DatabaseScriptwriters Database
Yamada Taichi
- Profile
- He was born in Asakusa, Tokyo, in 1934. He graduated from Waseda University’s Department of Japanese Language and Literature, School of Education in 1958. He joined Shochiku and studied under the director Keisuke Kinoshita. After leaving the company, he entered the television drama field alongside Kinoshita. He became a member of the writing staff for TBS’s Kinoshita Keisuke Gekijō (Theater) and Kinoshita Keisuke Hour, and he made his official debut as a scriptwriter with Sannin Kazoku (A Family of Three, 1968) on Kinoshita Keisuke Hour. In 1973, with the drama series Sorezore no Aki (Each Autumn), he subverted the traditional cozy family drama by proposing a new style that reflected the social anxieties of each family member. With Kishibe no Album (Albums on the Riverside) in 1977, he incorporated this concept into a drama of family dissolution. This established a unique new style of Japanese family drama: the delicate portrayal of social issues manifested within the domestic sphere. He was the first scriptwriter featured in NHK’s Saturday drama Scriptwriter Series, a project that headlined the scriptwriters themselves; he penned the first series Yamada Taichi Series: Otoko-tachi no Tabiji (The Men’s Journey, 1976–1982). He elevated the status of his scriptwriters and led the era of the original drama production during the 1970s and 1980s. Subsequently, in the Otoko-tachi no Tabiji episode Silver Seat (Seats for the Elderly, 1977) , he depicted the anxieties of the elderly, a theme he continued to explore in Nagaraeba (If I Could Survive, 1982), Fuyu-gamae (Winter Preparations, 1985), and Kesa no Aki (Autumn This Morning, 1987). In addition, he depicted the inner struggles of young people with disabilities in the Otoko-tachi no Tabiji episode Sharin no Ippo (One Step with a Wheelchair, 1979). He continued to explore these underlying issues of prejudice in subsequent works, with ageism in Omoide Zukuri (Making Memories, 1981) and educational elitism in Fuzoroi no Ringo-tachi (Uneven Apples, 1983) Furthermore, with Sōshun Sketchbook (Early Spring Sketchbook) in 1983, he created a work that transcended the boundaries of television drama and which looked beyond contempt for middle-class conventionality to find redemption within those lives. In addition, with the NHK Taiga historical drama Shishi no Jidai (The Age of Lions, 1980) and Nihon no Omokage (Glimpses of Japan, 1984), he questioned Japan’s modernization from the perspective of those alienated from both the era and society. In his later work, Toki wa Tachidomaranai (Time Never Stands Still, 2014), he portrayed the Great East Japan Earthquake through the human relationships within the local community. In terms of the history of scriptwriters, many of the writers who led dramas in the Heisei era grew up using Taichi Yamada’s scripts as their textbooks. He died in 2023 at the age of 89.
- Masterpieces
-
スペシャルドラマ
「河を渡ったあの夏の日々」
木下恵介・人間の歌シリーズ 「それぞれの秋」
真夜中のあいさつ
なつかしき海の歌
土曜ドラマ・山田太一シリーズ 男たちの旅路 第１部第一話「非常階段」
金曜ドラマ 「岸辺のアルバム」 第１話
土曜ドラマ 山田太一シリーズ・男たちの旅路 第３部第一話「シルバーシート」
土曜ドラマ・山田太一シリーズ 男たちの旅路 第４部第三話 「車輪の一歩」
スペシャルドラマ 「あめりか物語」（第三話）
金曜ドラマ「沿線地図」
大河ドラマ「獅子の時代」
土曜ドラマ山田太一シリーズ 「タクシーサンバ」 第３話「路上の荒野」
金曜ドラマ「想い出づくり。」
ながらえば
金曜ドラマ「ふぞろいの林檎たち」
ドラマ人間模様「夕暮れて」
東芝日曜劇場「終りの一日」
金曜劇場 早春スケッチブック
スペシャルドマ「日本の面影」
スペシャルドラマ「冬構え」
ドラマ人間模様「シャツの店」
スペシャルドラマ「今朝の秋」
シリーズ街「表通りへぬける地図」