First published in 1983, Shiguéhiko Hasumi's Directed by Yasujirō Ozu has become one of the most influential books on cinema written in Japanese. This pioneering translation brings Hasumi's landmark work to an English-speaking public for the first time, inviting a new readership to engage with this astutely observed, deeply moving meditation on the oeuvre of one of the giants of world cinema. Complemented by a critical introduction from acclaimed film scholar Aaron Gerow and rendered fluidly in Ryan Cook's agile translation, this volume will grace the shelves of cinephiles for many years to come.

""For those of us who don't read kanji, or who struggle to make their way through Hasumi 's sentences, whose length rivals Proust or Henry James, this meticulous and precise version, in direct contact with the text, with a side, a maverick supplement, will be a landmark." —East Asia

"Hasumi’s Directed by Yasujiro Ozu is a distinctive view of a much- discussed director, making this an overdue but very timely and welcome publication."—Cineaste

"Shiguéhiko Hasumi is, quite simply, the greatest film critic in the world. We are finally able to savor his magisterial classic on Ozu, in a superb English translation. Subtle, provocative, forensic, philosophical: this is a film book for all time."—Adrian Martin, author of Mysteries of Cinema: Reflections on Film Theory, History and Culture 1982–2016

University of California Press

Published 2004