Shiguéhiko Hasumi

Born Apr 29, 1936

Shiguéhiko Hasumi (蓮實重彥, born April 29, 1936) is a film and literary critic and scholar. Former President of the University of Tokyo and recipient of the coveted Yukio Mishima Prize, Hasumi was instrumental in introducing Foucault and Deleuze to Japan in the 1970s before revolutionizing the field of film studies with his writings and fabled lectures at Rikkyo University and later the University of Tokyo. Mentor of Kiyoshi Kurosawa and attributed with having “single-handedly resurrected the status of Ozu” with his 1983 publication on Ozu—considered one of the greatest works ever written on film—Hasumi maintains a towering presence in Japanese intellectual spheres, yielding a prolific body of work across philosphy, film, literature and culture. Hasumi's productive relationships with influential filmmakers including Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Manoel de Oliveira, Theo Angelopoulos, Wim Wenders, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, Pedro Costa, Leos Carax, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Aoyama, and Ryūsuke Hamaguchi are well documented.