King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Masahiro Shinoda

Japanese film director and screenwriter

Born
9 March 1931, Gifu
Died
25 March 2025
Citizenship
Japan
Occupation
film director, screenwriter
Films here
3

Masahiro Shinoda (篠田 正浩, Shinoda Masahiro; March 9, 1931 – March 25, 2025) was a Japanese film director, whose career spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio from 1960 to 1965, before turning to independent cinema from 1966 onward. His film style was characterized by socially marginalized characters, many of whom turn to crime or suicide, and meticulous attention to pictorial beauty. He drew on traditional Japanese fiction and theater and some of his films bear the influence of Kenji Mizoguchi, whom he admired.

Filmography (martial arts films)

YearFilmCredit
1964AssassinationDirector
1965Samurai SpyDirector
1999Owls' CastleDirector

Frequent collaborators

External links

Facts from Wikidata Q1886953 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.