The Mainichi Film Award for Best Director is a film award given at the Mainichi Film Awards.
List of winners Year Director Film 1946 Tadashi Imai Minshū no Teki 1947 Akira Kurosawa One Wonderful Sunday 1948 Keisuke Kinoshita WomanShōzōApostasy 1949 Yasujirō Ozu Late Spring 1950 Kōzaburō Yoshimura Itsuwareru Seisō 1951 Mikio Naruse Repast 1952 Minoru Shibuya Gendai-jinHonjitsu Kyūshin 1953 Tadashi Imai An Inlet of Muddy Water 1954 Keisuke Kinoshita Twenty-Four EyesThe Garden of Women 1955 Mikio Naruse Floating Clouds 1956 Tadashi Imai Mahiru no ankoku 1957 Tadashi Imai The Rice PeopleJun'ai Monogatari 1958 Keisuke Kinoshita The Ballad of Narayama 1959 Satsuo Yamamoto Niguruma no UtaNingen no Kabe 1960 Kon Ichikawa Her BrotherJokyo 1961 Masaki Kobayashi The Human Condition 1962 Kon Ichikawa Being Two Isn't EasyThe Broken Commandment 1963 Shōhei Imamura The Insect Woman 1964 Hiroshi Teshigahara The Woman in the Dunes 1965 Tomu Uchida A Fugitive from the Past 1966 Satsuo Yamamoto Shiroi Kyotō 1967 Shōhei Imamura A Man Vanishes 1968 Kihachi Okamoto The Human Bullet 1969 Yoji Yamada Kigeki Ippatsu DaihisshōIt's Tough Being a ManTora-san's Cherished Mother 1970 Satsuo Yamamoto Men and War: Part I 1971 Masahiro ShinodaYoji Yamada SilenceTora-san's Shattered RomanceTora-san, the Good SamaritanTora-san's Love Call 1972 Kōichi Saitō The RendezvousTabi no Omosa 1973 Yoji Yamada Tora-san's Dream-Come-TrueTora-san's Forget Me Not 1974 Yoshitarō Nomura Castle of Sand 1975 Kaneto Shindo Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director 1976 Satsuo Yamamoto Fumō Chitai 1977 Yoji Yamada The Yellow Handkerchief 1978 Yoshitarō Nomura The IncidentThe Demon 1979 Kazuhiko Hasegawa The Man Who Stole the Sun 1980 Akira Kurosawa Kagemusha 1981 Kōhei Oguri Muddy River 1982 Kinji Fukasaku Fall GuyDotonbori River 1983 Nagisa Oshima Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 1984 Juzo Itami The Funeral 1985 Akira Kurosawa Ran 1986 Kei Kumai The Sea and Poison 1987 Kazuo Hara The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On 1988 Nobuhiko Obayashi The Discarnates 1989 Toshio Masuda Shaso 1990 Jun Ichikawa Tugumi 1991 Yoji Yamada My Sons 1992 Yōichi Higashi The River with No Bridge 1993 Jun Ichikawa Byōin de Shinu to Iukoto 1994 Tatsumi Kumashiro Like a Rolling Stone 1995 Kaneto Shindo A Last Note 1996 Masayuki Suo Shall We Dance? 1997 Shōhei Imamura The Eel 1998 Hideyuki Hirayama Begging for Love 1999 Yoshimitsu Morita Keiho 2000 Junji Sakamoto Face 2001 Hayao Miyazaki Spirited Away 2002 Hideyuki Hirayama OutThe Laughing Frog 2003 Yoichi Sai Doing Time 2004 Kazuo Kuroki Utsukushii Natsu KirishimaThe Face of Jizo 2005 Akira Ogata Itsuka dokusho suruhi 2006 Kichitaro Negishi What the Snow Brings 2007 Masayuki Suo I Just Didn't Do It 2008 Kōji Wakamatsu United Red Army 2009 Sion Sono Love Exposure 2010 Takashi Miike 13 Assassins 2011 Katsuya Tomita Saudade 2012 Daihachi Yoshida The Kirishima Thing 2013 Yuya Ishii The Great Passage 2014 Mipo O The Light Shines Only There 2015 Shinya Tsukamoto Fires on the Plain 2016 Miwa Nishikawa The Long Excuse 2017 Katsuya Tomita Bangkok Nites 2018 Shinichiro Ueda One Cut of the Dead 2019 Kei Ishikawa Listen to the Universe 2020 Naomi Kawase True Mothers 2021 Ryusuke Hamaguchi Drive My Car 2022 Shō Miyake Small, Slow But Steady 2023 Yuya Ishii The Moon 2024 Shō Miyake All the Long Nights 2025 Lee Sang-il Kokuho
References