So Matsuyama
Takashi Matsuyama (Japanese松山 崇, sometimes with Onyomi - reading of the first name: Matsuyama Sō; born September 22, 1908 in Kobe, † July 14, 1977 ) was a Japanese production designer who is known especially for his work with films of Akira Kurosawa and has twice been nominated for an Oscar.
Life
Matsuyama graduated from the school of singing Bunka Gakuin, which he completed in 1932, and in 1937 became an employee of Toho Studios (東宝スタジオ). He first worked as a set designer in the Japanese film industry with at Etchan no sen'ninbari of Fumindo Kurata with Etchan, Chieko Murata and Koji Shima. He was involved until 1968 at the scenic features of more than eighty films.
He was nominated for the Academy Awards in 1953, together with Haruzō Matsumoto for the Academy Award for Best Production Design in a black and white film, and indeed for the 1950 resulting directed by Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon - The Pleasure Park ( Rashomon ) with Toshirō Mifune, Machiko Kyo and Masayuki Mori.
Another Oscar nomination for Best Production Design in a black and white film, he received in 1957 for also directed by Akira Kurosawa and to the genre of Japanese period film ( Jidai - geki ) scoring film The Seven Samurai ( Shichinin no samurai, 1954) with Takashi Shimura, Toshirō Mifune and Yoshio Inaba.
Other well-known films, where he worked as an art director and production designer, was a stray dog ( Nora inu, 1949) by Akira Kurosawa with Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura and Keiko Awaji and the resulting also directed by Kurosawa To Live ( Ikiru, 1952) with Takashi Shimura, Shinichi Himori and Haruo Tanaka.