Shigeru Wakatsuki

Wakatsuki was born Shigeru Yoneyama (米山 繁, Yoneyama Shigeru)^[1] between 1914^[2] and 1915^[1] in Niigata Prefecture.^[1][2] As a student, he was involved in student activism^[3] and became interested in making a film adaptation after reading Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.^[4] After graduating from Chuo University, he worked as the editor-in-chief of several publications, including Kamakura Bunko [ja] and Chuokoron-Shinsha.^[2][5] During World War II, he was a reporter and journalist for Kaizō.^[1] He also wrote under the pen name Shun Morishita (森下 俊, Morishita Shun).^[2] On January 29, 1944, Wakatsuki and three of his colleagues at Kaizōsha were arrested by the Special Higher Police for printing communist essays. They suffered government oppression regarding free speech in what became known as the Yokohama incident.^[6] As a suspected communist, he was subsequently tortured by the Special Higher Police.^[5]

After the war, he worked as a journalist before transitoning to film in 1954,^[1] as the representative director and president of Ninjin Club, a company co-founded by his cousin-in-law, actress Keiko Kishi; Wakatsuki became a film producer in 1955.^[7] He attempted to fulfill his longtime dream of making Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things into a film, eventually succeeding in 1964 after a decade of development hell, with Kwaidan.^[4] His other producing credits included the epic war trilogy The Human Condition (1959–1961), The Inheritance, Love Under the Crucifix (both 1962), and Pale Flower (1964); his final credit was for Empire of Passion (1978).^[8]

Wakatsuki died on December 10, 1987, at the age of 72 or 73.^[1]