Kihachi Okamoto
Born	February 17, 1924(1924-02-17) Yonago, Tottori, Japan
Died	February 19, 2005 (aged 81) Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Occupation	Film director and screenwriter.

Kihachi Okamoto (岡本 喜八, Okamoto Kihachi^?, February 17, 1924–February 19, 2005) was a Japanese film director who has worked in several different genres, including jidaigeki. He was born in Yonago. He graduated from the Meiji University. He directed almost 40 films and wrote at least 24 films.

One of his most notable works is Samurai Assassin (1965) starring Toshiro Mifune, about a group of 19th century political agitators planning to kill an important government official. The Japanese title is simply Samurai. His career spanned almost six decades, from 1958's All About Marriage, through The Sword of Doom (1966), Kill! (1968), the anti-war film, The Human Bullet (1968), Blood Type: Blue (1978), At This Late Date, the Charleston (1981), Rainbow Kids (1991) to Vengeance for Sale (2001).

Alongside Masaki Kobayashi, Okamoto was also a candidate for directing the Japanese sequences for Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) but instead Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda were chosen.

On February 19th, just two days after his 81st birthday, Kihachi died at home from esophageal cancer.

[edit] External links

• Kihachi Okamoto at the Internet Movie Database
• Kihachi Okamoto (Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database

This article about a Japanese film director is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e