Ichikawa joined the animation department of J.O. Studio (one of the predecessors of Toho) in 1933, where his experience as an animator would serve as the origin point of the visual innovation of his later work in feature film. Following the department's closure in 1936, he transferred to the assistant director department, where he worked under ITAMI Mansaku and ISHIDA Tamizo, among others. After the Toho Labor Dispute, he moved in 1948 to Shintoho, where he made his first feature length film, A Flower Blooms (Hana hiraku, Machiko yori, 1948). In the same year he married scriptwriter WADA Natto, with whom he would later collaborate on a number of films. Upon returning to Toho in 1951, he made several works including the visually daring Mr. Pu (Pu-san, 1953) before going on to produce films across a wide range of genres, a large proportion of them literary adaptations: first at Nikkatsu from 1955, where he made The Burmese Harp (Biruma no tategoto, 1956); then at Daiei from 1956, where he made Odd Obsession (Kagi, aka The Key, 1959). He was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize (International Film Critics Award) at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival for Tokyo Olympiad (Tokyo orinpikku, aka Tokyo Olympics, 1965), a film that sparked debate as to whether it constituted reportage or art. Combining experimental brio with the ability to turn it into something commercially viable, he remained active at the forefront of the industry well into his twilight years, continuing to turn out hits like The Inugami Family (Inugamike no ichizoku, 1976) even as the industry fell into relative decline.

(Written by KU Mina / Translated by Adam Sutherland)