Question 1

True or false: Ozu directed over 50 films, all of them in black and white.

Accepted Answer

False. Ozu directed 54 films, but several later works were in color, such as 'Equinox Flower' (1958) and 'An Autumn Afternoon' (1962).

Question 2

True or false: Ozu began his career as a child actor in silent films.

Accepted Answer

False. He started as an assistant cameraman and later a director; he never acted on screen, preferring to stay behind the camera.

Question 3

True or false: Yasujiro Ozu frequently used a low-angle camera position known as the 'tatami shot'.

Accepted Answer

True. He placed his camera low, near the floor, mimicking the eye level of someone seated on a tatami mat—a signature style.

Question 4

True or false: Ozu's films were huge box office hits in the United States during his lifetime.

Accepted Answer

False. His quiet domestic dramas were largely ignored in the West until the 1970s; he was little known outside Japan while alive.

Question 5

True or false: Ozu's grave is marked with the single kanji character for 'nothingness'.

Accepted Answer

True. His tombstone bears the character 'mu' (無), meaning 'nothingness' or 'emptiness', reflecting his Zen-like worldview.

Question 6

True or false: Ozu never left Japan, even for film festivals or vacations.

Accepted Answer

False. Ozu was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1937 and served in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, thus leaving Japan.

Question 7

True or false: Ozu invented the 'pillow shot'—a cutaway to an empty landscape or object.

Accepted Answer

False. While Ozu frequently used these transitional shots, the technique is a general editing device, not his invention. The term 'pillow shot' was later coined by critics to describe his distinctive use of it.

Question 8

True or false: Ozu directed only one film in color during his entire career.

Accepted Answer

False. Ozu directed multiple color films, starting with Equinox Flower (1958), followed by Floating Weeds (1959), Late Autumn (1960), and others.

Yasujiro Ozu Trivia Questions