Acclaimed filmmaker, poet, radio and stage dramatist, essayist, photographer and horseracing tipster, Shuji Terayama was born in Aomori Prefecture in 1935 on a moving train. He had little memory of his often drunk and quiet detective father except that he once pointed a pistol at him and loved to vomit on the train tracks. He left his hometown to live with his uncle during his adolescence while his mother became an escort and prostitute at the US Military Base. He wrote Haiku and Tanka since he was in his teens and used these poems in his films and plays. Tenjo Sajiki, the theatrical group he founded alongside graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo and others, experimented on stages in the liminal space between fact and myth, which is similar to his bizarre but stunning films. This avant-garde and innovative figure continues to influence generations of filmmakers.