Shinichi Sekizawa

**Shinichi Sekizawa** (関沢新一, *Sekizawa Shin'ichi*, June 2, 1921 – November 19, 1992), pen name **Mamoru Ryoike** (良池まもる), was a Japanese screenwriter. His very first screenplay was for the independently produced film Fearful Attack of the Flying Saucers, which was also his sole directing credit. He went on to script several films by Ishirō Honda, including several classic Godzilla films.

## Shinichi Sekizawa

### Occupation

Screenwriter
Poet
Lyricist
Photographer

### Genre

Movie
Science Fiction
Action
Crime
Adventure

Prominent screenwriter at Toho, who along with fellow screenwriter Kaoru Mabuchi penned the vast majority of Toho’s sci-fi output in the 50s and 60s. Sekizawa’s screenplays often contained more humor and wit than Mabuchi’s, which were considered darker and more serious. Sekizawa attributed this to his Kansai heritage (the Kansai dialect is considered most conducive to humorous dialogue in Japan).

Sekizawa was also a lyricist for recording artists at Columbia, including Misora Hibari and Harumi Miyako. He co-wrote the lyrics for the infamous “Mothra’s Song,” which debuted in Mothra in 1961 and has persisted in pop culture ever since. In his later years he worked as a railway photographer, and boasted an HO scale model train set in his home. In 1990,

Sekizawa was awarded the Medal of Honor, Purple Ribbon for his contribution to film.

## Career

Sekizawa was born in the Kyoto Prefecture in 1920. As a screenwriter, he has written many entertainment films for Toho. Sekizawa wrote on many kaiju films such as Mothra & King Kong VS Godzilla and action movies like The Last Gunfight, Dokuritsu gurentai nishi-e, and Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kayaku no taru, made use of the light tempo and stylish dialogue. His work was released to the public. The dialogue, which is like a good-tempo dialogue and says, "Because I was originally from Kansai, the manzai is the basis." Although he was exclusively for Toho, he was eager for the company to write a video movie phone, and wrote two scripts for Toei Animation.

Hibari Misora's musica hit, "Ju", which was famous as a lyricist and won the 7th Japan Record Awards (1965), and Harumi Miyako's "Tears of Liaison Ship", which recorded a million seller, are still handed down. There are many records being sold in each music shops. Other companies like Columbia Records sometimes used the pseudonym title as "Mamoru Ryoike". In the Nippon Denpa Eiga, the script is only "Agon", but he also wrote the original song for "Jungle Prince" and the theme songs for Nippon Denpa Eiga such as "Buddhist Kenpo" and "Sanshiro Sugata". It is the theme song of the drama of the same name.

Sekizawa is also the mentor of Tetsuo Kinjō, an episode screenwriter known for the "Ultra Series".

In his later years, he was also active as a railroad photographer. He is also a model railroad enthusiast, and has created a large HO gauge layout in which the railroad tracks go around his house, and was shot with him in the Ryukakusan commercial. He is also the first editor-in-chief of the magazine "Steam Locomotive", which was launched by Kinema-Junposha during the SL Boom. During the prewar period, he had serialized manga in the Kyoto Shimbun.

The script for the Godzilla movie was written up to "Godzilla vs. Gigan", but he continued to provide plots and supported the "Toho Champion Festival".He went on to script several films by Ishirō Honda, including several classic Godzilla films. He also contributed material to the original Ultraman series and several Tōei Dōga films such as Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon and Jack and the Witch. Sekizawa received the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1990.

His scripts for kaiju films have been noted for their inventiveness and for having a more lightweight, "fun" tone than those written by Takeshi Kimura (aka Kaoru Mabuchi), another leading writer of kaiju films, whose scripts had a darker, more serious sensibility.

Before embarking on his screenwriting career, he briefly attended an animation school with famed manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka.