Ozu was born on 12th December 1903 in Tokyo. He and his two brothers were educated in the country, in Matsuzaka, whilst his father sold fertilizer in Tokyo. As a result he barely saw his father between the ages of ten and twenty. According to childhood friends, Ozu was a "very spoiled child... ...who adored his mother" (Tadao Sato). In 1916 he began middle school at Uji-Yamada and was, apparently, an unruly pupil who loved mischief, fighting, and drinking. Drinking was to be a habit he gained early in life and one that he was to keep. He chose to watch The Prisoner Of Zenda at the cinema instead of taking the entrance examination to the prestigious Kobe Higher Commercial School where his elder brother Shinichi attended. However, perhaps regretting his missed college opportunity, he later paid for the college education of his younger brother Shinzo. Ozu had developed a love for film from these early exam-bunking days. Koga Nada recalled that Ozu told him his fascination with film began when he first saw a Matsunosuke historical spectacular at the Atagoza Cinema "it was in front of a dilapidated old theatre called the Atagoza in Matsuzka that Ozu said, 'If it had not been for this theatre, I might not have become a film director..." It was around this time that Nada recalls Ozu's love of the films of Lillian Gish, Pearl White and William S. Hart as well as later, Rex Ingram and King Vidor. [Kogo Nada, "Ozu to iu Otoko" (A Man Called Ozu", Kinema Jumpo Tokushu, 1964] With few qualifications Ozu managed to be posted as an assistant teacher in a small mountain village some distance from Matsuzaka - a position for which a college diploma was not needed. Little has been written or spoken about Ozu's time teaching in this community except that it is known he drank almost continually. Friends came to visit him and stayed for extended drinking sessions for months on end. Eventually, his father had to wire him the money to pay off his drinking debts and Ozu went back to Tokyo, after a decade away, to live with his family. Ozu's uncle, aware of his nephew's love of film, introduced him to Teihiro Tsutsumi, then manager of Shochiku. Not long after, Ozu began working for them against his father's wishes as an assistant cameraman. Many writers have suggested that Ozu more than landed on his feet when he began work in the movies, however, in 1923 the movies was not considered 'respectable' or 'proper' employment and there was consequently a shortage of enthusiastic, bright young men. Even Ozu's father refused outright that his son work in the movies and had to be persuaded otherwise by the uncle. Ozu's work as assistant cameraman involved pure physical labour lifting and moving equipment at Shochiku's Tokyo studios in Kamata. Hiroshi Sakai, a cameraman for whom Ozu worked, remembers Ozu during summer shoots wearing only shorts and carrying the heavy Berhauer camera on his shoulder. He also remembered Ozu sat at the feet of director Kiyoko Ushihara asking questions about movie-making, in particular "What should cinema of the coming generation be like?" (Sakai cannot remember Ushihara's reply). Ozu apparently revelled in his early days at Kamata - feeling contented and free. He once said that he was happy because he was strong, and lugging the camera took all his strength. He also knew that in his new company he had the opportunity to get ahead, but "the real truth is that I didn't want to. As an assistant I could drink all I wanted and spend my time talking. As a director I'd have to stay up all night working on continuity. Still, my friends told me to go ahead and give it a try." After becoming assistant director to Tadamoto Okubo it took less than a year for him to be in the position to put his first script forward for filming. It was in fact his second script 'The Sword Of Penitence' which became his first film as director. Between 1927 and his death on his sixtieth birthday from cancer, Ozu made 54 films - 33 of which still exist. Ozu Yasujiro, circa. 1956 On location Yuhara Atsuta and Ozu