Personal Info
Known For
Writing
Gender
Male
May 17, 1939 (86 years old)
Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan
Also Known As
- 具流八郎
- Hachiro Guryu
Yōzō Tanaka
Biography
Yōzō Tanaka is a Japanese screenwriter. He was born in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. After joining the production department of Nichigeki Music Hall, he started writing radio scripts. While he was a student at Waseda University, he met Atsushi Yamatoya and Kaname Kawachi. Before becoming a screenwriter, Tanaka worked as a reporter, conducting a series of interviews with eccentrics in the magazine Weekly Sankei. After joining Nikkatsu, he joined a screenwriting team led by director Seijun Suzuki. Individuals in this group such as Tanaka, Yamatoya, and Chūsei Sone also contributed to various projects at Wakamatsu Productions during this period of the 1960s.
He is also a driving force behind the heyday of Nikkatsu Roman Porno, writing numerous screenplays. He continued to collaborate with fellow veterans of the aforementioned series such as Shinji Sōmai and Kichitaro Negishi.
His disciples include Haruhiko Arai and Miho Nakazono.
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In 2005, he worked as an associate professor at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts.
In 2017, a book of Yōzō Tanaka's essays and other archival materials such as interviews and screenplays was published.
Known For
Writing

The Last Ronin
Screenplay
2010

Villon's Wife
Screenplay
2009

The Friends
Screenplay
1994

Yumeji
Screenplay
1991

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun
Screenplay
1981

Kagero-za
Screenplay
1981

Zigeunerweisen
Screenplay
1980

The Inferno
Screenplay
1979

New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2: Head of the Boss
Screenplay
1975

Wife to Be Sacrificed
Screenplay
1974

Flower & Snake
Screenplay
1974

Branded to Kill
Screenplay
1967