Actor

Masaki Kobayashi

Directing

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Acting credits

Early stage

Smaller on-screen catalog so far.

TMDB popularity

0.9

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 33Series: 3Crew credits: 34

TMDB ID: 76978

IMDb ID: nm0462030

Known for: Directing

Born: February 14, 1916

Died: October 4, 1996

Age: 80

Place of birth: Otaru, Hokkaidō, Japan

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1931 - 2024

Years active: 94

Average TMDB rating: 7.53

Wikidata: Q445807

Also known as

Масаки Кобаяси • 小林正树 • 고바야시 마사키 • 코바야시 마사키 • 마사키 고바야시 • 마사키 코바야시

Other jobs

Director (21)Assistant Director (4)Screenplay (4)Executive Producer (2)Creator (1)Producer (1)Thanks (1)

TMDB TMDB IMDb IMDb W Wikidata

Biography

Masaki Kobayashi (小林正樹, Kobayashi Masaki; February 14, 1916 – October 4, 1996) 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.