33 Facts About Tetsuji Takechi

Tetsuji Takechi was a Japanese theatrical and film director, critic, and author.

Tetsuji Takechi won the lawsuit, enabling the wave of softcore pink films which dominated Japan's domestic cinema during the 1960s and 1970s.

Tetsuji Takechi did not work in film during most of the 1970s.

Tetsuji Takechi was born Tetsuji Kawaguchi in Osaka on 10 December 1912 to a family headed by a wealthy industrialist.

Tetsuji Takechi studied economics at Kyoto National University and graduated in 1936.

Tetsuji Takechi first became known for his criticism and theoretical writings on the theater.

When World War II came to an end, Tetsuji Takechi used his inheritance from his father to establish a theatrical troupe.

Tetsuji Takechi broke through long-established barriers which existed between these theatrical forms, and even between kabuki schools, to create an energetic new form of kabuki.

Tetsuji Takechi saw in kyogen a more direct link to a native Japanese folk theatrical tradition, and through the kyogen wanted to link these folk traditions with the modern theater.

In 1954, Tetsuji Takechi followed Susugigawa with a noh-kyogen version of Junji Kinoshita's Yuzuru.

Besides his work as a theatrical theorist and director, Tetsuji Takechi occasionally appeared in acting roles on the stage and screen.

Tetsuji Takechi worked with the avant-garde group Jikken Kobo, which had been founded by composers Toru Takemitsu, Joji Yuasa and other artists in 1951.

One of Tetsuji Takechi's more notable productions with the group was a 1955 noh version of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire.

Also at Sankei Hall, Tetsuji Takechi directed Mishima's Sotoba Komachi, set as an opera by composer Mareo Ishiketa, in 1956.

The International News Service reported that Tetsuji Takechi had introduced elements of burlesque and striptease into the slow, stylised artform.

Tetsuji Takechi directed two more kabuki performances for the Nissei Theater in Tokyo, not long after it was opened in 1963.

Some innovations and trends in Japanese erotic cinema which Tetsuji Takechi's films pioneered include big-budgets and releases, literary and artistic aspirations, fogging, political themes, and theatrical hardcore.

Tetsuji Takechi ran afoul of the government throughout his film career.

Later that year, Tetsuji Takechi appeared in an acting role in director Kaneto Shindo's Mother.

Tetsuji Takechi fought the government's censorship of this shot, but lost.

Tetsuji Takechi's Daydream had been considered a national embarrassment by the Japanese government because of its highly publicized release while the world was focused on the country for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Jasper Sharp writes that though Tetsuji Takechi's films did criticize Japanese society, a theme they share with pink films, Tetsuji Takechi identified the problem as coming from foreign influences, rather than from within.

Tetsuji Takechi himself claimed to be a minzoku shugisha, or "ethnic nationalist", throughout his life.

Tetsuji Takechi took advantage of every opportunity to publicly speak out against censorship, and one Eirin official later admitted to being "terrified by the man".

On 17 September 1967, Tetsuji Takechi won the Black Snow case.

Tetsuji Takechi successfully countersued the government claiming that the accusation of indecency was politically motivated, due to the film's anti-American and anti-capitalist themes.

Newspapers refused to advertise his films, and Tetsuji Takechi spent the next decade concentrating on writing projects.

In 1981, the then 68-year-old Tetsuji Takechi decided to return to film with a series of theatrical hardcore films, beginning with a remake of his 1964 Daydream, titled Daydream.

Tetsuji Takechi took a novel, yet traditional approach to the fogging by covering the forbidden areas with floating images of topless female shamisen players.

Tetsuji Takechi again took advantage of the situation to fight Eirin, and complained publicly about the censorship.

Tetsuji Takechi refused to allow the film to be censored in any way, either through cutting or fogging.

Tetsuji Takechi died of pancreatic cancer the following year, on 26 July 1988.

Jasper Sharp points out that the Japanese and western views of Tetsuji Takechi's legacy are quite different.