DatabaseScriptwriters Database
Kurisutei
- Profile
- Kurisutei was the collective pen name of the director Kon Ichikawa and his wife Natto Wada. It was named after the author Agatha Christie. In later years, this pen name was used for collaborations between Kon Ichikawa and the scriptwriter Shin’ya Hidaka. Kon Ichikawa was born in Mie Prefecture in 1915. He joined Kyoto J.O. Studio (the predecessor of Toho Kyoto Film Studio) as an animator. He subsequently transferred to the Assistant Director Department and moved to Tokyo. He made his directorial debut in 1948 with the Shintoho feature film Hana Hiraku (A Flower Blooms). He worked on a wide range of projects, from entertainment films to documentaries and television period dramas. He died in February 2008 at the age of 92. Natto Wada was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1920. Shortly after the war while working as an interpreter at Toho Studios, she met Kon Ichikawa, who was then an assistant director. Following their marriage, she wrote the screenplays for nearly all Ichikawa’s works and served as his partner, both in their professional and private lives. She died in 1983 at the age of 62. Ichikawa and Wada, under the pen name Kurisutei, wrote the scripts for television dramas, including Koibito (Lovers, 1959, NTV), Kankon Sosai (Ceremonial Occasions, 1959, NTV), and Ashi ni Sawatta Onna (The Woman Who Touched a Leg, 1960, NTV).
- Masterpieces
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木枯し紋次郎