logo

Yuharu Atsuta's pocket notebooks

text by Junji Hori

As Yasujiro Ozu left 32 diaries in addition to 54 films (of which 36 films exist), his cameraman, Yuharu Atsuta, also left 55 pocket notebooks that are divided into three categories: 35 diaries, 13 memorandums during shooting, and 7 miscellaneous notebooks. *1

Pocket Note

The existing diaries of Atsuta extend from 1953 to 1972 (his last year in Shochiku), except the years 1966 and 1970. It means that they do not give us information on his apprenticeship with Ozu from 1928, on fine teamwork with Hiroshi Shimizu in the late 1930s, on the Singapore period, and on teamwork with Yasushi Sasaki just after the end of the war.

Diaries testify that a decade between 1953 (the year of Tokyo Story) and 1963 (the year of Ozu's death) was most fruitful years for Atsuta; in fact, as a cinematographer, he participated in 36 film shootings - 40 percent of his whole films - during those years, of which 7 films are with Ozu (all his Shochiku works from Tokyo Story to An Autumn Afternoon), 6 are with Hideo Ooba (Zangiku Story etc.), 9 are with Noboru Nakamura (Kiken Ryoko etc.), and 2 are with Masaki Kobayashi (I'll Buy You, Black River). Irrespective of his constant participation in film shooting, in one year he stops writing in June, while in another year he keeps two detailed diaries at the same time. On 12 December, 1963, the date of Ozu's death, the column is blank. And diaries lose momentum after that. There are three detailed diaries of 1964, all of which are interrupted in the middle of the year. The diary of 1965 is also interrupted. The diary of 1966 does not exist, and there are few writings in the existing diaries after 1967. This decrease in quantity of description corresponds to his dark days; while he had been shooting three or four films a year before 1964, he shot only six mediocre films from 1964 to 1967, and after that he spent five years in Shochiku without shooting any films.

Pocket NotePocket Note
Fig.1
The first day of shooting of Tokyo Story (from 1953a)
Fig.2
The next year of Ozu's death (from 1964c)
Opening any of Atsuta's small diaries, one must be surprised at the fact that it crams into one page an enormous amount of very small letters written scrupulously with a sharp-pointed pen. It somehow resembles the decorous composition of Ozu's works. While the contents of Ozu's postwar diaries, as those of his films do, contain signs of serene life, the formal density of Atsuta's diaries exposes his desire to control strictly the interior of a given frame.

With regard to content, the largest difference between the two is that while Ozu noted only minimum information regarding timetable, Atsuta obsessionally recorded detailed timetable - times of getting up, going out for work, getting on a train, coming home and going to bed etc.. For example, this is what he wrote on the first day of shooting of Tokyo Story. "25 July, Sat. Ozu group shooting starts. Set, No.6 stage, scrivener, S.N.96 ([Chishu] Ryu, [Hisao] Toake, Hattori [Eijiro Tono plays the role]) Shooting starts at 10:20 a.m. Ends at 6:20 p.m." (fig.1) In the midst of Onomichi location, he wrote: "16 August, Sun. Starting at 4 a.m. Near Jodoji, At Mr.Matsumoto's house, S.N.152, a view, Ryu. Shooting starts at 5:30 a.m. 6:20, near Jodoji, a view, a train, Mr.Miyake's roof. 12 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. rest. At 14 Tsutsui elementary school, near Jodoji. Shooting ends at 4 p.m. Back to the inn." Since the process of shooting is recorded minutely, his diaries are almost synonymous with the shooting schedule sheet of a corresponding film. Other than the shooting period, it is not rare that the number of recorded times is as many as seven or eight a day. For example, on 20 January, 1964, when he was preparing for a conversation which was going to be held at 31 January in Modern Museum, he wrote: "Fair. It's fine weather. Get up at 9:30 a.m. Breakfast at 10 a.m. Read newspaper and rest for a while. Cleaning at noon. End at 14, rest for a while. At 16 get cold, hurry to the public bathroom. Return at 17, look after Yuichi. After a short rest, look over the shooting journal of Tokyo Story. Go to bed at 22:30. Chat with Miyoko, go to sleep at 1 a.m." (fig.2) In addition to scarcity of remarks, the detailed description of time makes his diaries less subjective. While Ozu's postwar diaries reveal his dilettantism in spite of lack in direct sentiments, Atsuta's diaries reflect his craftsmanship all the more because they thoroughly lack subjectivity. The impression one acquires from their diaries urges us to reconsider the prevailing stereotype of Ozu and Atsuta during shooting that the former sets out severe requirements and the latter, grasping the idea of the director, softens the atmosphere. *2

Pocket Note
Fig.3
During location hunting of Tokyo Story (from 1953b). A graveyard Shiro Osaka looks during his mother's funeral is still now in Fukuzenji. Jodoji, a garden lantern (Joyato in Sumiyoshi shrine) and Central Pier still preserve the atmosphere of those days.

What is the value of Atsuta's diaries if they have only information on objective data that can be found elsewhere? To begin with, his diaries sometimes substitute the unrecorded parts of Ozu's diaries. In the postwar period, Ozu generally kept a diary while writing a scenario with Kougo Noda, as if the excessive passion for writing overflowed the diaries. Except some memorandums in 1949, his postwar diaries begin in 1951. From Early Summer (1951) to Tokyo Story (1953), the description is limited to the period of the scenario writing. It follows that his diaries do not let us know about location hunting, shooting, editing, and dubbing. On the other hand, Atsuta's writings cover from location hunting to the end of shooting. *3 Atsuta also makes up Ozu's lack of description on Tokyo Twilight (1957), Equinox Flower (1958) - in 1958, Ozu's writings are limited to January -, and An Autumn Afternoon (1962). Atsuta's documents on Equinox Flower and An Autumn Afternoon are especially detailed. Since the document of the inside on The Munekata Sisters (made in Shintoho=Toho, 1950) was already published *4, and Ozu's own writings cover all the processes of movie making on Floating Weeds (made in Daiei, 1959) and The End of Summer (made in Takarazuka=Toho, 1961), Atsuta's diaries are extremely valuable in that they compensate for material insufficiency of some important Shochiku works.

Pocket Note
Fig.4
During location hunting of Tokyo Story (from 1953b). For the scenes in Osaka, where the old couple drops in on account of wife's sickness.

It is rather one-sided to measure the descriptive value of Atsuta's diaries in the light of Ozu alone. It is true that his life as a cinematographer would be unimaginable without Ozu, under whom he went through a long assistant period (1928-1937) and shot all the Shochiku films after that. Still, he is not only a cinematographer of 15 Ozu films but also a cinematographer of as many as 75 films varying from musical to suspense with main Shochiku directors like Hiroshi Shimizu, Yasushi Sasaki, Noboru Nakamura, Hideo Ooba and Masaki Kobayashi. He says, "When working with other directors, I make it a rule to try techniques that would be impracticable with Ozu." *5 His ability as a whole as a cinematographer cannot be fully estimated only by the works of Ozu. It is true that he did not blindly obey Ozu but contributed creatively to the works by supplying many good technical tips; the fact that he modestly called himself "camera-ban", which means a camera watchman, does not reveal his blind obedience to Ozu but only shows his bufoonery in playing with the mythic image of Ozu as a tyrannic perfectionist. Still, to fully recognize his contribution to Ozu's films, we cannot neglect his collaborative experiences with other directors. *6

With regard to Atsuta's collaboration with other directors, 13 memorandums during shooting are noteworthy. Among them are memos, maps and rough sketches during location hunting of Tokyo Story (fig.3, 4), compositional rough sketches on Aokusa ni Zasu(1954) and Daigaku ha Deta Keredo(1955), a colored scene table of Equinox Flower, and memos and preliminary sketches on Ano Oka Koete (1951, when a diary wasn't written) starring Hibari Misora. (fig.5) Since Atsuta left virtually no draft sketches on Ozu's films, of which compositions and camera positions were decided by the director himself, these drafts on other directors' works have scarce value. These unformed sketches, sometimes indecipherable, provide a striking contrast to his conscientious diaries and hint his spurt of images and sense of space.

Fig.5
Preliminary ske-tches of Ano Oka Koete (from 1951)
Fig.6
Films Atsuta saw on 10, 11 February, 1954 (from 1953c)

The rest of notebooks are seven miscellaneous notebooks. Two of them are like memo pads that are smaller than ordinary notebooks. One of the others holds remarks of George Sidney's Bathing Beauty (1944), which read: "main characters, on the crane with the camera, a moving shot. Higher than people in the background." Another is a notebook with a list of 50 movies Atsuta saw between late 1953 and early 1954. The list is mostly composed of only movie titles, companies, and names of directors and cinematographers, but sometimes Atsuta wrote short remarks. For example, on Charles Waters' Lili (1953) starring Leslie Caron, he wrote he was greatly impressed by the effect of halftone produced by Robert Plank, a cinematographer. He also noted that Shane's George Stevens was a former cinematographer. (fig.6) He saw without inclination both Japanese films and foreign films, but there are only a few French and Italian films on the list -Duvivier's La Fte ˆ Henriette and Rossellini's Stromboli etc.- because they are not so often released then. On the cover of Atsuta's scenario (Youki na Wataridori), there is a doodle that writes: "Joe MacDonald, a Japanese Lee Garmes, the master Atsuta Yuharu." We can imagine him learning greedily the techniques of Hollywood through films shot by MacDonald, Garmes, William Daniels, Victor Milner, etc. *7

1939 Kuwa no Mi wa Akai Year unlisted. A week's memos during shooting in August.
1942 Sumida Gawa, Daigaku wa Deta Keredo Year unlisted. Neatly written scene list, memos, sketches. Year rather doubtful.
1951 Ano Oka Koete Year unlisted. The list of films he shot under each director. Scene list(location/set), sketches on Ano Oka Koete.
1952 . Year unlisted. Only a few pages written. Remarks on George Sidney's Bathing Beauty (1944, released in 1952 in Japan): Close ups in profile are rare in Japanese films but abundant in American films.
1953a Yume Miru Hitobito, Shimai, Youki na Tenshi, Tokyo Story, Bankara Shain The earliest diary. A week per two pages. Four or five lines each day except August and December. Shooting Tokyo Story from June to October.
1953b Tokyo Story Year unlisted. Memos during location hunting. Maps and memos of possible sites in Onomichi and Osaka. The list of scenes shot in location.
1953c . Year unlisted. About 50 films seen by him between late 1953 and early 1954. Some remarks. Fragmentary memos on Tokyo Story (June and July, 1953). Movie titles are also written in 1954a. Sometimes he saw two or three films a day.
1953d Tokyo Story Shooting schedule sheet written in much later years.
1954a Bankara Shain, Aokusa ni Zasu, Kimi ni Chikaishi, Daigaku ha Deta Keredo, Otoko Daigaku Sinkon Kyoushitsu Same as the previous year except lacks of just after shootings etc. He saw many films in the first quarter of the year. In addition to 1953c, 30 films seen are listed at the end of this notebook.
1954b Aokusa ni Zasu Year unlisted. Scene list(location/set), sketches, diary drafts.
1955a Otoko Daigaku Shinkon Kyoushitsu, Hibari no Musume Sendosan, Early Spring Few writings until the middle of May. Letters become a little smaller from the end of June. Two diaries exist this year.
1955b Hibari no Musume Sendosan, Me no Kabe Few writings until February. Diary drafts of 1958 (during shooting of Me no Kabe) are on pages after March. The same writings are copied out in 1958a.
1956 Early Spring, Koko ni Sachi ari, Hareta Hi ni, I'll Buy You A week per page. Same amounts as before. Very small letters. Substantial descriptions throughout the year.
1957a Tokyo Twilight, Tokyo Odori, Black River A week per page. Written throughout the year. After finishing Black River in October, he often went to a movie. This is because he did not shoot any films until February the next year except location hunting of Ozu's A Poor Actor. Two diaries exist this year.
1957b Wakai Hiroba, Kiken Ryoko, Wakai Sugao, Asu eno Seisou A week per two pages. Used as a memo pad. Records of Wakai Hiroba (February, 1958) on March, Kiken Ryoko (May, 1959) on May, diary drafts (August and October, 1959) at the end.
1958a Wakai Hiroba, Equinox Flower, Me no Kabe, Haru wo Matsu Hitobito, Good Morning Working nonstop from location hunting of suspended film, A Poor Actor, to that of Good Morning. A week per two pages. A solid record. Monthly schedule at the beginning gives an overview of the year. Two diaries exist this year. Drafts are found in 1955b.
1958b Wakai Hiroba, Equinox Flower, Me no Kabe, Haru wo Matsu Hitobito, Good Morning Simplified version of 1958a. Neatly written. Many blank pages after September.
1958c Equinox Flower, Late Autumn Year unlisted. Scene tables, scene list(location/set) on Equinox Flower, drafts, some scene titles of Late Autumn, etc.
1959a Good Morning, Kiken Ryoko, Wakai Sugao, Asu eno Seisou, Shu no Kafun With monthly schedule. Busy all year. Detailed shooting processes except June and August. Two diaries exist this year. Drafts are found in 1957b.
1959b Good Morning, Kiken Ryoko With monthly schedule filled up to May. Until the end of May. Drafts at the end.
1959c Shu no Kafun Year unlisted. Drafts of November and December, which are not copied out in 1959a. Some scene titles.
1960a Shu no Kafun, Irohanihoheto, Late Autumn A week per page (left side) plus a blank page (right side). No writings in April and May, stops at the beginning of July. Two diaries exist this year.
1960b Late Autumn Almost the same diary as 1960a. Records of Late Autumn (June, July and August).
1960c Late Autumn Year unlisted Scene list(location/set), etc.
1960d Late Autumn Year unlisted. Memos, drafts.
1961a Kakou With monthly schedule. This year he started working from April, because of the cancellation of Ooba's work. A week per two pages. Stops in June. Three diaries exist this year.
1961b Kakou, Senkyaku Banrai A week per page (left side). The list of films he saw etc. on the right side. Stops in June, restarts on 15, December.
1961c Kakou A week per two pages. Monthly schedule until May, written until the middle of April.
1961d Kakou Some scene titles, drafts.
1962a Aizen Katsura, An Autumn Afternoon, Sakikosan Chotto A week per two pages. Eight lines a day. Two diaries exist this year.
1962b Aizen Katsura, An Autumn Afternoon, Sakikosan Chotto A week per page (left side). Simplified version of 1962a.
1962c Aizen Katsura Year unlisted. Scene list(location/set), etc.
1963a Ano Hito wa Ima, Kekkonshiki Kekkonshiki, Zangiku Story A week per page (left side). Many lacks during shooting. A week's blank after Ozu's death.
1963b Ano Hito wa Ima, Kekkonshiki Kekkonshiki Year unlisted. Drafts etc.
1963c . Written only in the first half of January.
1963d . Year unlisted. Memos, stamps.
1964a Nagisa wo Kakeru Onna A week per page (left side). Written sporadically until July. Two diaries exist this year.
1964b Nagisa wo Kakeru Onna With monthly schedule until July. Opens lengthwise. A week per page (upper side). Written sporadically until July.
1964c . Year unlisted. A week per two pages. Seven or eight lines a day until the beginning of February.
1965a . A week per page (left side.) Written until the beginning of July.
1965b Wakai Nobara A5 size. Scene list(location/set), etc.
1966 Yokobori Gawa Year unlisted. Five pages only. Some scene titles.
1967a . Three days's memos in January.
1967b . Written only at the end of February.
1968a . Written only at the beginning of January and February.
1968b . Untouched.
1968c . A week per page. A few lines per day until the end of June.
1969a . Written for about two months in May and June.
1969b . Written only at the middle of February.
1971 . A week per page. Larger than ordinary ones. From the end of March to the end of April.
1972 . Three days's memos in January.
Date unknown A white tiny notebook for calculations and memos.
Date unknown A green tiny notebook for calculations and memos.
Date unknown Guidebook of mah-jong. Untouched.
Date unknown A few memos.

N.B.1 The correspondence to the categorisation at the beginning is as follows. Thirteen memorandums during shooting indicate 1939, 1942, 1951, 1953b, 1953d, 1954b, 1958c, 1959c, 1960c, 1961d, 1962c, 1965b and 1966. Seven miscellaneous notebooks are 1952, 1953c, 1963d, and four date-unknown notebooks. Others are used as 35 diaries. However, the boundaries are sometimes not clear. 1953b was certainly used during location hunting, but 1958c was probably written at home preparing for the shooting. In 1954c, diary drafts and scene list are mixed. For those reasons, the classification is an expedient.

N.B.2 "Year unlisted" means that the year is not written on the cover of the notebooks. It is easy to specify the year when a notebook is used for a diary, but otherwise we have to judge from contents. When a notebook is used for a definite purpose (1953c, 1958c, etc.), or is used only a few pages (1939, 1952, 1966, etc.), we can identify the year with high probability. But 1942 remains doubtful. This is only a tentative identification.


*1 See the chronological list of 55 notebooks with comments at the end of this article. With regard to Ozu's diaries, see Masasumi Tanaka(ed.), The Diaries, Ozu Yasujiro (in Japanese), Film Artsha, 1993 (translated into French by Josiane Pinon-KawatakŽ, Yasujiro OZU Carnets 1933-1963, ƒditions Alive, 1996.), and Masaaki Tsuzuki, Ozu Yasujiro's diaries (in Japanese), Kodansha, 1993. Shozo Ishizaka, Ozu Yasujiro and the mansion Chigasaki (in Japanese), Shinchosha, 1995 also includes Ozu's diaries during writing Tokyo Story.
*2 For example, see a nonfiction novel about Ozu (Osamu Takahashi, A Gorgeous Silhouette (in Japanese), Bunshun-bunko, 1985, p.46-47), and Chishu Ryu, Ofuna Nikki, memories of Mr.Ozu Yasujiro (in Japanese), Fusosha, 1991, p.142-144.
*3 However, as he began writing in 1953, there is no documents on Early Summer and The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice.
*4 Kenji Nagai, The Man Possessed by Ozu Yasujiro, Life and Death of an art director Shimogawara Tomoo (in Japanese), Filmart-sha, 1990.
*5 Yuharu Atsuta, Shigehiko Hasumi, Ozu Yasujiro Story (in Japanese), Chikuma-shobo, 1989, p.204.
*6 On the collaborative experiences with other directors than Ozu, see ibid., chapter VIII, and Masao Saito et al (ed.), Because We Forget Important Things (in Japanese, interviews concerning Shochiku Ofuna Studio), Magazine House, 1995, p.74ff (on Hiroshi Shimizu), p.109ff, p.211ff (on Hideo Ooba).
*7 On relations between Atsuta and foreign cinematographers, see Atsuta and Hasumi, op.cit., p.83-84.


Previous Page Contents Page Next Page