Inagaki is a Japanese director and screenwriter who began his film career as a child acting in silent films. When he was , he directed his first film Peace on Earth (Tenka taiheiki, 1928). He shot his trilogy Samurai (Miyamoto musashi) two times - once in black and white and later in color. The first part of this trilogy won an Oscar for the best foreign film. His other famous films include The Rickshaw Man (Muhomatsu no issho, 1958), of the Golden lion in Venice in 1958, The Birth of Japan (Nippon tanjo, 1959), 47 Samurai (Chusingura - Hana no maki yuki no maki, 1962), Samurai Banners (Furin Kazan, 1969) and Incident at Blood Island (Machibuse, 1970).