In Memoriam: Kenpachiro Satsuma (1947-2023)

As a younger man, Yasuaki Maeda—later identified by the stage identify Kenpachiro Satsuma—went to motion pictures that includes singer/actor Yujiro Ishihara and resolved to comply with in his footsteps by turning into a movie star.¹ However whereas Ishihara—identified for footage resembling Ko Nakahira’s Crazed Fruit (1956)—reached the Japanese public by way of his boyish seems and melodious voice, Satsuma discovered wider (worldwide) attraction with out exhibiting his face. He equally carried out earlier than movement image cameras on a set, however remained hidden contained in the full-body costumes he wore. It was his manipulation of stated costumes—and the monsters they represented—that made him an icon in his personal proper, as he introduced unbelievable creatures to life with menace, pathos, and occasional humor.

Greatest identified for enjoying Godzilla in a seven-film stretch spanning 1984-1995, Kenpachiro Satsuma—who died on December 16 (age 76)—got here to that character through a protracted route. Born within the southern Japanese metropolis of Kagoshima, he began skilled life as a steelworker, after an unsuccessful try and enter the New Face appearing program at Nikkatsu (the studio which employed Ishihara). Proving himself a reliable employee in hazardous circumstances, he obtained a switch to a plant in Chiba (near Tokyo) and was bitten by the appearing bug once more. One other New Face utility resulted in varied bit elements in Nikkatsu motion motion pictures till he moved on to Mifune Manufacturing.² Recognized across the lot for his stamina and martial arts coaching, Satsuma was finally requested to interview at Japan’s largest movie firm, Toho, for what he assumed to be a giant motion function.³

“After they informed me I might be enjoying a monster, I turned dejected,” the actor recalled, “as a result of I knew I might be fully coated by the costume. Nobody would see my face. However I [accepted the part, because I] cherished doing motion scenes, and I believed it could be a singular expertise.”⁴ The movie in query was Yoshimitsu Banno’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), and the function was Godzilla’s titular adversary: a perpetually evolving blob-like creature that gorges on air pollution. Instantly, Satsuma was subjected to the hardships of swimsuit appearing. “The dimensions [of the Hedorah suit] was, at first, fully measured in response to the one who’d put on it. However after its completion, a number of issues cropped up—like this part is unusual, or that’s unhealthy, or the artists should not glad with it. So, they later added urethane after which unrefined uncooked rubber.” What started as a light-weight costume finally turned an unwieldy mass weighing 330 lbs.⁵ Ready contained in the rubbery labyrinth for motion to be referred to as proved strenuous, and “the swimsuit was so terribly heavy […] it was nearly not possible to maneuver accordingly as deliberate.”⁶

Largely due to a powerful working relationship with particular results director Teruyoshi Nakano, Satsuma returned to play one other adversary monster, in Jun Fukuda’s Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). Whereas his character this time—a cybernetic area monster—sported a extra humanlike construct, motion remained difficult. Go well with maker Nobuyuki Yasumaru, Satsuma felt, prioritized design over performance, and the actor struggled to wield claw-shaped appendages composed of strong resin. Even hollowing the talons offered little in the way in which of aid. “[T]he ft had been so large that they simply caught on different objects or on my opponent, and I tripped lots.”⁷

Setbacks however, Satsuma each instances imbued his roles with persona. Occasionally, bodily restrictions turned a part of the appearing approach. Confronted with Hedorah’s restricted mobility, he opted to painting the monster as “spooky and grotesque. […] I simply swung the arms shortly when Godzilla got here at me, or walked gradual as if crawling. I simply moved this a part of my physique now, and that half subsequent.”⁸ Against this, his Gigan efficiency was nimble and vigorous (e.g., clapping the beast’s scythe-like appendages) and downright jocular when he reprised the function in Fukuda’s Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973). Nonetheless, the career-defining half wouldn’t seem till 1984, when Godzilla returned to silver screens after a nine-year hiatus.

Having not produced a Godzilla film since 1975’s Terror of MechaGodzilla (an image launched on the finish of a section within the sequence outlined by anthropomorphic creatures), Toho elected to provide their flagship character a simple reboot. Gone had been the campy monster antics aimed predominately at kids, changed by a ravaging drive of nature meant to dazzle mainstream viewers. Satsuma’s involvement in The Return of Godzilla (1984) started as a advisor. “The primary time director Teruyoshi Nakano requested me to [play Godzilla], I turned him down. I believed I used to be too previous for that form of factor.” Unwilling to relive the pains of his ‘70s work, he as a substitute assisted within the seek for a stuntman—one who matched standards set for this specific movie.

Due to the a number of skyscrapers erected in Tokyo by 1984, the employees anted Godzilla’s peak from fifty to eighty meters: an phantasm achieved by way of a bigger monster costume and miniatures constructed at a lowered scale. The brand new swimsuit’s projected measurement necessitated a taller actor, and so Satsuma launched affiliate Hiroshi Yamawaki. Alas, Yamawaki backed out forward of swimsuit building, supposedly objecting to each the job’s calls for and (recalling Satsuma’s pre-shooting reservations on Hedorah) that his face wouldn’t be proven. In an interview printed in The Making of Godzilla 1985, Satsuma remembered a number of candidates declining earlier than he eventually took the function out of respect for Nakano. “If it had been another director, I in all probability wouldn’t have performed it.”⁹

The choice was made to proceed constructing a fancy dress in response to Yamawaki’s proportions. Filming price Satsuma a substantial quantity of weight (he averaged twenty minutes contained in the swimsuit) and put him by way of a number of perilous experiences. A rampage set in Yurakucho concerned quite a few fires that grew uncontrolled; he was almost poisoned by a CFC gasoline leak; and there was the pressure inherent in working a swimsuit made for somebody taller. Satsuma regarded his efficiency as hampered and restricted (“I felt that the […] costume managed me”), although he remained happy with the film’s finale, whereby Godzilla plummets into the volcanic crater of Mount Mihara. “That’s the place you’ll be able to see the pathos of the monster.”¹⁰

The actor’s second spherical as Godzilla—in Kazuki Omori’s Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)—proved simpler (comparatively talking). Shorter durations inside a brand new, correctly tailor-made swimsuit allowed him to preserve vitality and act with higher nuance. “[W]hatever Godzilla does [, …] I at all times attempt to add little actions that can present his emotional state, like transferring his fingers.”¹¹ New results director Koichi Kawakita’s modus operandi was to supply fundamental directions, permit the performers to work out the monsters’ actions, after which incorporate minor adjustments throughout every take. Satsuma remembered: “Even when he had a sequence shot OK, he made the digicam roll repeatedly. Filming the identical scene again and again, he made adjustments right here and there each time. The scene had been shot OK, however he puzzled if he might get one thing totally different out of the actors.”¹²

Satsuma continued enjoying Godzilla beneath Kawakita’s supervision into the Nineties, in shoots that remained arduous. Water scenes, filmed in a waist-deep tank, introduced the best dangers. Slipping ahead on the algae-coated ground would virtually assure drowning; and in a single occasion an underwater explosion opened a four-meter-deep storm drain from which Satsuma couldn’t have escaped had he fallen in. Metropolis scenes had been solely considerably safer: he suffered a concussion on the set of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) following a stunt whereby the monster crashed by way of an underground buying heart.¹³

The ‘90s Godzilla motion pictures proved constantly profitable on the Japanese field workplace—particularly, Takao Okawara’s Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), which bought 4.2 million tickets and topped charts for the 1993 film yr. Nonetheless, by the point of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), sure employees members felt the sequence had run its course. Conversing with Cult Motion pictures journalist David Milner, Satsuma recalled telling Kawakita: “I believe it could be good for us to cease quickly.”¹⁴ The market appeared to agree, as attendance for Godzilla, whereas nonetheless wholesome, was on the decline. (SpaceGodzilla attracted 3.4 million spectators in comparison with Mothra’s 4.2.) In what doubtless constituted an try and rejuvenate field workplace, the employees proposed killing Godzilla in his subsequent film.¹⁵ That idea led to Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), with the loss of life of Toho’s monster serving as each a advertising stunt and an excuse to place the sequence on hiatus earlier than the numbers fell once more.¹⁶ (There was additionally stress to make room for a still-developing Hollywood reboot.)¹⁷

“I’ve now performed seven movies as Godzilla,” Satsuma stated when selling Destoroyah, “and I imagine I’ve achieved most all the pieces I’ve needed to do contained in the costume. Most significantly, I’ve at all times felt Godzilla ought to categorical its feelings, which could be very troublesome given the vary of actions and expressions the swimsuit could make.” Conveying feelings is among the many most interesting qualities of his closing Godzilla outing; visually aided by a swimsuit coated with translucent patches and venting gouts of steam, Satsuma enacts the monster’s ache with wrenching physique and limb actions—most notably when witnessing his son’s loss of life and expiring in a show of sunshine and smoke. “He’s very animalistic, at all times in movement. However I imagine Godzilla is a really emotional creature.”¹⁸ This bravura act got here by way of regardless of new filming hazards. “[The vapor emitting from the suit] is carbonic-acid gasoline. […] After they used the gasoline, I’d inhale that and faint. [I] almost died six instances.”¹⁹

Though Satsuma’s swimsuit appearing tenure ended with Destoroyah—and whereas he performed different monsters in intervening years: an eight-headed dragon in Yamato Takeru (1994), a metal-consuming beast within the North Korean movie Pulgasari (1985)—Godzilla remained the character most related to him. In no small half due to private enthusiasm. His ebook Inside Godzilla turned successful in Japan,²⁰ and his connection to the monster fueled a famously caustic response to the eventual Hollywood Godzilla (1998). After seeing his Occidental counterpart flee from rockets and machine gunfire, Satsuma walked out, commenting on the American conference G-CON: “It’s not Godzilla. It doesn’t have his spirit.”²¹

Satsuma’s conference appearances in Japan and overseas had been many. One among this author’s most vivid recollections is the actor’s entrance at a 2018 gathering in Chicago. In distinction to his fellow Japanese friends, who stood to the aspect and waited for followers to strategy, Satsuma instantly marched throughout the room, shaking palms alongside the way in which. That very same weekend noticed him sharing set tales and giving impromptu appearing classes to costumed youngsters—delighting within the affect his work’s had worldwide. Kenpachiro Satsuma could have joined the movie trade hoping to change into the subsequent Yujiro Ishihara, however he arguably—in some respects—surpassed his idol. “Godzilla has had a profound impact on my life,” he informed Fangoria journal in 1998. “I’m happy with having performed him and luxuriate in speaking in regards to the expertise.”²²

1. Kenpachiro Satsuma (Godzilla) Interview Panel at G-FEST 25
2. Ibid
3. Godziszewski, Ed. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla. Revealed by Ed Godziszewski, 1996, p. 136
4. Ryfle, Steve. Japan’s Favourite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of “The Large G.” Toronto: ECW Press, 1998, p. 261
5. “Interview with Kenpachiro Satsuma: Godzilla’s Filming Witnessed by the Monster Himself” in Ragone, August and Bob Johnson (eds). Markalite 1 (Summer time 1990), p. 52
6. Godziszewski, p. 136
7. Ibid, pp. 136-7
8. Ibid, p. 136
9. The Making of Godzilla 1985. Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1985, p. 101
10. Ibid; Milner, David. Translated by Yoshihiko Shibata. “Kenpachiro Satsuma Interview I.” Accessed 17 December 2023
11. Ryfle, pp. 263-4
12. Godziszewski, p. 138
13. Ibid, pp. 138-9
14. Milner, David. Translated by Yoshihiko Shibata. “Kenpachiro Satsuma Interview III.” Accessed 17 December 2023
15. Milner, David. Translated by Yoshihiko Shibata. “Koichi Kawakita Interview II.” Accessed 17 December 2023
16. Ryfle, p. 306
17. Cheng, Scarlet. “Godzilla Returns to His Japanese Stamping Floor.” Los Angeles Instances, 18 August 2000
18. Ryfle, pp. 263-4
19. Ibid, p. 310
20. Ibid, p. 263
21. Ibid, p. 334
22. England, Norman. Behind the Kaiju Curtain: A Journey Onto Japan’s Greatest Movie Units. New York and Tokyo: Awai Books, 2021, p. 11