Juzo Itami
伊丹 十三
Itami in 1992
Born	Yoshihiro Ikeuchi (池内 義弘) (1933-05-15)May 15, 1933 Kyoto, Japan
Died	December 20, 1997(1997-12-20) (aged 64) Tokyo, Japan
Occupations	Film director screenwriter actor
Years active	1960–1997
Spouses	Kazuko Kawakita ​ ​ (m. 1960; div. 1966)​ Nobuko Miyamoto (1969–1997) [a]
Children	Mansaku Ikeuchi [ja] (son)
Father	Mansaku Itami
Relatives	Hikari Ōe (nephew)

Juzo Itami (伊丹 十三,Itami Jūzō), bornYoshihiro Ikeuchi (池内 義弘,Ikeuchi Yoshihiro; May 15, 1933 – December 20, 1997), was a Japanese actor, screenwriter andfilm director. He directed eleven films (one short and ten features), all of which he wrote himself.

He is the namesake of theJuzo Itami Award, founded in 2009 to honor his legacy.

Itami was born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi inKyoto.^[1] The name Itami was passed on from his father,Mansaku Itami, a renowned satirist and film director beforeWorld War II. In his childhood, he went by the name Takehiko Ikeuchi (池内 岳彦).^[2]

At the end of the war, in Kyoto, Itami was chosen as a prodigy and educated in aTokubetsu Kagaku Gakkyū [ja] ("special scientific education class"), where he began to be trained as a future scientist who was expected to defeat the Allied powers. Among his fellow students were the sons ofHideki Yukawa andSin-Itiro Tomonaga. The program was abolished in March 1947.^[3][4][5]

He moved from Kyoto toEhime Prefecture when he was a high school student. He attended the prestigiousMatsuyama Higashi High School, where he was known for being able to read works byArthur Rimbaud in French. Due to his poor academic record, he had to remain in the same class for two years; it was here that he became acquainted withKenzaburō Ōe, who later married his sister.

When he was unable to graduate from Matsuyama Higashi High School, he transferred to Matsuyama Minami High School and graduated thereafter.^{[citation needed]} After failing the entrance exam for the College of Engineering atOsaka University, Itami worked at times as a commercial designer and writer, illustrator, television reporter, and essayist.^[6] He was also the editor-in-chief for the 1980s psychoanalytic magazineMon Oncle.^[7][8]

In his early acting days, Itami lived in London. By the time he became a director, he spoke English near-flawlessly, although preferred to use an interpreter during interviews.^[9]

Itami was the brother-in-law of Kenzaburō Ōe and an uncle ofHikari Ōe.

Itami studied acting at an acting school called Butai Geijutsu Gakuin in Tokyo. In January 1960 he joinedDaiei Film and was given the stage nameItami Ichizō (伊丹 一三) byMasaichi Nagata. In May 1960, Itami marriedKazuko Kawakita ^[ja], the daughter of film producerNagamasa Kawakita. He first acted on screen inGinza no Dora-Neko (1960). In 1961 he left Daiei and started to appear in foreign-language films such as55 Days at Peking. In 1965 he appeared in the big-budget Anglo-American filmLord Jim. In 1965 he published a book of essays which became a hit,Yoroppa Taikutsu Nikki ("Diary of Boredom in Europe"). In 1966 he and Kazuko agreed to divorce.

In 1967, when working with directorNagisa Ōshima on the set ofSing a Song of Sex (Nihon Shunka Kō) he metNobuko Miyamoto. He and Miyamoto married in 1969 and had two sons in the following years.^[10] Around this time, he changed his stage name to "伊丹 十三" (Itami Jūzō) with the kanji "十" (ten) rather than "一" (one), and with 十三 meaning "thirteen", and worked as a character actor in film and television.

In 1968 he played Saburo Ishihara, the father of Takeshi and Koji during the second season of the children's seriesCometto-san. He became well known for this role in many Spanish-speaking countries, along with Yumiko Kokonoe who played the lead role.

In the 1970s, he joined the TV Man Union television production company and produced and presented documentaries for television, which influenced his later career as a film director. He also worked as a reporter for a TV program calledAfternoon Show.

In 1983, Itami played the father in bothYoshimitsu Morita'sThe Family Game and inKon Ichikawa'sThe Makioka Sisters, roles for which he won theHochi Film Award and Best Supporting Actor at theYokohama Film Festival.

Along with his acting career, he translated several English books into Japanese, includingPapa, You're Crazy byWilliam Saroyan,The Kitchen Sink Papers: My Life as a Househusband byMike McGrady, andThe Potato Book by Myrna Davis andTruman Capote.^[11][12]

Itami's debut as director was the movieThe Funeral (Osōshiki) in 1984, at the age of 51. This film proved popular in Japan and won many awards, includingJapanese Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. However, it was his second movie, the 1985 comedy film, or self-described "noodle western"Tampopo, that earned him international exposure and acclaim.^[13]

His following filmA Taxing Woman (1987) was again highly successful. It won six major Japanese Academy awards and spawned a sequelA Taxing Woman's Return in 1988. The central character, played by his wifeNobuko Miyamoto who appeared in all his films, became a pop culture heroine.^[14] This was followed by his fifth filmA-Ge-Man: Tales of a Golden Geisha.

Itami directed the anti-yakuza satireMinbo: the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion as his sixth feature. On May 22, 1992, six days after the release of the film, Itami was attacked, beaten, and slashed on the face by five members of theGoto-gumi, aShizuoka-basedyakuza clan, who were angry at Itami's film's portrayal of gang members. In an interview with theNew York Times, he described the attack, saying, "They cut very slowly; they took their time. They could have killed me if they wanted."^[15] This attack led to a government crackdown on theyakuza.^[15]

His subsequent stay in a hospital inspired his next filmDaibyonin (1993), a grim satire on the Japanese health system.^[16] During a showing of this film in Japan, a cinema screen was slashed by a right-wing protester.^[17]

Before his death, he directed another three films:A Quiet Life (based on the Kenzaburō Ōe novel),Supermarket Woman, andWoman in Witness Protection.

Itami frequently re-cast actors whom he had worked with on previous films.

Itami died on December 20, 1997^[18] inTokyo after falling from the roof of the building where his office was located. On his desk was found a suicide note written on a word processor^[19] stating that he had been falsely accused of an affair and was taking his life to clear his name. Two days later, a tabloid magazine published a report of such an affair.^[20]

However, no one in Itami's family believed that he would have taken his life or that he would be mortally embarrassed by a real or alleged affair. In 2008, a former member of theGoto-gumiyakuza group told reporterJake Adelstein: "We set it up to stage his murder as a suicide. We dragged him up to the rooftop and put a gun in his face. We gave him a choice: jump and you might live or stay and we'll blow your face off. He jumped. He didn't live."^[21][22] The attack is thought to have been due to the topic of Itami's next film, which was rumored to have been focusing on connections between the Goto-gumi and the cult-likeSoka Gakkai religious group.^[23]

His brother-in-law and childhood friend Kenzaburō Ōe wroteThe Changeling (2000) based on their relationship.^[24]

There is a Juzo Itami museum inMatsuyama. The memorial museum was designed by architect Yoshifumi Nakamura and contains a special exhibition, rotating its displays every 1–2 years, a permanent exhibition, divided up into thirteen sections to reflect the "thirteen" meaning of Itami's name, and an outdoor courtyard. It also houses a cafe named "Café Tampopo" after the film.^[2][25]

• 1985Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year—The Funeral
• 1988 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year—A Taxing Woman

• Juzo Itami atIMDb
• Juzo Itami at theJapanese Movie Database(in Japanese)
• Juzo Itami's grave
• Itami Juzo Museum(in Japanese)
• Juzo Itami atRotten Tomatoes

• 1933 births
• 1997 deaths
• 20th-century Japanese male actors
• Critics of Sōka Gakkai
• Male actors from Kyoto
• Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners
• Japanese film directors
• Japanese male film actors
• Japanese male television actors
• Japanese satirists
• Japanese comedy film directors
• Japanese satirical film directors
• Suicides by jumping in Japan
• Yakuza film directors
• 1997 suicides

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