12 Facts About Kon Ichikawa

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.

Kon Ichikawa's father died when he was four years old, and the family kimono shop went bankrupt, so he went to live with his sister.

Kon Ichikawa loved films and was a fan of "chambara" or samurai films.

Kon Ichikawa moved to the feature film department as an assistant director when the company closed its animation department, working under directors including Yutaka Abe and Nobuo Aoyagi.

Kon Ichikawa graduated with a degree in English literature from Tokyo Woman's Christian University.

Kon Ichikawa married Kon Ichikawa on 10 April 1948, and died on 18 February 1983 of breast cancer.

Kon Ichikawa was among the first group of Toho staff that broke from the labor union during the Toho strikes, which became part of Shintoho.

Kon Ichikawa gained Western recognition during the 1950s and 1960s with two anti-war films, The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain, and the technically formidable period-piece An Actor's Revenge about a kabuki actor.

Kon Ichikawa's final film, 2006's Inugamis, a remake of Ichikawa's own 1976 film The Inugami Family, was entered into the 29th Moscow International Film Festival.

Also in 2006, Ichikawa was the subject of a feature-length documentary, The Kon Ichikawa Story, directed by Shunji Iwai.

Kon Ichikawa died of pneumonia on 13 February 2008 in a Tokyo hospital.

Kon Ichikawa's films are marked with a certain darkness and bleakness, punctuated with sparks of humanity.