Eiji Tsuburaya

Eiji Tsuburaya Born July 7, 1901 Sukagawa, Fukushima, Japan Died January 25, 1970 (aged 68) Itō, Shizuoka, Japan Occupation Director, cinematographer, director of special effects First work Enmeiin no Semushi Otoko (1925) Notable work Godzilla (1954)

“	Tsuburaya always said to give your child a dream.	„
	— Bin Furuya

Eiji Tsuburaya (円谷 英二,   Tsuburaya Eiji), born Eiichi Tsumuraya (圓谷 英一,   Tsumuraya Eiichi) and occasionally credited as Eiji Tsumuraya (圓谷 英二,   Tsumuraya Eiji), was a Japanese special effects director, cameraman and producer. Tsuburaya rose to fame primarily due to his work as a cinematographer and special effects director on Toho's kaiju films during the 1950's and 1960's, when he pioneered the techniques of tokusatsu and suitmation. Tsuburaya was one of the creators of Godzilla, who would go on to become Toho's most famous creation and an international icon.

In 1963, Tsuburaya founded his own special effects studio, Tsuburaya Productions, which would become known for producing the Ultra series. Tsuburaya himself served as supervisor for several of the studio's early tokusatsu television series, including Ultra Q, Ultraman and Ultraseven. Toward the end of his life, Tsuburaya continued to receive honorary credit for supervising and directing the special effects in Toho's kaiju films, even though his responsibilities with his own company and eventually his declining health prevented him from actually working on the films. Tsuburaya's understudy Teruyoshi Nakano would take over as Toho's primary special effects director following Tsuburaya's death of a heart attack on January 25, 1970. Tsuburaya's company, Tsuburaya Productions, continued operating under his family until 2007, when it was acquired by TYO Inc. On January 11, 2019, the Eiji Tsuburaya Museum opened in his hometown of Sukagawa, commemorating his life and films.

Selected filmography

• Ramayana (1942) - Director of special effects [unconfirmed; uncredited]
• The Invisible Man Appears (1949) - Special effects cinematographer
• Godzilla (1954) - Special effects [with Akira Watanabe, Hiroshi Mukoyama, Kuichiro Kishida; as Eiji Tsumuraya]
• Invisible Man (1954) - Cinematographer / special effects advisor
• Godzilla Raids Again (1955) - Director of special effects
• Half Human (1955) - Special effects [with Akira Watanabe, Hiroshi Mukoyama, Masao Shirota]
• Rodan (1956) - Special effects [with Akira Watanabe, Masao Shirota, Hiroshi Mukoyama]
• The Mysterians (1957) - Director of special effects [as Eiji Tsumuraya]
• The H-Man (1958) - Director of special effects
• Varan (1958) - Director of special effects [as Eiji Tsumuraya]
• Monkey Sun (1959) - Director of special effects
• The Three Treasures (1959) - Director of special effects
• Battle in Outer Space (1959) - Director of special effects
• The Secret of the Telegian (1960) - Director of special effects
• The Human Vapor (1960) - Director of special effects
• Mothra (1961) - Director of special effects
• The Last War (1961) - Director of special effects
• Gorath (1962) - Director of special effects
• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) - Director of special effects
• Matango (1963) - Director of special effects
• Atragon (1963) - Director of special effects
• Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) - Director of special effects
• Dogora (1964) - Director of special effects
• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) - Director of special effects
• Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) - Director of special effects
• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) - Director of special effects
• Ultra Q (TV 1966) - Supervisor
• Ultraman (TV 1966-1967) - Supervisor
• The War of the Gargantuas (1966) - Director of special effects
• Monster Booska (TV 1966-1967) - Supervisor
• Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) - Director of special effects [ceremonial title]
• King Kong Escapes (1967) - Director of special effects
• Ultraman (1967) - Supervisor [compilation film]
• Ultraseven (TV 1967-1968) - Supervisor
• Son of Godzilla (1967) - Special effects supervisor
• Mighty Jack (TV 1968) - Supervisor / editor
• Fight! Mighty Jack (TV 1968) - Supervisor / editor
• Destroy All Monsters (1968) - Special effects supervisor
• Operation: Mystery (TV 1968-1969) - Supervisor
• Ultraman, Ultraseven: Great Violent Monster Fight (1969) - Supervisor [compilation film]
• Latitude Zero (1969) - Director of special effects
• All Monsters Attack (1969) - Special effects supervisor [ceremonial title]
• Chibira-kun (TV 1970-1971) - Supervisor [posthumous]
• Space Amoeba (1970) - Special effects supervisor [posthumous; ceremonial title; only in promotional materials]
• Horror Theater Unbalance (TV 1973) - Supervisor [posthumous]
• Ultraman: Terror on Route 87 (1989) - Supervisor [posthumous; compilation film]
• Monster Seafood Wars (2020) - Original story [posthumous; uncredited]

Family tree

Sei Tsumuraya

Isamu Tsumuraya

Shuzaburo Araki

Masano Tsuburaya

Eiji Tsuburaya

Noboru Tsuburaya

Hajime Tsuburaya

Akira Tsuburaya

Kazuo Tsuburaya

Masahiro Tsuburaya

Hideaki Tsuburaya

Yuko Tsuburaya

Hiroshi Tsuburaya

Hitomi Tsuburaya

Gallery

Production

• 

  Tsuburaya (center) and Ishiro Honda examine a Godzilla hand puppet on the set of Godzilla

• 

  Tsuburaya on the set of Invisible Man

• 

  Tsuburaya with the Yamata no Orochi puppet on the set of The Three Treasures

• 

  Tsuburaya with the Mothra larva puppet

• 

  Tsuburaya with the KingGoji suit

• 

  Tsuburaya with the Godzilla stop motion puppet

• 

  Tsuburaya with the Godzilla and King Kong suits

• 

  Eiji Tsuburaya with the Frankenstein suit on the set of Frankenstein vs. Baragon

• 

  Eiji Tsuburaya with the DaisensoGoji suit on the set of Invasion of Astro-Monster

• 

  Eiji Tsuburaya with the Gaira suit

• 

  Eiji Tsuburaya with the Sanda suit

• 

  Eiji Tsuburaya with the Mechani-Kong and King Kong suits

Merchandise

Toys

• 

  M1 Eiji Tsuburaya

• 

  Tsuburaya Productions Eiji Tsubaraya Commemorative Set (Box A)

• 

  Tsuburaya Productions Eiji Tsubaraya Commemorative Set (Box B)

• 

  Bandai Japan commemorative SD set

Miscellaneous

• 

  Tsuburaya with Ishiro Honda

• 

Trivia

• Tsuburaya appears as a character in episode 49 of Ultraman Tiga, "The Ultra Star", played by Yusuke Takita.
• Dr. Ishiro Serizawa's costume from his first scene in Godzilla is a reference to Tsuburaya's typical work outfit. Godzilla-kun also wears this outfit in the first special episode of Godziban, "Film the Dream!"

External links

• Official Eiji Tsuburaya site (Japanese and English)
• Official Tsuburaya Productions site

References

This is a list of references for Eiji Tsuburaya. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

Comments

Showing 10 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.

Loading comments...