Seijun Suzuki was born in Nihonbashi, Tôkyô, on May 24, 1923. In 1943,he entered the army to fight at the front. In 1946, he enrolled in thefilm department of the Kamakura Academy and passed the assistantdirector's exam. For the next few years, he worked as an assistantdirector at several studios. In 1958, he directed his first film,Minato no kanpai: Shôri o waga te ni (1956), and from then on he directed three to four films each year.WithKoroshi no rakuin (1967), he came into conflict with Hori Kyusaku, who was thepresident of Nikkatsu Studios at the time. Because of this, he wasforced to work in television the next ten years. In 1977,Hishu monogatari (1977), hisreturn to theatrically-released films, was released.