Masaichi Nagata

Masaichi Nagata (永田雅一, Nagata Masaichi; 21 January 1906 – 24 October 1985) was a Japanese businessman and served as president of Daiei Film. The self-proclaimed creator of Gamera, he produced the kaiju's second film Gamera vs. Barugon, with the remainder of the Showa Gamera films produced instead by his son Hidemasa Nagata. Either Masaichi or Hideo Matsuyama (jp), the inventor of the "Silver Week", was also the inventor of the advertising slogan "Golden Week",^[2] and the first president of the Pacific League.^[3] His achievements to contribute in the golden era of Japanese film industries granted a title "Father of the film industry" in Japan, while his well-known nicknames "Nagata Trumpet" and "Fixer of political world" were given due to his boasting behaviors and connections with political circles.^[4]^[5]^[6] Nagata was also known for his friendship with Walt Disney where Disney called him a "brother", and had associated in Disney-related businesses such as distributions of Disney films by Daiei Film, publication of Bambi, a Life in the Woods,^{[note 1]} construction of Nara Dreamland, and so on.^[8]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Masaichi Nagata
Nagata at the 27th Academy Awards
Born	(1906-01-21)21 January 1906 Kyoto, Japan
Died	24 October 1985(1985-10-24) (aged 79) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation(s)	Daiei president, film producer, baseball executive
Years active	1925–1980
Children	2^[1]
Baseball career
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1988

His biological and non-biological relatives include a film and television producer Mamoru Nagata (jp) (grandson),^[9] Masashi Nagata who is the current chairman of Nagata Kikaku founded by Masaichi (grandson),^[4] a businessman Masao Nagata known as the youtuber "Nagata Trumpet" (great-grandson),^[10] Ichikawa Raizō VIII's wife Masako (adopted daughter),^[11] and his nephew-in-law Masayuki Tayayama (jp) is the first professional taiko player in Japan.^[12]

Film industry

Born in Kyoto, Nagata attended the Ōkura Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō (now Tokyo Keizai University), but left before graduating.^[13] He joined the Nikkatsu studio in 1925 and, after working as a location manager, rose to become head of production at the Kyoto studio.^[14] Experiencing conflicts with the Nikkatsu president, he left the company in 1934, taking many Nikkatsu stars with him, to form Daiichi Eiga.^[14] While short-lived, that studio created such masterpieces as Kenji Mizoguchi's Sisters of the Gion (1936) and Osaka Elegy (1936). When Daiichi Eiga folded, Nagata became head of the Kyoto studio of Shinkō Kinema until the government reorganized the industry during World War Two. Against a government plan to combine the fiction film companies into two studios, Nagata fought hard for the alternative option of creating a third studio.^[15] His efforts resulted in the creation of the Daiei Motion Picture Company, where he first served as an executive.^[14] He rose to become president in 1947 and, apart from a brief period when he was purged by Occupation authorities, remained in that position until 1971.^[13]

Under his reign, Daiei produced Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) and entered it in the Venice Film Festival, where it won the grand prize and became the first Japanese film to win an international award,^[16] thus introducing Japanese cinema to the world. Nagata also spurred the production of Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell (1953), the first Japanese color film to be shown abroad, earning both an honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film^[17] and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.^[18] Nagata also produced such renowned films as Mizoguchi's Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho the Bailiff (1954), as well as Jokyo (which was entered into the 10th Berlin International Film Festival^[19]). On the popular front, Nagata's Daiei was also known for such successful film series as the Zatoichi films starring Shintaro Katsu, the Sleepy Eyes of Death series featuring Raizō Ichikawa, and the Gamera movies.

Due to the decline of the film industry, and Nagata's extravagant expenditures, Daiei went bankrupt in 1971,^[13] but he continued as an independent producer for some years after that. He produced more than 160 films during his career.^[20]

Baseball

During the age when many Japanese film studios owned professional baseball teams, Nagata served as owner first of the Daiei Stars, and then of the Daimai Orions when the Stars merged with the Mainichi Orions in 1958.^[13] He promoted the two-league system, helped build Tokyo Stadium, and became the first president of the Pacific League in Japan.^[3] He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.^[3]

Miscellaneous

Masaichi had engaged in various other businesses most notably the horse racing. He became a horse owner (jp) in 1934, and owned several notable horses such as Yamaichi,a foal of Kurifuji, Toast (jp), the mare of Lucky Ruler (jp), Otemon (jp), and Tokino Minoru; Masaichi later produced the 1955 drama film The Phantom Horse based on the episodes of Tokino Minoru.^[5] Masaichi later became the vice-president of the Tokyo Racehorse Owners' Association, and contributed in the establishment of the Japan Racing Association as a commissioner.^[21]

Nagata's competence for managements were also demonstrated in his performances as the first president and a temporal manager of the sports newspaper Tokyo Sports (due to his connection with Yoshio Kodama) to make it into a major national daily,^[22] as the business delegate of Pepsi in Japan,^[23] and as a commissioner (jp) of the Japan Sumo Association.

Nagata was also a patronage of Schools of the Sacred Heart in Japan (jp), and contributed in its expansion notably by contriving resources through managing the palace of the Kuni-no-miya house.^[24]

Nagata also became an influential figure on political circles and was regarded as a political fixer.^[25] Nagata used his connections with the political world to establish The Japanese Film Export Promotion Association (Japanese: 日本映画輸出振興協会, Hepburn: Nihon Eiga Yusyutsu Shinkō Kyōkai), a governmental incorporated association to support declining Japanese film industries due to a recession of Japanese economy and the prosperity of television industries,^[26]^[27] however his position also made him as one of 14 suspects for the corruption of the Bushu Railway (jp), however five of them including Nagata were eventually acquitted.^[6]

As an enthusiastic Buddhist of Nichiren-shū, Nagata was also an influential figure and became the representative of worshippers (jp).^[28] Masaichi declared it is his lifework to produce productions depicting the life of Nichiren, and Nichiren to Mōko Daishūrai (1958) and Nichiren (1979) were produced by Masaichi,^{[note 2]} and a number of worshippers of Nichiren-shū were appointed for the latter.^[30]^[31]

Careers

Film industry

Baseball

Miscellaneous

Selected filmography

Awards

Bibliography

Notes

References

External links

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