Shuji Terayama

Terayama Shuji

  • Name: Terayama Shuji
  • Native name: 寺山修司
  • Also Known as: Terayama Shūji, Terayama Shuuji
  • Nationality: Japanese
  • Gender: Male
  • Born: December 10, 1935
  • Died: May 4, 1983
Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. His works range from radio drama, experimental television, underground (Angura) theatre, countercultural essays, to Japanese New Wave and "expanded" cinema.

His oeuvre includes a number of essays claiming that more can be learned about life through boxing and horse racing than by attending school and studying hard. Accordingly, he was one of the central figures of the "runaway" movement in Japan in the late 1960s, as depicted in his book, play, and film Throw Away Your Books, Run into the Streets! (書を捨てよ、町へ出よう).

In 1967, Terayama formed the Tenjō Sajiki theater troupe, whose name comes from the Japanese translation of the 1945 Marcel Carné film Les Enfants du Paradis and literally translates to "ceiling gallery" (with a meaning similar to the English term "peanut gallery"). The troupe was dedicated to the avant-garde and staged a number of controversial plays tackling social issues from an iconoclastic perspective in unconventional venues, such the streets of Tokyo or private homes.[6] Some major plays include "Bluebeard" (青ひげ), "Yes" (イエス), and "The Crime of Fatso Oyama" (大山デブコの犯罪). Also involved with the theater were artists Aquirax Uno and Tadanori Yokoo, who designed many of the advertisement posters for the group. Musically, he worked closely with experimental composer J.A. Seazer and folk musician Kan Mikami. Playwright Rio Kishida was also part of the company. She viewed Terayama as a mentor, and together they collaborated on Shintokumaru (Poison Boy), The Audience Seats, and Lemmings. Terayama experimented with 'city plays', a fantastical satire of civic life.

Also in 1967, Terayama started an experimental cinema and gallery called 'Universal Gravitation,' which is still in existence at Misawa as a resource center. The Terayama Shūji Memorial Hall, which has a large collection of his plays, novels, poetry, photography and a great number of his personal effects and relics from his theatre productions, can also be found in Misawa.

In 1976, he was a member of the jury at the 26th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1997, the Shuji Terayama Museum was opened in Misawa, Aomori, with personal items donated by his mother, Hatsu. The museum was designed by visual artist Kiyoshi Awazu, who had previously collaborated with Terayama. As of 2015, the museum's director is poet Eimei Sasaki, who had previously starred in Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (1968).

Asahi Shimbun named an award after Terayama with the inauguration of their Asahi Performing Arts Awards in 2001.[11] "The Terayama Shūji Prize is meant to recognize artistic innovation by individuals or organizations who have demonstrated artistic innovation". However, the awards were suspended in 2008.

In March 2012, Tate Modern in London hosted a tribute to Terayama that was attended by Kyōko Kujō and Terayama's assistant director, Henrikku Morisaki. (source: wikipedia) Edit Biography
Screenwriter
Year Title Type Rating
1978 A Boy Called Third Base
Movie
6.0
1973 Children Who Don't Know the War
Movie
0.0
1970 Buraikan
Movie
6.6
1962 Tears on the Lion's Mane
Movie
6.5
1961 Epitaph Of My Love
Movie
6.0
1961 The Burning Sunset
Movie
6.8
1960 Get 'em All
Movie
6.0
1960 Dry Lake
Movie
6.9
1960 Tokyo Shinsengumi
Drama
0.0
Director
Year Title Type Rating
1981 Fruits of Passion
Movie
6.0
1977 The Boxer
Movie
7.6
1971 The War of Jan-Ken-Pon
Movie
4.3
Screenwriter & Director
Year Title Type Rating
1984 Farewell to the Ark
Movie
7.2
1979 Grass Labyrinth
Movie
7.3
1977 The Trial
Movie
0.0
1977 The Eraser
Movie
6.8
1975 Smallpox Tale
Movie
5.8
1974 Pastoral: To Die in the Country
Movie
7.7
1974 Butterfly
Movie
6.2
1971 Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets
Movie
7.6
1971 Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Movie
5.9
1962 The Cage
Movie
7.2
Original Creator
Year Title Type Rating
2017 Ah, Wilderness 2
Movie
7.4
2017 Ah, Wilderness 1
Movie
7.2
Movie
Year Title Role Rating
1966 Pretty Devil Yoko
Japanese Movie, 1966,
Imura (Support Role)
Imura
Support Role
4.0
1960 Dry Lake
Japanese Movie, 1960,
Yoshinaka Senichi (Support Role)
Yoshinaka Senichi
Support Role
6.9
Screenwriter
Year Title Type Rating
1965 Moku
Special
0.0
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Terayama Shuji

Shuji Terayama
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Details

  • First Name: Shuji
  • Family Name: Terayama
  • Native name: 寺山修司
  • Also Known as: Terayama Shūji, Terayama Shuuji
  • Nationality: Japanese
  • Gender: Male
  • Born: December 10, 1935
  • Died: May 4, 1983

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