Buntarō Futagawa

Buntarō Futagawa (二川 文太郎, Futagawa Buntarō; 18 June 1899 – 28 March 1966) was a pioneering Japanese film director and writer. So far, only two of his works have been released on DVD: Orochi (Japanese: 雄呂血, The Serpent, 1925) and the short film Backward Flow (Japanese: 逆流, Gyakuryū, 1924). As a writer, he used another name: Otsuma Shinozuka (Japanese: 紫之塚 乙馬).^[1]

Futagawa directed Orochi when he was 26 years old.

Life

Futagawa was born Kichinosuke Takizawa on 18 June 1899, in Misaki, Shiba, Tokyo (present-day Mita, Minato, Tokyo), to a family of tea merchants. His younger brother by three years was film director Eisuke Takizawa.^[2]

He studied business at Chuo University, but dropped out to join Taishō Katsuei in Yokohama in April 1921.^[2]

In the silent era, Futagawa worked with actor Tsumasaburō Bandō.^[1]