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Remembering Tsuburaya

4.1.2021

Eiji Tsuburaya is known as the Father of Japanese Tokusatsu (special effects). And indeed he is. He brought Godzilla to life in 1954. He created Ultraman whose legacy and unmatched tv series continues until this very day. A framed photo of Tsuburaya-san has hung on my wall for decades. My earliest memories of Godzilla were connected to him. My earliest U.S.-based magazines featured him and/or mentioned him in their articles about Godzilla. Godzilla’s success is attributable to his genius. Today, I received in the mail the Tuesday, January 27, 1970, edition of The Chunichi Sports newspaper (中日スポーツ, 火曜日 1月27日, ©中部日本新聞社 1970年, 名古屋市中区丸三丁目 12-21, 定価430円), notifying its readers of the passing of director Eiji Tsuburaya, two days later. Below is a transcription and translation of the article.

ゴジラなど怪獣生みの親
特撮の円谷監督死去
The creator of monsters such as Godzilla
Special effects director Tsuburaya dies

ゴジラ、アンギラスなど怪獣の生みの親で〝特撮の神様〞といわれた円谷(つぶらや)英二さん(本名•英一、六十八歳)が狭心症で死んだ。映画生活四十五年——数々の怪獣を考えだしたほか戦争映画の特撮シーンを作り、監督の黒沢明、スターの三船敏郎とともに日本映画界の誇る〝世界のツブラヤ〞だった。円谷さんの一生はアイデアと努力、そして無類の子供好き。その半画、米国映画から札束を積んで特撮技術を買いに来たとき「僕は日本の円谷だ」と突っぱねた骨っぽい人でもあった。

Eiji Tsuburaya (real name • Eiichi, 68 years old), who was the creator of monsters such as Godzilla and Anguirus and was said to be the “god of special effects,” died of angina. Forty-five years of film life — In addition to devising numerous monsters, he created special effects scenes for war movies, and along with director Akira Kurosawa and star Toshiro Mifune; it was the “Tsuburaya World” that the Japanese movie world is proud of. Tsuburaya’s life is an idea, effort, and an unrivaled love for children. He was also a bone-like person who said, “I’m Tsuburaya in Japan,” when he came to buy special effects technology with a wad of bills from an American movie.

円谷さんの最後の映画は作年夏の東宝「日本海大海戦」だった。バルチック艦隊のミニチュアをいっぱいにちらばしたセットの片すみで、いつもの温顔をみせながら「きびしい条件ですよ。時間的にも、経済的にも」と汗をふいていた。その後、東宝の正月映画「オール怪獣大進撃」を第子にまかせて監修しただけ。十二月から静岡県•伊東の別荘にこもり、静養していたが、二十五日午後十時十五分、狭心症で息を引き取った。

Tsuburaya-san’s last movie was Toho’s “Nihonkai Daikaisen” in the summer of the year. In one corner of a set full of Baltic Fleet miniatures, he sweated, “It’s a tough condition, both in terms of time and money,” while showing his usual warm face. After that, he just supervised Toho’s New Year movie “All Monsters Attack” by leaving it to his first child. He had been resting in a villa in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture since December, but died of angina at 10:15 pm on the 25th.

カメラマンで映画へ
円谷さんは福島県賀川市出身。十七歳の時、パイロット志望で上京、飛行学校に通った。卒業後、オモチャの無電器や新型ローラースケートで特許をとった。その金で職工に酒をおごったさい、天然色活動写真の撮影技師と知り合い、映画界へ足をふみ入れることになった。スタートはカメラマンで当時から監督が驚くような新しいトリック手法を考案していた。

To the movie with a cameraman
Tsuburaya is from Kagawa City, Fukushima Prefecture. When he was seventeen, he went to Tokyo and attended a flight school as a pilot. After graduating, he patented toy-free appliances and new roller skates. After spending the money on a craftsman, he became acquainted with a photographer of natural color activity photography and decided to enter the movie world. At the start he was a photographer, and from that time the director had devised a surprising new trick method.

昭和十二年東宝入りしてから、本領を発揮、とくに昭和十七年の「ハワイマレー沖海戦」での特殊撮影効果は円谷の名をいっきょに高めだ。戦後は怪獣ものに手ののばし昭和二十九年の「ゴジラ」でアメリカの〝キングコング〞に対抗する怪獣を発場させ、大きな反響をよび、海外にも輸出されて〝世界のツブラヤ〞に——。円谷さんの手になった特撮映画は怪獣もの、戦争もの合わせて二十六本。

Since entering Toho in 1937, he has demonstrated his true abilities, and in particular, the special shooting effect of the “The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya” in 1942 made Tsuburaya famous. After the war, he reached for monsters in the 1954 “Godzilla,” he launched the monster against the American “King Kong,” and it received a great response and was exported overseas to “Tsuburaya World” ——. Tsuburaya-san has 26 special effects movies, including monsters and war movies.

関係者は口をそろえて「すばらしい人だったのに」と死を惜しんでいる。「ゴジラ」以来十数本共同で仕事して来た本多猪四郎監督は「作年、撮影の時、円谷さんが白いクスリを飲んでいるので、何ですかと聞いたらん心臓のクスリだようっておっしゃってました。でもこんなに早く死なれるとは——。実に人間の大きな方で、自分のもとを去った第子がまた戻って来ても、ふところを開いて迎えてくれる人だった。育てられた若い人たちが円谷さんの死を乗り越えてえて進んでほしいです」と絶賛。

Staff are mourning his death, saying, “He was a wonderful person.” Director Ishiro Honda, who has worked with him on more than a dozen films since “Godzilla,” said, “Mr. Tsuburaya is drinking white meds at the time of shooting, so if you ask what it is, it seems to be a meds of the heart. He said that he can die so quickly —. He is a big human being, and even if the second child who left himself comes back, he will open his heart and welcome him. I wants the young people who were brought up to overcome Mr. Tsuburaya’s death and move forward. “

若いころは酒好きだったが、晩年はぷっつりとやめた。タバコは1日六十本以上で「肺ガンになりますよ」と周囲が心配していたが、いつもじょうぶで、スタッフがつぎつぎカゼで倒れた時も、ひとり健康だった。円谷プロは一番第子の有川貞昌監督が中心にいままで通り特撮映画をとっていく。

He used to like sake when he was young, but in his later years he quit. He was worried that he would get lung cancer with more than 60 cigarettes a day, but he was always fine and he was healthy when the staff fell down one after another. Tsuburaya Productions will continue to shoot special effects films, centered on director Sadamasa Arikawa, the first child.

なお葬儀日程は二十七日午後七時から東京•世田谷区祖師ヶ谷の自宅で通夜。二十九日午後一時から東宝特撮所で友人葬。喪主は長男、円谷一氏。

The funeral schedule starts at 7:00 pm on the 27th and goes to night at his home in Soshigaya, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. From 1 pm on the 29th, a friend was buried at Toho Tokusatsu. The mourner is his eldest son, Hajime Tsuburaya.

Caption
ありし日の円谷英二監督=得意のミニチュアセットの前で(東宝特撮所)
Director Eiji Tsuburaya = In front of his favorite miniature set (Toho Tokusatsu)

Source: 中日スポーツ, 火曜日 1月27日, ©中部日本新聞社 1970年, 名古屋市中区丸三丁目 12-21.

Chunichi Sports is a daily sports newspaper published by Chunichi Shimbun, whose main sales area is the Tokai and Hokuriku regions of Japan. First published on February 25, 1954 (Showa 29). Abbreviation Chunichi Sports. (Source: Wikipedia). Visit Chunichi.co.jp.