Masahiro Makino

was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was , but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including , , and ).

Career Masahiro Makino was born in Kyoto, the eldest son of the film director and producer Shōzō Makino, who is often called the father of Japanese cinema. His critically acclaimed nihilistic jidaigeki such as Roningai (1928) made him one of the top Japanese film directors, The critic Sadao Yamane, however, has argued that this fast filming practice also contributed to Makino's speedy, rhythmic film style.

After the war, he helmed such popular jidaigeki series as Jirōchō Sangokushi and such ninkyō eiga series as Nihon Kyōkaku-den. He directed his last film in 1972, the retirement film for Junko Fuji, completing a filmography that totaled over 260 films and included films of many genres.

Personal life

Masahiro's half-brother, Sadatsugu Matsuda (1906–2003), was also a popular film director. Another brother, Mitsuo Makino, was an important film producer, and yet another, , also worked as a director (his wife was the actress Chikako Miyagi). Masahiro's sister, Tomoko Makino, married the actor Kunitarō Sawamura, and gave birth to the actors Masahiko Tsugawa and Hiroyuki Nagato, each of whom married famous actresses (Yukiji Asaoka and Yōko Minamida respectively). Kunitarō's brother and sister (brother and sister-in-law to Masahiro) are the actors Daisuke Katō and Sadako Sawamura. The pseudonym that Masahiko Tsugawa took when he became a director, Makino Masahiko, is a tribute to Masahiro.

Masahiro married the actress Yukiko Todoroki and their son, Masayuki Makino, is the head of the Okinawa Actor's School, famous for training a number of Japan's top female pop singers. His second wife was also an actress, and one of their two daughters became an actress.

Selected filmography

As director Sozenji Baba (1928) Roningai (1928, 1929) Singing Lovebirds (1939) Ahen senso (1943) Rikon (1952) Adauchi sōzenji baba (1957) Mask of the Moon (1961)

As actor Raiden (1928) The Man Who Came to Port (1952)