Toho Legend Yasuyuki Inoue Exhibition Held in Nagasaki

The Sasebo City Museum Shimase Art Center in Nagasaki is hosting an exhibition devoted to the legendary Toho production designer Yasuyuki Inoue. Photo courtesy of Toyomi Togo and Toshio Miike. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Source: Oki Miyano
Special Thanks to Toyomi Togo and Toshio Miike

Yasuyuki Inoue.

Through August 29th, the Sasebo City Museum Shimase Art Center in Nagasaki is hosting an exhibition devoted to the legendary Toho production designer Yasuyuki Inoue (1922-2012). The exhibit serves a runup to a bigger event to be held in at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo from March 19 to June 19, 2022, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Inoue's birth.

Yasuyuki Inoue was hired by Toho in 1954 to build the miniature sets for Godzilla’s stunning rampage thru Tokyo in the original GODZILLA (ゴジラ, Gojira, 1954). He would become the head of the studio's special arts department, leading a tam of talnt craftsmen in designing and building props, vehicles and sets for most of Toho’s special effects films for the next three decades. A partial list of his credits includes such classics as GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN ( ゴジラの逆襲, Gojira no Gyakushū, 1955), RODAN (空の大怪獣ラドン, Sora no Daikaijū Radon, 1956), MOTHRA (モスラ, Mosura, 1961), KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (キングコング対ゴジラ, Kingu Kongu tai Gojira, 1962), INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER (怪獣大戦争, Kaijū Daisensō, aka MONSTER ZERO, 1965), EBIRAH: HORROR OF THE DEEP (ゴジラ・エビラ・モスラ　南海の大決闘, Gojira, Ebira, Mosura Nankai no Daikettō,, aka GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER, 1966), KING KONG ESCAPES (キングコングの逆襲, Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū, 1967), DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (怪獣総進撃, Kaijū Sōshingeki, 1968), SUBMERSION OF JAPAN (日本沈没, Nihon Chinbotsu, 1973), LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH (ノストラダムスの大予言, Nosutoradamusu no daiyogen, 1974) and THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (ゴジラ, Gojira, aka GODZILLA 1985, 1984).

By the mid-1960s, Inoue was also designing Toho's monsters, with his his most popular creation being Hedorah from GODZILLA VS HEDORAH (ゴジラ対ヘドラ, Gojira tai Hedorah, aka GODZILLA VS THE SMOG MONSTER, 1971). He also designed Toho’s famous "Big Pool", which has been used for ocean sequences in countless war and monster movies.

The exhibition features Yasuyuki Inoue's original product designs, concept art and storyboards from the Toho films. Special effects artist Toshio Miike (Gamera Trilogy, GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK, SHIN GODZILLA) has also designed a replica of the Iwataya department store, an iconic miniature Inoue created for RODAN. The model was made at Marbling Fine Arts in the same 1/20th scale as the 1956 miniature.

Inoue built the minitayre Tokyo sets for the original GODZILLA. Photo courtesy of Toho. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Inoue in front of the the Iwataya department store miniature he designed for RODAN. Photo courtesy of Yasyuki Inoue. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Rodan atop the Iwataya department store. Photo courtesy of Toyomi Togo and Toshio Miike. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

The Mothra larva tears through the miniature Tokyo in MOTHRA. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Building the miniatures for GORATH. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Godzilla on the miniature Nagoya set in MOTHRA VS GODZILLA. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Frankenstein in Inoue's mountain countryside in FRANKENSTEIN CONQURES THE WORLD. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Ebirah rises from the sea at night in concept art by Yasuyuki Inoue. Photo courtesy of Yasuyuki Inoue. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Inoue's concept sketch of the Mechani-Kong hfrom KING KONG ESCAPES This is the first set of its kind, and it influenced later films featuring robot monsters such as Mechagodzilla and Moguera. Photo courtesy of Yasuyuki Inoue. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Storyboards from DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. Photo courtesy of Yasuyuki Inoue. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.

Iwataya department store replica designed by Toshio Miike and made at Marbling Fine Arts. Photo courtesy of Toyomi Togo and Toshio Miike. TM＆©TOHO CO., LTD.