Kihachi Okamoto
Born	(1924-02-17)February 17, 1924 Yonago,Tottori,Japan
Died	February 19, 2005(2005-02-19) (aged 81) Kawasaki,Kanagawa,Japan
Occupation(s)	Film director,screenwriter

Kihachi Okamoto (岡本 喜八,Okamoto Kihachi; February 17, 1924 – February 19, 2005) was aJapanesefilm director who worked in several differentgenres.

Born inYonago, Okamoto attendedMeiji University, but was drafted into the Air Force 1943 and enteredWorld War II, an experience that had a profound effect on his later film work, one third of which dealt with war.^[1][2] Finally graduating after the war, he entered theToho studies in 1947 and worked as an assistant under such directors asMikio Naruse,Masahiro Makino,Ishirō Honda, andSenkichi Taniguchi.^[1] He made his debut as a director in 1958 withAll About Marriage.^[3]

Okamoto directed almost 40 films and wrote the scripts for at least 24, in a career that spanned almost six decades. He worked in a variety of genres, but most memorably in action genres such as thejidaigeki andwar films. He was known for making films with a twist.^[4] Inspired to become a filmmaker after watchingJohn Ford'sStagecoach,^[3] he would insert elements of the Western in war films likeDesperado Outpost (1959) andWestward Desperado (1960), and eventually even filmed his own samurai Western inEast Meets West (1995).^[1][2] A fan of musicals, he made over-the-top films such asOh Bomb ^[ja] (1964), a gangsterNoh musical, andDixieland Daimyo (1986), about jazz musicians enteringBakumatsu Japan. Over all, he took on "a very rhythmic approach to filming and editing action sequences. Carefully timed placement of sound effects and music combined with camera movement and movement within the frame to form a very rhythmic, almost musical whole."^[1] His basically critical stance towards Japanese society led him to often pursue satire and black comedy, with hisThe Age of Assassins (1967) becoming so dark and absurd, Toho initially refused to release it.^[4]

Okamoto could also be serious. His samurai films, such asSamurai Assassin (1965), starringToshiro Mifune, about a group of 19th century political agitators planning to kill an important government official,The Sword of Doom (1966), orKill! (1968), were often critical ofbushidō andTokugawa period Japan.^[1] Yet he approached this critique from his own perspective. Toho entrusted him with the epicJapan's Longest Day (1968), a cinematic version of what happened to official Japan at the end of the war, but the next year he also madeThe Human Bullet forArt Theatre Guild, a more personal and satirical vision of an everyman's experience ofWorld War II.^[4] To pursue some of his projects, Okamoto formed Okamoto Productions. His wife, Mineko Okamoto, often worked as producer on his later works.^[4]

He won the 1992Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year forRainbow Kids.^[5] AlongsideAkira Kurosawa, Okamoto was also a candidate for directing the Japanese sequences forTora! Tora! Tora! (1970) but insteadKinji Fukasaku andToshio Masuda were chosen.^{[citation needed]}

On February 19, 2005, just two days after his 81st birthday, Okamoto died at home fromesophageal cancer.

A photograph of Okamoto was used to portray the character of Goro Maki in the 2016 filmShin Godzilla, which was directed byHideaki Anno, a self-professed fan of Okamoto.

• Shin Godzilla (2016) as Goro Maki (stock photo double)

• Kihachi Okamoto atIMDb
• Kihachi Okamoto at theJapanese Movie Database(in Japanese)

• 1924 births
• 2005 deaths
• Deaths from esophageal cancer in Japan
• People from Yonago, Tottori
• Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners
• Japanese film directors
• Samurai film directors
• Japanese military personnel of World War II

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from June 2011
• Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja)