The Yagi Brothers

八木康栄・勘寿(やぎ・やすえい、やぎ・かんじゅ)

Yagi Yasuei/Kanju (Yasuei Yagi, Kanju Yagi)

「ゴジラ」の造形メンバーだった八木康栄・勘寿は実の兄弟で、「ハワイ・マレー沖海戦」(42年)では、特撮に使用する人形作りを手伝い、祖師谷時代の円谷特殊技術研究所でも円谷英二と親しく付き合っていたという。その関係から、「ゴジラ」の着ぐるみ製作に誘われたようだ。担当はボディ作り。菊人形を専門に製作する会社で人形造形をしていた関係から、まず全身を竹ひごと針金と金網で造り、その上に和紙を貼っていくという手順で着ぐるみを作っていたようだ。「ゴジラ」の造形助手だった鈴木儀雄は兄弟の印象を「八木兄弟の兄、康栄さんは職人中の職人で黙々と仕事をする人。弟の勘寿さんは、性格がハッキリしていて、作り物にダメだし(する人)」(井上英之著「検証ゴジラ誕生」より)と語っている。なお、勘寿の子息が造形会社エキスプロの創設者、八木正夫である。(白石雅彦)

Yagi Yagi and Kanju, who were part of the modeling team for “Godzilla,” are real brothers. They helped make dolls for special effects during the “The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya” (1942), and also worked at the Tsuburaya Special Technology Research Institute during the Soshiya era. It is said that he was close friends with Eiji Tsuburaya. Because of this relationship, it seems that he was invited to create a “Godzilla” costume. I am in charge of making the body. Since he worked as a doll maker at a company that specialized in making chrysanthemum dolls, it seems that he first made the entire body out of bamboo strips, wire, and wire mesh, and then pasted Japanese paper on top of it. Yoshio Suzuki, who was a modeling assistant on Godzilla, gave his impression of the brothers: “The older brother of the Yagi brothers, Yasuei, is a craftsman among craftsmen and someone who works silently. His younger brother, Kanju, has a clear personality and is no good at making things up,” he says (from Hideyuki Inoue’s “The Birth of Godzilla”). Furthermore, Kanju’s son is Masao Yagi, the founder of the modeling company Expro. (Masahiko Shiraishi)