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新藤兼人, by 朝日新聞社 – 『アサヒグラフ』 1948年2月11日号,

Top 10 Amazing facts about Kaneto Shindo

Kaneto was born in 1912 in the Saeki District of Hiroshima Prefecture. He was the fourth born of the family. His family was the prosperous land owner until his dad was declared bankrupt after acting as a loan guarantor. His parents later became the backbreaking labor of wheat-harvesting and the grueling job of threshing by hand with primitive implements. His sibling went to find work. Later in life became a film director screenwriter film producer and writer. His mother died in his early childhood.

Shindo was one of the pioneers of independent film production in Japan, co-founding his own film company Kindai Eiga Kyokai with director Yoshimura and actor Taiji Tonoyama in 1950. He continued working as a screenwriter, director and author until close to his death at the age of 100.

1.He was inspired by Sadao Yamakas                                                    

Shindo went to live with his brother in 1933 and was inspired by Sadao Yamakas’ film Bangaku No IssnA to start a career in the film industry. To support this dream career he saved by working in a bicycle shop and in 1934 after a long wait he got a job in the film development department of Shinko Kinema. One of the funny facts about getting this job was that he was too short to join the lighting department. He was among the 11 workers in the developing department, amongst them only three of them worked, the others were members of the company baseball team

2.Shindo as an art director

In the year 1935 November, Shinko Kinema moved from Kyoto to Tokyo and many of the staff resisted moving. Sadao who had inspired Shindo to join the film industry and had helped him get the job in the department was one of them who didn’t want to move. He asked Shindo to take his place and that’s how he got his job in the art department run by Hiroshi Mizutani. As an art director, Shindo trained under a local artist. He was talented n sketching which he used in scouting locations, as cameras were not mainly used in those days. As an art director he realized many people wanted that position and instead of compensation from them, he figured out he could be a successful screenwriter.

3.Years as a screenwriter

新藤兼人, by 朝日新聞社 – 『アサヒグラフ』 1948年2月11日号,

As any other person faces challenges when trying something new, Shindo faced so many. His first scripts were rejected and criticized by friends. But he never gave up. He submitted a script called Tsuchi O Ushinatta Hyakusho, it was about a farmer who lost him due to the construction of a dam. The script was acquiesced to the film magazine and won a prize of 100yen. However, the script was not filmed. In his late 30s, he worked as an assistant to Kenji on several films, as an art director, and a chief assistant director on the 47Ronin. He would write scripts and submit them to Mizoguchi only for him to reject them and say that he is not talented.

4.Shindo’s Awards.

Shindo has made many award-winnings in the industry. In 1961 he won a grand prize at the 2nd Moscow international film festival for the Naked Island, in 1964 grand prize at the Panama film festival for Onibaba, and in 1971 Golden prize at the 7th Moscow International Film Festival for Live today, Die tomorrow, 1998 Person of cultural merit, 1999 Golden St. George at the 21st Moscow International Film Festival for a will to live, 2002 Order of Culture and 2003 Japan Academy lifetime achievement award.

5. He was happily married twice

He married Takako kuji in 1939 and she died of tuberculosis in 1943. In 1946 he married Miyo Shindo via an arranged marriage in the year and she later passed in the year 1978. Nobuko Otowa 1978-1994. He had two children Jiro Shindo and Ginko Shindo. One grandchild Kaze Shindo

6.He described himself as a socialist

新藤兼人, by 朝日新聞社 – 『アサヒグラフ』 1948年2月11日号,

The most commonly used themes in Shindo’s work include social criticism of poverty, women, and sexuality. He described himself so many times as a socialist. Most of his political films are a reflection of the condition of japan after World War II and improvised childhood. After World War II in Japan, many agricultural farmers were affected. They moved to cities and threw themselves into new precarious lives. His style of camera work came from his intentions to conquer such uneasiness by depicting the persistence and perseverance of farmers. Shindo says that he saw the film as “an art of montage” which consist of dialectic or interaction between the movement and the non-movement of the image.

7.He achieved an international success

Shindo and his friend Kindai Eiga Kyokai were so close to being bankrupt that Shindo poured out the little finances he had left into a film Naked Island, a film that was more of a dialogue and tries to capture how human beings struggle like ants against the forces of nature. 

8.Shindo’s best-known films

His best-known films as a director are the children of Hiroshima, The naked Island, Onibaba, Kurunuka, and last note, will to live, and By player amongst many of them. He had directed 48 films and wrote 238 scripts.

9.His ashes were scattered on the Sukune Island

According to his son, he died of a natural cause death on 29th May 2012. He was talking in his sleep about a new project film. He was 100years when he passed on. Before he had passed on the requested his ashes be scattered on the Sukune Island where The Naked Island was filmed.

10. His company was saved his film

新藤兼人, by 朝日新聞社 – 『アサヒグラフ』 1948年2月11日号,

Then film saved Shindo’s Company when it was awarded the grand prize at the 2nd Moscow international film festival in 1961. This was his first trip abroad to attend the Moscow film festival after so many years of trying and his scripts being rejected. It was during this trip that he was able to sell the film to 61 countries. In 1968, Shindo made the film Kuroneko, a horror film reminiscent of Onibaba. The film won the Mainichi Film Award for best actress and best cinematography in that same year.