Masaki Kobayashi

Japanese film director (1916–1996)

  • Fame54.4
  • Momentum0.0
  • Wikipedia12.6K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1916–1996, aged 80Japan
Japan flagJapanDirectorsMovie Director
  • Wikipedia
    31 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1916–1996
    Aged 80
  • Awards
    5
    recognised works
Summary
Updated 2026-06-18

Masaki Kobayashi was a Japanese filmmaker. He is best remembered for directing the epic war trilogy The Human Condition (1959–1961), the samurai films Harakiri (1962) and Samurai Rebellion (1967), and the horror anthology epic Kwaidan (1964). Senses of Cinema described him as "one of the finest depicters of Japanese society in the 1950s and 1960s." Although overshadowed by other Japanese filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu in his lifetime, his work has gained wider traction in the 21st century with several of his films being ranked as some of the greatest films ever made.

Deep cuts

Awards

Low confidence
  • Medal with Purple Ribbon
  • Sutherland Trophy
  • Jury Prize
Where to find them

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By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
54.4
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Historical21.4
Source confidence65.0
Completeness75.0
Global rank
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Category rank
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