Kōki Mitani

Kōki Mitani
Mitani at the 2014 Tokyo International Film Festival
Born	(1961-07-08) July 8, 1961 Setagaya, Tokyo
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation(s)	Playwright, screenwriter, actor, film director

Kōki Mitani (三谷 幸喜, Mitani Kōki, born July 8, 1961) is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after Taihō Kōki, the youngest sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics at Nihon University.

In an attempt to add his own character to his movies, his directorial approach follows a "one scene = one shot" system, whereby he pans the camera around as opposed to cutting. He claims this comes from his experience in theatre, where there are no cuts. Mitani does not use a computer.

Early life

Mitani liked watching TV dramas and puppetries of NHK in his childhood. He was especially interested in works of puppetry such as "Shin Hakkenden" (新八犬伝) and Sangokushi (三国志), jidaigeki dramas such as Tenka Gomen (天下御免) and Tenka Dōdō (天下堂々), and Taiga dramas such as Kaze to Kumo to Niji to.

Throughout his life, he has expressed interest in works starring famous detectives, such as the Sherlock Holmes series. He has collected numerous novel volumes, pastiches, and DVDs related to Sherlock Holmes, and in 2014 adapted the story into a puppetry set in a boarding school. In his high school days, he planned to produce a film featuring a detective, loosely based on And Then There Were None, and went on location to Enoshima, Kanagawa with his friends, though this film was never finished.

Mitani has also stated that he enjoys foreign cinema, and is a fan of the films 12 Angry Men, The Wages of Fear, Columbo, and the director Billy Wilder. He has mentioned how he believes Hollywood comedy films are not as funny as those in the Golden Age and as Japanese comedy improves.

Career

Mitani's work has primarily comprised witty comedies which are often parodies. In production, he usually writes scripts visualizing actors and actresses as close to the characters. Mitani is the author of a weekly column in the Asahi Shimbun daily newspaper in which he often discusses his favorite films, his writing process, and the actors and actresses with whom he has worked.

Works

Feature films and TV dramas

(Note: Many of Mitani's films began as successful plays.)

• 12 Nin no Yasashii Nihonjin: 12 Gentle Japanese (1991)
• Furi-kaereba Yatsu Ga Iru (TV)
• Furuhata Ninzaburō (TV series)
• Shinsengumi! (TV series)
• Sōrito Yobanaide (TV series)
• Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1997)
• Minna no Ie aka Everyone's Home (2001)
• Warai no Daigaku: University of Laughs (2004)
• The Uchoten Hotel aka Suite Dreams (2006)
• The Magic Hour (2008)
• Gaki No Tsukai Silent Library (2008)
• Walking, Talking (2011 TV movie, post-production)
• Wagaya no Rekishi (2010 TV mini-series)
• A Ghost of a Chance (Suteki na Kanashibari, also known as Once in a Blue Moon) (2011 screenplay and direction)
• Daikūkō 2013 (2013 TV movie)
• The Kiyosu Conference (2013)
• Galaxy Turnpike (2015)
• Sanada Maru (2016 TV series)
• Fūunji tachi (2018 TV)
• Kuroido Goroshi (2018 TV)
• Hit me Anyone One More Time (2019)
• The 13 Lords of the Shogun (2022 TV series)
• All About Suomi (2024)

Theatre

• The Show Must Go On (1991)
• Warai no Daigaku: University of Laughs (2004)
• Vamp Show (2006)
• Talk Like Singing (2009)

Puppetries

• The Three Musketeers
• Sherlock Holmes

Recurring cast members

Actor	Furuhata Ninzaburō (1994–2006)	Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1997)	Aikotoba wa Yūki (2000)	Minna no Ie (2001)	Shinsengumi! (2004)	The Uchōten Hotel (2006)	The Magic Hour (2008)	Wagaya no Rekishi (2010)	A Ghost of a Chance (2011)	The Kiyosu Conference (2013)	Galaxy Turnpike (2015)	Sanada Maru (2016)	Kioku ni Gozaimasen (2019)
Toshiyuki Nishida (76)						Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Fumiyo Kohinata (70)	Y			Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y		Y
Kōji Yakusho (68)			Y			Y		Y		Y
Keiko Toda (67)	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Kōichi Satō (63)					Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y
Masahiko Nishimura (63)	Y	Y										Y
Yoshimasa Kondo (63)	Y	Y		Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y
Kiichi Nakai (63)				Y			Y	Y	Y				Y
Kenji Anan (62)					Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Toshiaki Karasawa (61)	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y		Y
Susumu Terajima (60)						Y	Y	Y		Y		Y
Zen Kajihara (58)	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Kyōka Suzuki (56)		Y	Y	Y	Y		Y			Y		Y
Eri Fukatsu (51)							Y		Y
Yo Oizumi (51)								Y		Y		Y
Masato Sakai (51)					Y							Y
Koji Yamamoto (47)					Y		Y	Y	Y		Y	Y
Shingo Katori (47)	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y				Y
Yūko Takeuchi (44)									Y			Y
Satoshi Tsumabuki (43)							Y			Y
Haruka Ayase (39)							Y				Y

Honors

• Medal with Purple Ribbon (2017)
• Juzo Itami Award (2023)

External links

• Mitani Koki on IMDB