Donald Richie
Encyclopedia
- For the U.S. Senate historian, see Donald A. RitchieDonald A. RitchieDonald A. Ritchie is the Historian of the United States Senate.He graduated from the City College of New York and received a Master's Degree and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, 1969–1971.He was responsible for editing the closed hearing...
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Donald Richie (born 17 April 1924, Lima
Lima, Ohio
Lima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
) is an American-born author who has written about the Japanese people
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
and Japanese cinema. Although he considers himself only a writer, Richie has directed many experimental films, the first when he was 17. Although Richie speaks Japanese fluently, he can neither read nor write it proficiently.
Biography
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he served aboard Liberty ships as a purser and medical officer. By then he had already published his first work, "Tumblebugs" (1942), a short story.
In 1947, Richie first visited Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
with the American occupation force
Occupied Japan
At the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers, led by the United States with contributions also from Australia, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This foreign presence marked the first time in its history that the island nation had been occupied by a foreign power...
, a job he saw as an opportunity to escape from Lima, Ohio
Lima, Ohio
Lima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
. He first worked as a typist, and then as a civilian staff writer for the Pacific Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes (newspaper)
Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...
. While in Tokyo, he became fascinated with Japanese culture, particularly Japanese cinema. He was soon writing movie reviews in the Stars and Stripes. In 1948 he met Kashiko Kawakita
Kashiko Kawakita
Kashiko Kawakita was a Japanese film curator. For decades she had a leading role in bringing Japanese film to the west and in introducing high quality western films to Japanese audiences.-First encounters with cinema:...
who introduced him to Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
. During their long friendship, Richie and Kawakita collaborated closely in promoting Japanese film in the West.
After returning to the United States, he enrolled at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's School of General Studies
Columbia University School of General Studies
The School of General Studies, commonly known as General Studies or simply GS, is one of the three official undergraduate colleges at Columbia University. It is a highly selective Ivy League undergraduate liberal arts college designed for non-traditional students and confers Bachelor of Art and...
in 1949, and received his Bachelor's Degree in English in 1953. Richie then returned to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as film critic for The Japan Times
The Japan Times
The Japan Times is an English language newspaper published in Japan. Unlike its competitors, the Daily Yomiuri and the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, it is not affiliated with a Japanese language media organization...
and spent much of the second half of the twentieth century living there. In 1959, he published his first book, The Japanese Film: Art and Industry, coauthored with Joseph Anderson. In this work, the authors gave the first English language account of Japanese film. Richie served as Curator of Film at the New York Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
from 1969 to 1972. In 1988, he was invited to become the first guest director at the Telluride Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
.
Among his most noted works on Japan are The Inland Sea, a travel classic, and Public People, Private People, a look at some of Japan's most significant and most mundane people. He has compiled two collections of essays on Japan: A Lateral View and Partial Views. A collection of his writings has been published to commemorate fifty years of writing about Japan: The Donald Richie Reader. The Japan Journals: 1947-2004 consists of extended excerpts from his diaries.
In 1991, filmmakers Lucille Carra
Lucille Carra
Lucille Carra is an American documentary film director, producer, and writer. She is of Italian American descent. All of her films have been seen on PBS and international television. Carra has a BFA in Film Production and an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts,...
and Brian Cotnoir produced a film version of The Inland Sea, which Richie narrated. Produced by Travelfilm Company, the film won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival
Hawaii International Film Festival
The Hawaii International Film Festival is a film festival held in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It was started in 1981 by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko and has been held annually in the fall for two weeks...
(1991) and the Earthwatch Film Award. It screened at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
in 1992.
Author Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
describes Richie as: "the Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
of our time, a subtle, stylish, and deceptively lucid medium between two cultures that confuse one another: the Japanese and the American."
Japanese cinema
Richie's most widely recognized accomplishment has been his analysis of Japanese cinema. From his first published book, Richie has revised not only the library of films he discusses, but the way he analyzes them. With each subsequent book, he has focused less on film theory and more on the conditions in which the films were made. One thing that has emerged in his works is an emphasis on the "presentational" nature of Japan's cinema, in contrast to the "representational" films of the West. His book, A Hundred Years Of Japanese Film includes a helpful guide to the availability of the films on home video and DVD mentioned in the main text. In the foreword to this book, Paul Schrader says: "Whatever we in the West know about Japanese film, and how we know it, we most likely owe to Donald Richie." Richie also has written analyses of two of Japan's best known filmmakers: Yasujiro OzuYasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
and Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
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Richie wrote the English subtitles for Akira Kurosawa's films Kagemusha
Kagemusha
is a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa. The title is a term used for an impersonator. It is set in the Warring States era of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate a dying warlord in order to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable...
(1980), Red Beard
Red Beard
is a 1965 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa about the relationship between a town doctor and his new trainee. The film was based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's short story collection, Akahige shinryotan . Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Insulted and the Injured provided the source for a subplot about a...
, and Dreams
Dreams (1990 film)
is a 1990 magical realism film based on actual dreams of the film's director, Akira Kurosawa at different stages of his life. The film is more imagery than dialogue. The alternative titles are a translation of the opening line of Ten Nights of Dreams, by Natsume Sōseki, which begins:...
(1990).
In the 21st century, Richie has become noted for his erudite audio commentaries for The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
on DVDs of various classic Japanese films, notably those of Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
(A Story of Floating Weeds
A Story of Floating Weeds
is a 1934 silent film directed by Yasujiro Ozu which he later remade as Floating Weeds in 1959 in color.-Plot:The film starts with a travelling kabuki troupe arriving by train at a provincial seaside town. Kihachi Ichikawa , the head of the troupe, is a very popular actor...
and Early Summer
Early Summer
is a 1951 film by Yasujiro Ozu. Like most of Ozu's post-war films, Early Summer deals with many issues ranging from communication problems between generations and the rising role of women in post-war Japan....
), Mikio Naruse
Mikio Naruse
was a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who directed some 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967.Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook...
(When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
is a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse.Keiko, a young widow, becomes a bar hostess in Ginza to make ends meet. The story recounts the struggles to maintain her independence in a male-dominated society...
), and Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
(Drunken Angel
Drunken Angel
is a 1948 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is notable for being the first of sixteen film collaborations between director Kurosawa and actor Toshirō Mifune.- Plot :...
, Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
, The Lower Depths
The Lower Depths
The Lower Depths is perhaps Maxim Gorky's best-known play. It was written during the winter of 1901 and the spring of 1902. Subtitled "Scenes from Russian Life," it depicted a group of impoverished Russians living in a shelter near the Volga. Produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18,...
, and The Bad Sleep Well
The Bad Sleep Well
is a 1960 film directed by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It was the first film to be produced under Kurosawa's own independent production company. It was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival....
), among others.
Books by Donald Richie
- Botandoro: Stories, Fables, Parables and Allegories: A Miscellany (paperback), Printed Matter Press; 2008; ISBN 978-1-933606-16-3
- Tokyo Nights (paperback). Printed Matter Press; 2005; ISBN 1-933606-00-2 (paperback)
- A View from the Chuo Line and Other Stories (paperback), Printed Matter Press, 2004, SBN 4900178276
- Japanese Literature Reviewed (hardcover). ICG Muse; 2003; ISBN 4-925080-78-4
- With Roy Garner. The Image Factory: Fads and Fashions in Japan (paperback). Reaktion Books; 2003; ISBN 1-86189-153-9
- Tokyo: A View of the City (paperback). Reaktion Books; 1999; ISBN 1-86189-034-6
- Memoirs of the Warrior Kumagai: A Historical Novel (hardcover). Tuttle Publishing; 1999; ISBN 0-8048-2126-7
- Partial Views: Essays on Contemporary Japan (paperback). Japan Times; 1995; ISBN 4-7890-0801-0
- The Temples of Kyoto (hardback). Tuttle Publishing; 1995; ISBN 0-8048-2032-5
- The Inland Sea (paperback). Kodansha International; 1993; ISBN 4-7700-1751-0
- Japanese Cinema: An Introduction (hardcover). Oxford University Press; 1990; ISBN 0-19-584950-7
- Japanese Cinema: Film Style and National Character (paperback). Oxford University Press; 1990; ISBN 0-19-584950-7
- Introducing Japan (hardcover). Kodansha International; 1987; ISBN 0-87011-833-1
- Introducing Tokyo (hardcover). Kodansha Inc; 1987; ISBN 0-87011-806-4
- Focus on Rashomon (hardcover). Rutgers University Press; 1987; ISBN 0-13-752980-5
- Different People: Pictures of Some Japanese (hardcover). Kodansha Inc; 1987; ISBN 0-87011-820-X
- Zen Inklings: Some Stories, Fables, Parables, and Sermons (Buddhism & Eastern Philosophy) (Paperback) with prints by the author. Weatherhill, 1982. Without prints: 1982. ISBN 78-0834802308
- George Stevens: An American Romantic. New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1970.
- Companions of the Holiday (hardcover). Weatherhill; 1968; ISBN 1-299-58310-5
- Erotic Gods Phallicism in Japan (slipcase). Shufushinsha; 1966; ISBN 1-141-44743-6
- The Japanese Movie. An Illustrated History (hardcover). Kodansha Ltd; 1965; ISBN 1-141-45003-8
- Japanese Movies. Japan Travel Bureau, 1961
- With Joseph L. Anderson. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry (paperback). Princeton University Press; 1959, revised 1983; ISBN 0-691-00792-6
- With Watanabe Miyoko. Six Kabuki Plays (paperback). Hokuseido Press; 1953; ISBN 1-299-15754-8
- The Honorable Visitors. Charles E Tuttle; 1949; ISBN 0-8048-1941-6
Films and books on Donald Richie
- Sneaking In. Donald Richie's Life in Film. Directed by Brigitte Prinzgau-Podgorschek, Navigator Film Produktion/Peter Stockhaus Filmproduktion, GmbH, Vienna, 2002
- Silva, Arturo, ed. (2001). The Donald Richie Reader. Berkeley: Stone Bridge PressStone Bridge PressStone Bridge Press, Inc. is a publishing company distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution and founded in 1989. Authors published include Donald Richie and Frederik L. Schodt...
. 10-ISBN 1-880656-61-2; 13-ISBN 978-1-880656-61-7 (cloth) - Klaus Volkmer and Olaf Möller.Ricercar fuer Donald Richie. Taschenbuch (1997)
Films by Donald Richie
Donald Richie is the author of about 30 experimental films from five to 47 minutes long, six of which have been published on DVD. None were originally meant for public screening. The pieces on the DVD, all originally shot in 16 mm, are:- Wargames, 1962 22 minutes
- Atami Blues, 1962, 20 minutes, soundtrack by Tōru TakemitsuToru Takemitsuwas a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...
- Boy with Cat, 1967, 5 minutes
- Dead Youth, 1967, 13 minutes
- Five Philosophical Fables, 1967, 47 minutes
- Cybele, 1968, 20 minutes
Among the short works not included in the collection are for example Small Town Sunday (1941, 8 mm), filmed when he was still resident in the United States, A Sentimental Education (1953), Aoyama Kaidan (1957), Shu-e (1958), and Life (1965).
Other films:
- Akira Kurosawa, 1975, 58 minutes, 35 mm in color and b/w. Produced by Atelier 41 for NTV, Tokyo
- A Doll, 1968, 16 mm, 20 minutes, in color
- A couple, 1968, 35 mm, in b/w
- Nozoki Monogatari, 1967, 16 mm, released by Brandon Films
- Khajuraho, 1968, 16 mm, in color and b/w
Honors
- Kawakita Award first recipient in 1983
- Japan FoundationJapan FoundationThe was established in 1972 by an Act of the Japanese Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an independent administrative institution under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry of Japan on 1 October 2003 under the "Independent...
: Japan Foundation Award, 1995. - John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award (Asian Cultural CouncilAsian Cultural CouncilThe Asian Cultural Council is an American non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to Asian-American cultural exchange in the areas of visual and performing arts.- History :...
) in 1993 - National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA: Special Award (1971)
See also
Friends and collaborators:- Yukio MishimaYukio Mishimawas the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...
- Tamotsu YatoTamotsu Yatowas a Japanese photographer and occasional actor responsible for pioneering Japanese homoerotic photography and creating iconic black-and-white images of the Japanese male...
- Meredith WeatherbyMeredith WeatherbyMeredith Weatherby was a Texas-born American publisher who spent a large part of his life in Japan and who is known in particular for his English translations of the literary works by Yukio Mishima...
- Leza LowitzLeza LowitzLeza Lowitz is an American expatriate writer residing in Tokyo, Japan. She has written, edited and translated over fifteen books about Japan, its relationship with the U.S.A., on the changing role of Japanese women in literature, art and society, and about the lasting effect of the Second World...
- Karel van WolferenKarel van WolferenKarel van Wolferen is a Dutch journalist, writer and professor, who is particularly recognised for his knowledge of Japanese politics, economics, history and culture....
- Ian BurumaIan BurumaBuruma is a nephew of the English film director John Schlesinger, a series of interviews with whom he published in book form.-Works:*The Japanese Tattoo with Donald Richie ISBN 978-0-8348-0228-5...
- Paul SchraderPaul SchraderPaul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
Other:
- GaijinGaijinis a Japanese word meaning "non-Japanese", or "alien". This word is a short form of gaikokujin , which literally means "person from outside of the country". The word is composed of two kanji: , meaning "outside"; and , meaning "person". Thus, the word technically means "outsider"...
- Americans in JapanAmericans in JapanThe community of began to form after the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa, under which Commodore Matthew C. Perry forced Japan to open to international trade. As of 2004, Americans formed 2.4% of the total population of registered foreigners in Japan, with 51,851 U.S. citizens residing there, according...
- Ethnic issues in JapanEthnic issues in Japan- Demographic :About 1.6% of Japan's total legal resident population are foreign nationals. Of these, according to 2008 data from the Japanese government, the principal groups are as follows....
Further reading
- Silva, Arturo, ed. (2001). The Donald Richie Reader. Berkeley: Stone Bridge PressStone Bridge PressStone Bridge Press, Inc. is a publishing company distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution and founded in 1989. Authors published include Donald Richie and Frederik L. Schodt...
. 10-ISBN 1-880656-61-2; 13-ISBN 978-1-880656-61-7 (cloth)
External links
- Donald Richie: Japanese Cinema: Film Style and National Character. Anchor Books, New York 1961/1971 (Whole book in PDF format)
- Citizens of Limbo - An essay on Richie and expatriates
- Conversation with Donald Richie, from Conversations with History: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley