Toshio Masuda
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- October 5, 1927
- Died
- August 26, 2026 (aged 98)
- Birthplace
- Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
Biography
Toshio Masuda (born October 5, 1927 in Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan) is a Japanese film director. He developed a reputation as a consistent box office hit-maker. Over the course of five decades, 16 of his films made the yearly top ten lists at the Japanese box office—a second place record in the industry. Between 1958 and 1968 he directed 52 films for the Nikkatsu Company. He was their top director of action films and worked with the company's top stars, including Yujiro Ishihara with whom he made 25 films. After the breakdown of the studio system, he moved on to a succession of big-budget movies including the American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and the science fiction epic Catastrophe 1999: The Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974). He worked on such anime productions as the Space Battleship Yamato series. His corporate drama Company Funeral (1989) earned him a Japanese Academy Award nomination and wins at the Blue Ribbon Awards and Mainichi Film Awards. In Japan, his films are well remembered by fans and called genre landmarks by critics. He remains little known abroad save for rare exceptions of his post-Nikkatsu work such as Tora! Tora! Tora!. However, a number of his films were screened in a 2005 Nikkatsu Action Cinema retrospective in Italy and a few have since made their way to the United States. At the age of 81, he is currently prepping to helm Uchū Senkan Yamato: Fukkatsu hen (2009). Description above from the Wikipedia article Toshio Masuda, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Filmography
Fujisawa Shuhei's Sparkling Sword: Puppeteer in the Shadows
Movie · Director
Father and Son Hawk
TV · Director · 11 eps
Date Masamune: The One-Eyed Dragon
Movie · Director
Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Conqueror of Japan
Movie · Director
Heavenly Sin
Movie · Director
The Unruly Ronin's Journey II
Movie · Director
Dohten
Movie · Director
The Great Shogunate Battle
Movie · Director
Sure Death 5
Movie · Director
Minamoto Yoshitsune
Movie · Director
The Yagyu Code: Secret Scrolls
Movie · Director
Miyamoto Musashi
TV · Director · 13 eps
Company Executives
Movie · Director
Iemitsu, Hikoza and Isshin Tasuke - A National Crisis: Edo Castle in Danger
Movie · Director
Tokyo Blackout
Movie · Director
This Story of Love
Movie · Director
Katayoku dake no tenshi
Movie · Director
Love: Starting on a Journey
Movie · Director
Odin: Starlight Mutiny
Movie · Director
Vendetta of Obligation
Movie · Director
Zero
Movie · Director
Battle Anthem
Movie · Director
L・O・V・I・N・G
Movie · Director
Highteen Boogie
Movie · Director
Future War 198X
Movie · Director
The Imperial Japanese Empire
Movie · Director
The Last Days of Planet Earth
Movie · Director
The Battle of Port Arthur: Will Love Die?
TV · Director · 8 eps
Be Forever Yamato
Movie · Director
Port Arthur
Movie · Director
Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage
Movie · Director
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato
Movie · Director
Space Battleship Yamato
Movie · Director
Human Revolution II
Movie · Director
Prophecies of Nostradamus
Movie · Director
My Blood is the Blood of Others
Movie · Director
The Human Revolution
Movie · Director
Lone Wolf and Cub
TV · Director · 2 eps
Shadow Hunters
Movie · Director
Shadow Hunters 2: Echo of Destiny
Movie · Director
Chase That Man
Movie · Director
Sword and Flower
Movie · Director
Law of the Outlaw
Movie · Director
Challenge at Dawn
Movie · Director
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Movie · Director
Spartan Education
Movie · Director
Exiled to Hell
Movie · Director
The Fatal Raid
Movie · Director
The Cleanup
Movie · Director
Outlaw: Gangster VIP
Movie · Director
Monument to the Girl's Corps
Movie · Director
Man of a Stormy Era
Movie · Director
Song of my Life
Movie · Director
Velvet Hustler
Movie · Director
The Man of Victory
Movie · Director
The Endless Duel
Movie · Director
対決
Movie · Director
Kill the Night Rose
Movie · Director
Challenge for Glory
Movie · Director
The Stormy Man
Movie · Director
Blood Shed
Movie · Director
Showdown in the Red Valley
Movie · Director
Taking the Castle
Movie · Director
Why Are We Young?
Movie · Director
Red Handkerchief
Movie · Director
Jinsei Gekijo
Movie · Director
Eliminate The Killer
Movie · Director
Prince of Wolves
Movie · Director
Escape into Terror
Movie · Director
Keep Your Chin Up
Movie · Director
Two People, Yet All Alone
Movie · Director
A Man with Dragon Tattoos
Movie · Director
A City Where Men Live
Movie · Director
零戦黒雲一家
Movie · Director
Hotbed of Crime
Movie · Director
Lost in the Sun
Movie · Director
Where the Horizon Meets the Sun
Movie · Director
Quiet Man of the Underworld
Movie · Director
The Day of Youth
Movie · Director
Man at the Bullfight
Movie · Director
Yakuza Song
Movie · Director
The Brawler
Movie · Director
A Man Explodes
Movie · Director
The Sky Is Mine
Movie · Director
We Live Today
Movie · Director
Get Over Her
Movie · Director
Rusty Knife
Movie · Director
The Perfect Game
Movie · Director
Red Pier
Movie · Director
The Eagle and the Hawk
Movie · Assistant Director
Dancing Sisters
Movie · Assistant Director
The Champion
Movie · Assistant Director
The Burmese Harp
Movie · Assistant Director
Nikoyon monogatari
Movie · Assistant Director
Phoenix
Movie · Assistant Director
The Heart
Movie · Assistant Director