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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Eiji Tsuburaya

Studio publicity photo of Eiji Tsuburaya.

Eiji Tsuburaya was born on July 7, 1901, in Sukagawa Iwase, Fukushima. He was a Japanese special effects artist. He was best known for his co-creators of the Godzilla Franchise series, as well as the main creator of the Ultra series.

He was also a cameraman who made the first use of the camera crane in a Japanese film. He was a descendant of Isamu and Sei Tsumuraya. He was born to a merchant family that manufactured rice.

When he was three years he lost his mother. This made him describe his childhood as filled with mixed emotions. His mother died when she was 18 years old, after giving birth to her second child.

He was raised by his grandmother after his father left them. He was married to Masano Araki and had three children named Hajime, Akira and Noboru.

Here are interesting facts about Eiji Tsuburaya that will take you through his background, personal life, career and achievements.

1. Eiji Lost his Mother At The Age of 3 Years

Eiji described his childhood life as filled with 鈥榳ith emotions鈥�. This is after the death of his mother.

His father who was anointed in the family through marriage left the family, and Tsuburaya and his younger brother were taken by his grandmother Natsu.

2. Eiji鈥檚 Elementary and University Education

Tsuburaya group in the special effects set of “The Last War”. From the left in the front row, Kuichiro Kishida (lighting), Eiji Tsuburaya (special effects director), Akira Watanabe (art), Fumio Nakashiro (special machinery), Masakatsu Asai (assistant director), Sadamasa Arikawa (photographing), Keiko Hisamatsu (scriptor), Park Morimoto (in charge of production), Motoyoshi Tomioka (assistant shooting). From the left in the back row, Yoichi Manoda (photographed), Shoji Ogawa (special machine), Minoru Narita (in charge of production), Shinichi Ohno (lighting assistant).

In 1 908, he attended the Dai鈥檌ch jinjo koto Elementary school in Sukagawa. In 1915 he graduated from High school. After graduating, he requested his family to let him join the Nippon flying school at Haneda.

However, the school was closed down after the accidental death of the founder, Seitaro Tamai. In 1917 he attended Tokyo Denk university.

3. He was passionate about Flying and Airplanes

Eiji Tsuburaya (July 7, 1901 鈥� January 25, 1970) was a Japanese special effects director, screenwriter, and producer. 1934 photo, on filming, set This was scanned from a public domain 1934 an old Japanese film photo.

Tsuburaya鈥檚 primary passion was flying. He had an interest in aeroplanes and flying. During his time at sugugama-chiru, his hobby was building model aeroplanes out of wood fairly, due to the sensational success of Japanese aviators.

This is an interest that he retained for the rest of his life. His interest in aviation led him to beg his family to join a flying school which he joined at the age of 14.

However, his dream crashed down after the death of the Nippon flying school founder, and the school was shut down.

4. He Got His Start in Toy Development 

After his dreams of aviation were crushed he began an engineering school and also began to work in Utsumi toy development.

It was at this time, that he got a chance to meet with the Japanese film director Yoshiro Edamadsa who offered him the chance to train him to be a motion picture cameraman.

He began his career in filmmaking at the age of 18. His first job in the film industry was cinematographer assistant at the Nihon katsudi Shashin.

He was also the head cameraman on the Hunchback of Enmeiinin. 1927 he became a full-time cameraman in Shochiku.

He began creating innovative film techniques in this period. He was the person to use the camera crane in Japanese.

5. His first film was Godzilla

Filmmaker Ishir艒 Honda and special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya on the set of Godzilla (1954).

He was the co-creator of Godzilla. It was a 1954 Japanese film, which had special effects by Eiji.

It was the first film in the Godzilla franchise. The series was produced and distributed by Toho co. ltd.

Godzilla earned 楼183 million during its original theatrical run in distributor rentals. The film is about Japan鈥檚 authorities dealing with a sudden appearance of a monster. The monster attacks trigger fear of a nuclear holocaust post-war.

6. His War Propaganda Films that Landed Him in Trouble 

Eiji Tsuburaya (far left) talks with director Frank Sinatra on the set of the 1965 war film.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, he managed to produce war films. The films he produced with special effects were for Toho鈥檚 Education Film Research Division created by decree of the imperial government.

Those wars were The imperial Way in 1938, Naval Bomber Squadron and the Burning sky in 1940. His less known war propaganda film about the war was the Hawai Mare Oki kaise, which was at sea from Hawaii to Malaya.

However, his film on The war at sea was recognized by General MacArthur鈥檚 film unit. The unit is said to have sold the film to Frank Capra.

7. He Got Blacklisted from Toho

The propaganda war film that led Eiji to be blacklisted was the Hawai Mare Oki kaisen. The war at the sea from Hawaii to Malaysia was targeted by Allied forces after the war鈥檚 end.

The film featured a re-enactment of the events at Pearl Harbour. This film was a highly successful war film during its release.

The realistic footage of the film caused suspicion that he was a spy and he was blacklisted from Toho.

8. He founded Tsuburaya Productions

After visiting Hollywood in 1963, he founded the Tsuburaya special Effects production which was later referred to as Tsuburaya productions.

His visit to Hollywood was to observe the special effects work of major American studios. His company managed to air the Ultra series for television, in 1966.

The first series was Ulyta Q in January, followed by the highly popular Ultraman in July. This was followed by a comedy- monsters series and monster Booska in November.

The Ultraman gained popularity and became the first live-action Japanese television series to show around the world.

9. Eiji鈥檚 Top Awards in Production 

Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya (7 July 1901鈥�25 January 1970) had a break during the production of The Three Treasures, 1959.

He won the Film Technique Award due to his work in Godzilla. After the Godzilla film, Tsuburaya produced other special effects for Non-kaiju films such as The H-Man in 1958 and The Last War in 161.

Due to his work in the 1957 science fiction film The mysterious, he was awarded another Japanese Movie Technique Award. In 1959, he was awarded another award for the creation of the Toho Versatile system.

This is an optical printer for wide-screen pictures. On January 30, 1970, after his death, he was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Japanese government.

10. The Untimely Death of Eiji 

He died on January 25, 1970, while sleeping with His wife in their home in Ito, Shizuoka. The cause of his death eas because of a Heart Attack that was caused by bronchial asthma. His funeral was held at Toho studios.

To honour his life and work in film, the Eiji Tsuburaya museum was opened in his hometown of sukagawa.

Google also honoured the 144th anniversary of his birth by animating doodles of his work with special effects in July 2015.