Shigeru Kayama

Shigeru Kayama Born July 1, 1904 Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan Died February 7, 1975 Occupation Novelist, screenwriter First work Orang Pendek's Revenge (1947) Notable work Monster Godzilla (1954)

Shigeru Kayama (香山滋,   Kayama Shigeru), born Koji Yamada (山田鉀治,   Yamada Kōji), was a Japanese novelist and screenwriter known for his works of fantasy and suspense. He is perhaps best recognized as the author of the original story treatment for Godzilla, titled Project G Review Script and later published as a novelization under the name Monster Godzilla, as well as its sequel, Godzilla Raids Again.

Kayama began writing in 1940 while working for the Ministry of Finance, specializing in the tanka genre of short poems. In 1946, he was awarded first prize in a competition held by The Jewel magazine for his short story, Orang Pendek's Revenge. Continuing to write for the magazine, he was presented a Newcomer of the Year award by the Detective Story Writers Club of Japan for his second work, Curious Stories from the House of Eel, and decided to begin pursuing the medium full-time in 1949. Due to his incorporation of mutated marine life and unknown creatures in his writings, Kayama was recruited in 1954 by Toho producer Tomoyuki Tanaka to refine his ideas for a film involving a giant monster into a tangible story treatment. Ishiro Honda, believing the monster should serve as an allegory for nuclear testing, adapted Kayama's story about a sea creature seeking sustenance into the screenplay for what would ultimately become Godzilla. The writer would be brought on again for the company's next kaiju endeavor, Half Human, featuring a Yeti monster not unlike the Orang Pendek of his early writings. Due to the success of Godzilla, Half Human was shelved in favor of a Godzilla sequel, for which Kayama would also be credited as storywriter. His final work for Toho would come in 1957, helping Takeshi Kimura to adapt Jojiro Okami's draft of The Mysterians for the screen. Kayama would continue to write sporadically, until his death in 1975 at the age of 70.

Selected Filmography

• Godzilla (1954) - Original story / lyrics ["Prayer for Peace"]
• Godzilla Raids Again (1955) - Original story
• Half Human (1955) - Original story
• The Mysterians (1957) - Adaptation

Selected Bibliography

• Monster Godzilla (1954) [Kayama's original story for Godzilla published as a novelization]
• Godzilla (1955) [Kayama's original story for Godzilla and a sister story used as the basis for Godzilla Raids Again published as novelizations]
• Half Human (1955) [Kayama's original story for Half Human published as a novelization]

Gallery

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  Shigeru Kayama with novelist Masayuki Jo

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See Also

• Takeo Murata
• Takeshi Kimura

References

This is a list of references for Shigeru Kayama. 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]

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