Miyagawa Kazuo was a leading film photographer in the Japanese film industry. He is known to the world as a photographer of works directed by Inagaki Hiroshi, Mizoguchi Kenji, Kurosawa Akira, etc.

After graduating from Kyoto Commercial High School, he joined Nikki Kyoto at the age of 18 as an assistant in the development department. He trained as an apprentice for about three years. He then moved to the photography department due to a vacancy in the photography department. He was a freelancer since 1970 and was active in the Japanese film industry for over 60 years.

In 1960, when he was in charge of shooting "Ototo" directed by Ichikawa Kon, he created a unique technique called "Bleach Bypass" that leaves silver in the colored part of the film in order to create the atmosphere of the Taisho era, which is the setting of the story. After that, Miyagawa Kazuo's completed bleach bypass was widely used in movies all over the world.

He received the 10th Kawakita Award in 1992. Edit Biography