Shūji Terayama

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Shūji Terayama (December 10, 1935 – May 4, 1983) was an avant-garde Japanese poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. According to many critics and supporters, he was one of the most productive and provocative creative artists to come out of Japan. He was born December 10, 1935, the only son of Hachiro and Hatsu Terayama in Hirosaki city in the northern Japanese prefecture of Aomori. His father died at the end of Pacific War in Indonesia in September 1945. At the age of nine, his mother moved to Kyūshū to work at an American military base while he himself went to live with relatives in the city of Misawa, also in Aomori. At this same time, Terayama lived through the Aomori air raids that killed more than 30,000 people. Terayama entered Aomori Prefectural Aomori High School in 1951, and in 1954 went to prestigious Waseda University's Faculty of Education to study Japanese language and literature. However, he soon dropped out because he fell ill with nephrotic syndrome. He received his education through working in bars in Shinjuku. His oeuvre includes a number of essays claiming that more can be learned about life through boxi…

Directed

1. Pastoral: To Die in the Country (1974) — Director
2. Fruits of Passion (1981) — Director
3. Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (1971) — Director
4. Private Collections (1979) — Director
5. Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1971) — Director
6. Grass Labyrinth (1979) — Director
7. Farewell to the Ark (1984) — Director
8. Labyrinth Tale (1975) — Director
9. The Cage (1964) — Director
10. Les chants de Maldoror (1978) — Director
11. Young Person's Guide to Cinema (1974) — Director
12. Laura (1974) — Director
13. Butterfly (1974) — Director
14. The Boxer (1977) — Director
15. The Woman with Two Heads (1977) — Director
16. The Trial (1975) — Director
17. The Eraser (1977) — Director
18. The Reading Machine (1977) — Director
19. The War of Jan-Ken-Pon (1971) — Director
20. An Attempt to Describe the Measure of a Man (1978) — Director
21. Smallpox Tale (1976) — Director
22. Father (1977) — Director
23. Video Letter (1983) — Director
24. The Experimental Image World of Shuji Terayama (1993) — Director
25. Shintokumaru (1978) — Director
26. The Lemmings (1983) — Director
27. Directions to Servants (1978) — Director
28. 100 Years of Solitude (1981) — Director
29. Catology (1960) — Director
30. JRA CM (1973) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Youth in Fury (1960)
2. Pretty Devil Yoko (1966) — Imura
3. Video Letter (1983) — Self
4. Catalog of Memory (1977) — himself
5. Children of the Gods (1978) — Himself
6. Where is Tomorrow, Shuji Terayama (2017) — Himself (archive footage)
7. JRA CM (1973) — Himself
8. Shuji Terayama: #47 — Himself