Taihei Imamura

Who was Taihei Imamura?

Taihei Imamura was a Japanese film critic and film theorist. Born in Saitama Prefecture, he attended the Kobe University of Commerce but left before graduating. In 1935 he helped found the film dojinshi Eiga shūdan. Writing from a left-wing perspective, he was a strong advocate of the realistic aspects of cinema and thus a champion of documentary film. He was also the first in Japan to pursue an extensive study of animated film. After World War II, he became the publisher of the journals Eiga bunka and Eizō bunka. In his later years, he penned a study of the novelist Naoya Shiga. He published over 27 books during his career.

Anime directors such as Isao Takahata have expressed their debt to Imamura and Studio Ghibli has republished his book on animation, Manga eigaron.