Tohl Narita

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (November 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:成田亨]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ja|成田亨}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Tohl Narita
Narita on the set of Godzilla Raids Again in 1955
Born	Tōru Narita September 3, 1929 (1929-09-03) Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
Died	February 26, 2002 (2002-02-27) (aged 72)
Alma mater	Musashino Art University
Occupations	Painter sculptor designer art director special effects director author
Spouse	Ruri
Children	Kairi
Website	tohlnarita.com
Signature

Tōru "Tohl" Narita^[1] (成田 亨, Narita Tōru, pronounced [nəˈriːtə]; September 3, 1929 – February 26, 2002) was a Japanese visual artist. He is best known for creating the characters and mechanics for the television programs in the Ultra series: Ultra Q, Ultraman, and Ultraseven.

Narita was born on September 3, 1929, in Kobe City, Hyōgo, Japan. His family moved to Aomori shortly after his birth.^[2][3] When he was eight months old, Narita suffered a burn on his left hand after grabbing charcoal from the hearth in his abode; his hand didn't heal even after having many surgeries.^[4]

Narita began school in April 1936, at Aomori Municipal Furukawa Elementary School.^[5] At eight years old, his family moved to Ōshō Village, Muko District, Hyōgo (presently Amagasaki), and was transferred to Ritsudai Sho Jinjo Elementary School (presently Amagasaki Municipal Osho Elementary School). Due to the school's separation, Narita completed the fourth grade at Ritsudai Sho Jinjo Second Elementary School (presently Amagasaki Nishi Elementary School, where he stayed six years until the age of fourteen. During his time in elementary school, he was bullied due to his language differences and the burn on his left hand. Narita also decided he wanted to become a painter in the future.^[2]

After graduating from Aomori Junior High (now Aomori High School), Narita worked as a printer to save money, and in 1950 entered Musashino Art School (presently Musashino Art University).^[2] Initially, he majored in Western painting but felt dissatisfied with the class^[6] and moved to the sculpting department.^[2]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2022)

After graduating from Musashino Art School, he made part of his income doing special effects production work on the 1954 film Godzilla.^[7] He then began working as a Tokusatsu artist for Toei starting in 1960. In 1965 he began working for Tsuburaya Visual Effects Productions (later renamed Tsuburaya Productions).^[3] In addition to working as a designer, Narita was also a sculptor, painter, and director of special effects. He is best noted for his work on the Ultra series, known in the vernacular as "Narita's Monsters". He went on to work in TV special effects for the shows, Assault! Human!!, Enban Sensō Bankid, and Mighty Jack. In 1968 he became a freelance artist and worked on films and movies including Children of Nagasaki, The Bullet Train, Mahjong horoki, and Men and War.^[7][3]

He continued to create and exhibit his oil painting and sculptures throughout his life, including a public artwork, Demon Monument, located in Fukuchi City, Kyoto.^[7] Narita's work was included in the Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture exhibition at the Japan Society in New York City. The exhibition featured his drawings "a favorite of otaku artists"; the series of drawings showed monsters transforming into buildings, stones and trees, and other inanimate objects.^[8] His work was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Aomori Museum in 2015 that included 700 pieces of his work.^[9] The show traveled to the Fukuoka Art Museum.^[10]

A monograph was produced on his work, entitled “Narita Toru Illustration Works 成田亨作品集” (400 pages).^[11] It is held in the Library of Congress.^[12]

Narita died on February 26, 2002, at age 72, from multiple cerebral infarctions.^[3]

Narita's wife is named Ruri, with whom he had a son named Kairi.^[13]

In his late life, Narita filed a lawsuit against Tsuburaya Productions.^[14] Tsuburaya had claimed Narita's alien and kaiju designs to be entirely their creation, and was erasing Narita's name from his art.^[15][14]

Takashi Murakami has cited Narita as a significant influence on his work.^[16] Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi were inspired by Narita's art for Ultraman when making Shin Ultraman.^[16]

Narita's monster design prints are held in the permanent collection of the Aomori Prefectural Art Museum,^[7] and the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art & Design.^[17]

• Narita, Tohl (1996). 特撮と怪獣 わが造形美術 [My Tokusatsu and Monster Art] (in Japanese). Film Art. ISBN 978-4-845995-52-3.
• Narita, Tohl (July 19, 2014). 成田亨作品集 [The Art of Tohl Narita] (in Japanese). Hatori Shoten. ISBN 978-4-904702-46-8.

• Official website
• Tôru Narita at IMDb