Geun Sae
I would crawl belly deep through hell
For his work in Godzilla (ゴジラ - Gojira), Tsuburaya won his first "Film Technique Award". In contrast to the stop motion technique most famously used by Willis O'Brien to create the 1933 King Kong, Tsuburaya used a man in a rubber suit to create his giant monster effects. This technique, now most closely associated with Japanese kaiju or monster movies, has come to be called suitmation (originated in the Japanese fan press during the 1980s). Through intense lighting and high-speed filming, Tsuburaya was able to add to the realism of the effects by giving them a slightly slower, ponderous weightiness. This technique, using detailed miniatures with men-in-monster-suits, is still being used today (but combined with CGI techniques as well) and is now considered a traditional Japanese craft art.
The tremendous success of Godzilla led Toho to produce a series of science fiction films, films introducing new monsters, and further films involving the Godzilla character itself. The most critically and popularly successful of these films were those involving the team of Tsuburaya, Honda and Tanaka, along with the fourth member of the Godzilla team, composer Akira Ifukube. Tsuburaya continued producing the special effects for non-kaiju films like The H-Man (1958), and The Last War (1961), and won another Japanese Movie Technique Award for his work in the 1957 science-fiction film The Mysterians. He also won another award in 1959 for the creation of the "Toho Versatile System", an optical printer for widescreen pictures, which he built in-house and first used on The Three Treasures in 1959 (Tsuburaya was continually frustrated by the poor state of equipment he was forced to use, and Toho's money-pinching that prevented the acquisition of new motion picture technologies).
A loyal company man, Tsuburaya continued to work at Toho Studios until his death in 1970.
List of his movies:
During his 50-year career, he worked on approximately 250 films in total. His Visual Effects works include:
- Atarashiki Tsuchi (1937) – Director Of Special Effects
- Kaigun Bakugeki-tai (1940) – Special Effects
- Moyuru ōzora (1940) – Special Effects
- Enoken no songokū: songokū zenko-hen (1940) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Shiroi Hekiga (1942) – Special Effects
- Nankai No Hanataba (1942) – Special Photographic Effect
- Tsubasa No Gaika (1942) – Special Effects
- Hawai Mare oki kaisen (1942) – Director Of Special Effects
- Ahen senso (1943) – Special Effects
- Ai No Sekai: Yamaneko Tomi No Hanashi (1943) – Special Effects
- Ongaku Dai-Shingun (1943) – Special Effects
- Hyoroku Yume-Monogatari (1943) – Special Effects
- Otoko (1943) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Ano hata o ute (1944) – Special Effects
- Kato hayabusa sento-tai (1944) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Tokyo Gonin Otoko (1945) – Special Effects Supervisor (Credited as Eiichi Tsuburaya)
- Urashima Taro No Koei (1946) – Special Photographic Effects
- A Thousand and One Nights with Toho (1947) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Hana Kurabe Tanuki Goten (1949) – Special Effects
- Invisible Man Appears (1949) – Special Effects Supervisor
- The Lady of Musashino (1951) – Special Effects Supervisor
- The Skin of the South (1952) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Ashi Ni Sawatta Onna (1952) – Special Effects Supervisor
- The Man Who Came to Port (1952) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Anatahan (1953) – Specialist (Credited As Tsuburaya)
- Seishun Zenigata Heiji (1953) – Special Effects
- The Eagle of the Pacific (1953) – Director Of Special Effects
- Aijin (1953) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Sound of the Mountain (1954) – Special Effects
- Farewell Rabaul (1954) – Director Of Special Effects
- Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto (1954) – Special Effects
- Godzilla (1954) – Special Effects
- Tomei Ningen (1954) – Special Effects Director
- Ginrin (1955) – Special Effects
- Godzilla Raids Again (1955) – Director Of Special Effects
- Half Human (1955) – Director Of Special Effects
- Meoto zenzai (1955) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) – Special Effects
- Legend of the White Snake (1956) – Special Effects Director
- Rodan! The Flying Monster (1956) – Director Of Special Effects
- Throne of Blood (1957) – Special Effects
- The Mysterians (1957) – Director Of Special Effects
- Song for a Bride (1958) – Special Effects
- The H-Man (1958) – Director Of Special Effects
- Varan the Unbelievable (1958) – Director Of Special Effects
- The Hidden Fortress (1958)
- Songoku: The Road To The West (1959) – Special Effects Director
- Submarine I-57 Will Not Surrender (1959) – Special Effects Director
- The Birth of Japan (1959) – Director Of Special Effects
- Battle in Outer Space (1959) – Special Effects
- The Secret of the Telegian (1960) – Special Effects
- Storm Over the Pacific (1960) – Special Effects Director
- The Human Vapor (1960) – Director Of Special Effects
- Osaka Jo Monogatari (1961) – Director Of Special Effects
- Mothra (1961) – Director Of Special Effects
- Blood On The Sea (1961) – Special Effects Director
- Gen To Fudomyo-O (1961) – Director Of Special Effects
- The Last War (1961) – Special Effects Director
- Gorath (1962) – Special Effects Director
- Kurenai No Sora (1962) – Special Effects Director
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) – Director Of Special Effects
- Chushingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki (1962) – Special Effects Director
- Varan the Unbelievable (1962) – Director Of Special Effects
- Attack Squadron! (1963) – Special Effects Director
- Chintao Yosai Bakugeki Meir Ei (1963) – Special Effects Director
- Matango (1963) – Director Of Special Effects
- The Lost World of Sinbad (1963) – Special Effects Director
- Atragon (1963) – Director Of Special Effects
- Shikonmado – Dai Tatsumaki (1964) – Special Effects Director
- Kyomo Ware Ozorami Ari (1964) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) – Director Of Special Effects
- Dogora, the Space Monster (1964) – Director Of Special Effects
- Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) – Special Effects Director
- None but the Brave (1965) – Special Effects Director: Toho Special Effects Group
- War-Gods of the Deep (1965) – Director Of Special Effects: Footage Taken From The Toho Production Atragon
- Taiheiyo Kiseki No Sakusen: Kisuka (1965) – Director Of Special Effects
- Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965) – Director Of Special Effects
- Crazy Adventure (1965) – Special Effects Director
- Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) – Director Of Special Effects: Footage Taken From The Toho Production Godzilla Vs. The Thing
- Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) – Special Effects Director
- Ironfinger (1965) – Special Effects
- War of the Gargantuas (1966) – Director Of Special Effects
- Zero Faita Dai Kusen (1966) – Special Effects Director
- Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966) – Visual Effects Supervisor [3]
- King Kong Escapes (1967) – Director Of Special Effects
- Son of Godzilla (1967) – Visual Effects Supervisor [4]
- Destroy All Monsters (1968) – Visual Effects Supervisor
- Rengō Kantai Shirei Chōkan: Yamamoto Isoroku (1968) – Special Effects Director
- Kureji No Daibakuhatsu (1969) – Special Effects Supervisor
- Latitude Zero (1969) – Director Of Special Effects
- The Battle of the Japan Sea (1969) – Special Effects Director
- All Monsters Attack (1969) – Special Effects
- Ultraman (1979) – Special Effects Supervisor (archive material)
- Ultraman: Great Monster Decisive Battle (1979) – Special Effects Supervisor (archive material)