Synopsis
Nakadai Tatsuya on the Golden Age of Japanese Film (仲代達矢が語る日本映画黄金時代, Nakadai Tatsuya ga Kataru Nihon Eiga Ougon Jidai) is a book originally published in 2013, with a revised Definitive Edition that followed in 2017. A memoir of sorts, it is a book compiled from extensive interviews between Nakadai Tatsuya and film history researcher Kasuga Taichi.
The “Golden Age of Japanese Film” is widely considered to have taken place between the 1950s and 60s. It was during this time that the main subject of this book made his debut.
Nakadai Tatsuya. With a career spanning over six decades, now in his eighties and still as active as ever, this man —a living witness to Japanese film history —looks back on his work.
In the book, Nakadai Tatsuya talks about everything from his his first meetings and his works with renowned movie directors such as Kurosawa Akira, Okamoto Kihachi, Naruse Mikio, Gosha Hideo, Teshigahara Hiroshi, and Kobayashi Masaki, to private behind-the-scenes anecdotes and stories of the many legendary actors that he has collaborated with throughout the years. Furthermore, he discusses the ups and downs of Japanese film history, the current state of the world of cinema, and his theory as to what it truly means to be an actor.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Prologue: The Birth of Actor Nakadai Tatsuya
- Chapter One: Acting Debut and “The Human Condition”
- Chapter Two: Working with Kurosawa Akira
- Chapter Three: Kyoto Film Studios and Period Drama
- Chapter Four: Kihachi the Buddha
- Chapter Five: Naruse Mikio, Kinoshita Keisuke, and the Actresses
- Chapter Six: Expanding Overseas, Avant-Garde, The Left, Haiyuza Training School
- Chapter Seven: Gosha Hideo and the Passion of Great Actors
- Chapter Eight: Kurosawa Akira and Katsu Shintaro
- Chapter Nine: Kobayashi Masaki and the Fall of Japanese Film
- Extras ①: Present-Day Nakadai Tatsuya
- Extras ②: On the Set of “A Duel Tale”
- Conclusion
Note: If you like this book, do consider buying it.
Thank you so much for translating this book! I looked everywhere and just can’t find an English-translated version! Tatsuya Nakadai might just be my favourite actor of all time and this is certainly going to be a pleasant read. Thank you.
Hey hey. I’m glad you discovered my translation, I’ve definitely been enjoying doing it every step of the way. Look out for Chapter Seven at the end of this month!
Want to say a big THANK YOU. As I have become a serious fan of classical Japanese cinema for quite a while, it is certainly a pain when I discovered the book in Japanese–with which I unfortunately cannot read. It was such a delight to read it here and in such good translation!
Looking forward to the upcoming chapters! Much appreciated!
Hey Liu!
Sounds like you’re exactly the target audience for this translation then, ha. I’m glad you discovered older Japanese cinema, as well as this book. Hope to see you in the next chapter — just a couple more to go now!
A really interesting chapter, rendered into lively, instantly credible English. I took the liberty of posting about it on the Akira Kurosawa Fan Club group on FB. I hope you don’t mind.
Is there any chance of an E-book, or is the copyright issue too intimidating?
Hello Peter,
Thank you for the kind words. Also thanks for the plug on FB. I must admit I haven’t done a good job in promoting this project — the only places I could think to post about it were the akirakurosawa.info forums and a couple of relevant subreddits.
I’m afraid an e-book is not in the cards. I consider what I’m doing here to fall somewhere in the gray area of legality, and an e-book would be pushing it a little too far towards the wrong end of that spectrum. However, if you were asking the question just in regards to reading convenience, I believe there are free tools out there that you can use to easily convert web pages to EPUB and other e-book formats for your own personal use.
Thank you for translating it, it was really interesting to read! Nakadai Tatsuya is a legend.
Hi Isabelle. Thanks for reading. The man is a living legend indeed.