Age, Biography and Wiki

Eiji Tsuburaya (Eiichi Tsumuraya) was born on 7 July, 1901 in Sukagawa, Fukushima, Japan, is a Japanese special effects director (1901–1970). Discover Eiji Tsuburaya's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 69 years old?

Popular As Eiichi Tsumuraya
Occupation Special effects director · film director · cinematographer · screenwriter · editor · television producer · businessman · inventor · aviator
Age 69 years old
Zodiac Sign Cancer
Born 7 July 1901
Birthday 7 July
Birthplace Sukagawa, Fukushima, Japan
Date of death 1970
Died Place Itō, Shizuoka, Japan
Nationality Japan

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 7 July. He is a member of famous Special Effects with the age 69 years old group.

Eiji Tsuburaya Height, Weight & Measurements

At 69 years old, Eiji Tsuburaya height not available right now. We will update Eiji Tsuburaya's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Eiji Tsuburaya's Wife?

His wife is Masano Araki (m. 1930)

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Masano Araki (m. 1930)
Sibling Not Available
Children 4, including Hajime, Noboru and Akira

Eiji Tsuburaya Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Eiji Tsuburaya worth at the age of 69 years old? Eiji Tsuburaya’s income source is mostly from being a successful Special Effects. He is from Japan. We have estimated Eiji Tsuburaya's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income Special Effects

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Timeline

Eiji Tsuburaya (円谷 英二) was a Japanese special effects director, filmmaker, and cinematographer.

A co-creator of the Godzilla and Ultraman franchises, he is considered one of the most important and influential figures in the history of cinema.

Known as the "Father of Tokusatsu", (特撮の父) he pioneered Japan's special effects industry, introducing several technological developments in film productions.

In a career spanning five decades, Tsuburaya worked on approximately 250 films—including globally renowned features directed by Ishirō Honda, Hiroshi Inagaki, and Akira Kurosawa—and earned six Japan Technical Awards.

1901

Eiji Tsuburaya was born Eiichi Tsumuraya (圓谷 英一) on July 7, 1901, at a merchant house called Ōtsukaya in Sukagawa, Iwase, Fukushima Prefecture, where his family ran a malted rice business.

He was the first son of Isamu Shiraishi and Sei Tsumuraya, with a large extended family.

When Tsuburaya was three years old, his mother Sei died of illness at the age of nineteen, shortly after giving birth to her second son.

Bereaved by Sei's death, Shiraishi divorced her posthumously and left the family, leaving Tsuburaya in the care of his grandmother Natsu.

Through Natsu, Tsuburaya was related to the Edo period painter Aōdō Denzen, who brought copper printing and Western painting to Japan, from whom Tsuburaya considered to have inherited his manual dexterity.

His uncle Ichirō, who was Sei's younger brother, was five years older than him and acted like an elder brother to him.

Thus, Tsuburaya began to use the nickname Eiji ("ji" indicating second-born) instead of Eiichi ("ichi" indicating first-born).

1908

In 1908, he started attending the Dai'ichi Jinjo Koto Elementary School in Sukagawa, and it was soon realized that he had a talent for drawing.

During his boyhood, Tsuburaya became interested in flying because of the recent success of Japanese aviators; he soon started building model airplanes as a hobby, an interest he would pursue throughout his entire life.

1913

In 1913, Tsuburaya saw his first film, which featured footage of a volcanic eruption on Sakurajima; in the process, he was more fascinated by the projector than the movie itself.

1915

In 1915, at the age of 14, he graduated from junior high school, and begged his family to let him enroll in the Nippon Flying School at Haneda.

1917

After the school was closed on account of the accidental death of its founder, Seitaro Tamai, in 1917, Tsuburaya switched to the Tokyo Kanda Electrical Engineering School (now Tokyo Denki University).

While at the school, he started working as an inventor at the toy company Utsumi, and devised inventions including the first battery-powered phone capable of making calls, an automatic speed photo box, an "automatic skate" and the toy phone.

The latter two earned him a patent fee of ¥500.

1919

Following a brief stint as an inventor, Tsuburaya was employed by Japanese cinema pioneer Yoshirō Edamasa in 1919 and began his career working as an assistant cinematographer on Edamasa's A Tune of Pity.

During a hanami party held at a tea house in the spring of 1919, Tsuburaya met Yoshirō Edamasa, a pioneer of Japanese cinema.

Edamasa asked Tsuburaya if he was interested in movies or photography; after he explained to Edamasa that he was interested in motion pictures, Tsuburaya accepted the director's offer to become an employee at his company, the Natural Color Motion Pictures Company (dubbed "Tenkatsu").

Therefore, Tsuburaya began working in the film industry at the age of eighteen, as Edamasa's camera assistant, contributing to films such as A Tune of Pity (1919) and Tombs of the Island (1920); reportedly, he also served as a screenwriter during this period.

1926

Thereafter, he worked as an assistant cinematographer on several films, including Teinosuke Kinugasa's A Page of Madness (1926).

At the age of thirty-two, Tsuburaya watched King Kong, which greatly influenced him to work in special effects.

1934

Tsuburaya completed the first iron shooting crane in October 1934, and an adaptation of the crane is still in use across the globe today.

1935

After filming his directorial debut on the cruiser Asama in the Pacific Ocean, he worked on Princess Kaguya (1935), one of Japan's first major films to incorporate special effects.

1937

His first majorly successful film in effects, The Daughter of the Samurai (1937), remarkably featured the first full-scale rear projection.

In 1937, Tsuburaya was employed by Toho and established the company's effects department.

1942

Tsuburaya directed the effects for The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya in 1942, which became the highest-grossing Japanese film in history upon its release.

His elaborate effects were believed to be behind the film's major success, and he won an award for his work from the Japan Motion Picture Cinematographers Association.

1948

In 1948, however, Tsuburaya was purged from Toho by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers because of his involvement in propaganda films during World War II.

1949

Thus, he founded Tsuburaya Special Technology Laboratory with his eldest son Hajime and worked without credit at major Japanese studios outside Toho, creating effects for films such as Daiei's The Invisible Man Appears (1949), widely regarded as the first Japanese science fiction film.

1950

In 1950, Tsuburaya returned to Toho alongside his effects crew from Tsuburaya Special Technology Laboratory.

1954

At age fifty-three, he gained international recognition and won his first Japan Technical Award for Special Skill for directing the effects in Ishirō Honda's kaiju film Godzilla (1954).

1956

He served as the effects director for Toho's string of financially successful tokusatsu films that followed, including, Rodan (1956), The Mysterians (1957), The Three Treasures (1959), Mothra, The Last War (both 1961), and King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).

1958

In 1958, Tsuburaya told Kinema Junpo that because he was extremely fascinated by the projector, he purchased a "toy movie viewer" and created his own film strips by "carefully cutting rolled paper, then making sprocket holes, and drawing stick figures [on the paper], frame by frame."

Because of his craftwork at a young age, he became a provincial celebrity and was interviewed by the Fukushima Minyu Shimbun.

1963

In April 1963, Tsuburaya founded Tsuburaya Special Effects Productions; his company would go onto produce the television shows Ultra Q, Ultraman (both 1966), Ultraseven (1967–1968), and Mighty Jack (1968).

1966

Ultra Q and Ultraman were extremely successful upon their 1966 broadcast, with Ultra Q making him a household name in Japan and gaining him more attention from the media who dubbed him the "God of Tokusatsu".

1970

While he spent his late years working on several Toho films and operating his company, Tsuburaya's health began to decline, and he died in 1970.