'ka-den

    Dodes'ka-den

    7 1970 HD

    This film follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their...

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  • 1970
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    5.9 1970 HD

    Ryou Mizuhara is a normal high school student, living alone with his younger sister Akane. They were very happy together, at least until a mysterious...

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