# Satsuo Yamamoto

Satsuo Yamamoto (山本 薩夫, Yamamoto Satsuo, 10 July 1910 – 11 August 1983) was a Japanese film director.
Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima City. After leaving Waseda University, where he had become affiliated with left-wing groups, he joined the Shochiku film studios in 1933, where he worked as an assistant director to Mikio Naruse. He followed Naruse when the latter moved to P.C.L. film studios (later Toho) and debuted as a director in 1937 with Ojōsan. During World War II he directed the propaganda films Winged Victory and Hot Winds before being drafted and sent to China.
After returning to Japan, Yamamoto's first film was War and Peace, co-directed with Fumio Kamei. Being a communist and an active supporter of the union during the Toho strikes, he left the studio in 1948 after the strikes' forced ending and turned to independent filmmaking. The commercially successful Street of Violence (1950) was produced by a committee named after the film's original title Bōryoku no machi, while the left-wing production company Shinsei Eiga-sha ("New star films"), formed by former Toho unionists, produced the anti-war film Vacuum Zone (1953), which film historian Donald Richie called "the strongest anti-military film ever made in Japan" in 1959. The 1959 Ballad of the Cart was produced by the National Rural Film Association and won him the Mainichi Film Award for Best Director.
In the 1960s, Yamamoto again worked for major companies like Daiei and Nikkatsu, directing films like Band of Assassins (1962), The Ivory Tower (1966) and Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967). He died in Tokyo on 11 August 1983, at the age of 73.

## Selected filmography
### Films

| Title | Studio | Release date |
| Ojosan お嬢さん | PCL | 1937 |
| War and Peace 戦争と平和 | Toho | 22 July 1947 |
| Konna Onnani Daregashita こんな女に誰がした | Toyoko Film (Distributed by Daiei Film) | 4 July 1949 |
| Street of Violence 暴力の街 Boryoku no Machi | Bōryoku no machi production committee (Distributed by Daiei Film) | 26 February 1950 |
| Hakone Fūunroku 箱根風雲録 | Shinsei Film, Zenshin Za | 14 March 1952 |
| Vacuum Zone 真空地帯 Shinkūchitai | Hokuto Film | 15 December 1952 |
| Hi no Hate 日の果て | Yagi Pro/Sehai (Distributed by Shochiku Film) | 3 February 1954 |
| Taiyō no nai Machi 太陽のない街 | Shinsei Film | 24 June 1954 |
| Taifu Sodoki 台風騒動記 | Yamamoto Production | 19 December 1956 |
| Ballad of the Cart 荷車の歌 Niguruma no Uta | Zenkoku Noson Eiga Kyokai | 11 February 1959 |
| Ningen no Kabe 人間の壁 | Yamamoto Production (Distributed by Shintoho) | 27 January 1961 |
| Matsukawa Jiken 松川事件 | Matsukawa Jikengeki Eiga Seisakuiinkai | 27 January 1961 |
| Shinobi no Mono 忍びの者 | Daiei Film | 1 December 1962 |
| Zoku Shinobi no Mono 続・忍びの者 | Daiei Film | 10 August 1963 |
| Nippon Dorobō Monogatari にっぽん泥棒物語 | Daiei Film | 1 May 1965 |
| Ivory Tower 白い巨塔 | Daiei Film | 15 October 1966 |
| Men and War 戦争と人間 Senso to Ningen | Nikkatsu | 14 August 1970 (I) 12 June 1971 (II) 11 August 1973 (III) |
| Karei-naru Ichizoku 華麗なる一族 | Geiensha (Distributed by Toho) | 26 January 1974 |
| Kinkanshoku 金環蝕 | Daiei (Distributed by Toho) | 6 September 1975 |
| Barren Land 不毛地帯 | Geiensha (Distributed by Toho) | 14 August 1976 |
| Kōtei no Inai Hachigatsu 皇帝のいない八月 | Shochiku | 23 September 1978 |
| Nomugi Pass あゝ野麦峠 Ah Nomugi Toge | Shin Nihon Eiga (Distributed by Toho) | 30 June 1979 |
| Nomugi Pass Shinryokuhen あゝ野麦峠 新緑篇 Ah Nomugi Toge Shinrokuhen | Toho | 6 February 1982 |

## Awards
### Kinema Junpo Awards

Yamamoto received the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Director for Ivory Tower, which was also awarded Best Film.

### Blue Ribbon Awards

Yamamoto won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Director for Shōnin no isu and Nippon dorobō monogatari (both 1965). Ivory Tower was awarded Best Film the following year.

### Mainichi Fim Awards

Yamamoto was awarded Best Director at the Mainichi Film Awards for Ballad of the Cart and Ningen no kane (both 1959), Ivory Tower, Men and War and Barren Land. Ivory Tower, Barren Land and Nomugi Pass were winners in the Best Film category.

### Festival prizes

Ivory Tower was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where it was awarded the Silver Prize.

## Books

* Yamamoto Satsuo: My Life as a Filmmaker (私の映画人生, Watakushi no eiga jinsei), published in English in 2017 by University of Michigan Press, translated by Chia-ning Chang. - It is an autobiography that was first published after Yamamoto died.