Isao Tsuge is a Jinbutsu Designer
who integrates costume, hair and makeup, physicality, historical context, and narrative to design the presence of a character.
Isao Tsuge | ISAO TSUGE
Representative, KOOGEN
Jinbutsu Designer | Costume Designer | Beauty Director
As a Jinbutsu Designer, Isao Tsuge works across film, television drama, and theatre, integrating costume, hair and makeup, physicality, historical context, and narrative to design the total presence of characters. For NHK’s historical drama series Ryomaden, he became the first person in the history of the Taiga Drama to serve as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor, pioneering a new professional field of character creation that continued through Taira no Kiyomori and What Will You Do, Ieyasu?
Across film, theatre, and publishing, he continues to explore how a person becomes an unforgettable presence within the world of a work.
Biography
1960–1998 | Hair Stylist / Hair and Makeup Era | From the Fashion World to Film and Theatre
Isao Tsuge was born in Tokyo in 1960. In 1963, he moved to Ina City, Nagano Prefecture. In 1982, he relocated to Tokyo and began working as a hair stylist at MOD’S HAIR in Harajuku and Aoyama. His clients included Seiko Matsuda and Ryuichi Sakamoto. From 1985 onward, he also worked as a hair and makeup artist for the company, mainly in editorials, advertising, and the Tokyo, Paris, and Milan Collections.
In 1990, he received the Grand Prix at the inaugural Japan Hairdressing Awards, organized by JHA. In 1991, he received the Session Stylist Excellence Award.
1990
Grand Prix, the 1st Japan Hairdressing Awards
With Vidal Sassoon
In 1995, he participated in a film production for the first time with Takashi Ishii’s GONIN. At the recommendation of Masahiro Motoki, he was in charge of the cross-dressing scene of Motoki’s character, the call boy Mitsuya.
In 1996, for an exhibition by photographer Yoshiko Seino at the Comme des Garçons Aoyama store, he was responsible for the hair and painting of mannequins. In 1998, he did the hair and makeup for Björk when she appeared at the Fuji Rock Festival for the first time. That same year, he served as hair and makeup planner for Red Demon: Thai Version, written and directed by Hideki Noda, after being introduced by artist and costume designer Katsuhiko Hibino. In later years, Tsuge has said that he received profound guidance from Noda.
1996
Comme des Garçons Aoyama Store
Yoshiko Seino Exhibition
1995
GONIN
1999–2009 | Beauty Director / Character Supervisor Era | From Supervising Makeup to Creating Characters
In 1999, Tsuge served as Hair and Makeup Director for Macoto Tezka’s Hakuchi. This was the first time he supervised the hair and makeup for an entire film. In the same year, he held the same position for Shinya Tsukamoto’s Gemini, and in 2000 for Hideaki Anno’s Shiki-Jitsu. Tsuge regards these three films as important works and refers to them as his “Hair and Makeup Director Trilogy.” For Gemini, he proposed the concept of “removing the eyebrows of all cast members.”
1999
Hakuchi
1999
Gemini
2000
Shiki-Jitsu
In 2002, for the Japanese promotion of François Ozon’s Under the Sand, he was in charge of Charlotte Rampling’s hair and makeup for all media appearances.
In 2003, for Hideaki Anno’s Cutie Honey, he changed his title from Hair and Makeup Director to Beauty Director. This was an adaptation of the concept, then used in fashion magazines such as VOGUE, of a professional role overseeing all aspects of beauty work.
In 2005, he did the hair and makeup for Zhang Ziyi in Seijun Suzuki’s Princess Raccoon. He also did Björk’s hair and makeup for Matthew Barney’s Drawing Restraint 9, while also serving as Beauty Director for the production.
2002
apanese promotion for the film Under the Sand
Hair and makeup for Charlotte Rampling
Photography by Nobuyoshi Araki
2005
Princess Raccoon
Hair and makeup for Zhang Ziyi
2005
Drawing Restraint 9
Hair and makeup for Björk
In 2008, Tsuge served as Beauty Director for Yojiro Takita’s Departures. In Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, where the film was shot, he worked as an assistant to real-life nōkanshi, or traditional morticians, studying funerals and the practice of “angel makeup” firsthand. Through this experience, he observed different conditions of the deceased and developed a standard foundation color suited to the film’s portrayal of skin. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards.That same year, he also served as Beauty Director for Leos Carax’s segment of TOKYO!
Also in 2008, for Katsuhide Motoki’s GeGeGe no Kitaro: The Millennium Curse, Tsuge served as Character Supervisor, a role overseeing the appearance design of all characters. This position was created after the previous GeGeGe no Kitaro production revealed the complexity of dividing appearance work among yokai, half-yokai, and human characters. The producer asked Tsuge to oversee the entire area of character appearance. At first, Tsuge declined because of the scale of the responsibility, but he eventually accepted. This became the forerunner of what would later become Jinbutsu Design.
2008
Departures
2010– | The Birth of “Jinbutsu Design” | The Concept of “Designing the Entire Character”
In 2010, Tsuge served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor for NHK’s Taiga Drama Ryomaden, directed by Keishi Otomo. It was the first time in the history of the Taiga Drama that a role existed to oversee the appearance design of all characters. The title was created specifically for Tsuge. His participation began when Masaharu Fukuyama, whom Tsuge was working with at the time, was cast as Ryoma and asked whether Tsuge could also join the production.
The “aging and weathering” treatment, in which cornstarch was applied to the entire cast to create a muted filter-like effect, became widely discussed. That same year, Tsuge became a special committee member of the Society for Historical Research, and published his first original book, Ryoma Design.
In 2012, Tsuge worked on NHK’s Taiga Drama Taira no Kiyomori. It was the first Taiga Drama in forty years to depict the Heian period since The New Tale of the Heike in 1972. At the time of broadcast, the work provoked both praise and criticism for overturning conventional expectations of the Taiga Drama. However, it was highly praised by Bando Tamasaburo, and it continues to be highly regarded as a bold depiction of the physical sensibility and turbulent atmosphere of the late Heian period.
That same year, Tsuge was appointed Arts and Culture Ambassador of his hometown, Ina City, Nagano Prefecture. He also published the essay collection Goodbye, Vanity. In 2012, he received the Amiko Kujiraoka Award at the 30th Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix in recognition of his pioneering work in the field of Jinbutsu Design.
2010
NHK Taiga Drama
Ryomaden
2012
NHK Taiga Drama
Taira no Kiyomori
2015– | The Spread of “Jinbutsu Design” | Working on Major Productions
From 2015 to 2018, Tsuge served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor for NHK's Dorama 90th-anniversary Taiga Fantasy series Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, broadcast over three seasons. It was the first live-action adaptation of Nahoko Uehashi’s long-running fantasy novel series. To create the fictional world, Tsuge researched various ethnic costumes from across Asia and created new costumes for all main cast members and extras.
The work received the Prime Minister’s Award at the ATP Awards Television Grand Prix in 2017, and the production team received the Special Award at the Elan d’Or Awards in 2018.
In 2016, Tsuge served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor for Shin Godzilla, directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi. From this work onward, he began using different credits depending on the nature of each production, including “Jinbutsu Design,” “Appearance Design Supervisor,” and “Appearance Design.”
In 2017, he worked for the first time on new Kabuki productions: Roppongi Kabuki: Zatoichi, directed by Takashi Miike and starring Ichikawa Ebizo, and Hideki Noda’s Noda Version: The Cherry Orchard in Full Bloom, starring Nakamura Kankuro.
In 2019, Tsuge served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor for NHK’s special drama A Stranger in Shanghai: Ryunosuke Akutagawa in Shanghai. The entire production was shot on location in Shanghai, marking Tsuge’s first large-scale collaboration with a Chinese team. Tsuge has said that he is especially fond of this work. It won Best of Festival in the Entertainment category at the U.S. International Film & Video Festival.
That same year, he served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor for Hideki Takeuchi’s Fly Me to the Saitama. At a dinner with an editor from Takarajimasha, he was handed a pilot edition of the book and said, half-jokingly, “I’ve been a fan of this since the first edition. If it ever becomes a film, please tell Mineo Maya that I would love to work on it.” The film adaptation was later decided, and Tsuge was personally requested by the original author. After its release, the film became a major phenomenon. It won the Gold Award for Best Asian Feature at the 23rd Fantasia International Film Festival.
In 2019, he was also responsible for Beauty Design for Q: A Night at the Kabuki, written and directed by Hideki Noda. The work was later restaged. Inspired by Queen’s classic album A Night at the Opera, the production weaves motifs from Hamlet and the Genpei War into a story of lovers separated by Siberian internment, conveying the folly of war and the preciousness of love. As Beauty Director, Tsuge sent design drawings to Queen and obtained their approval.
2015-18
NHK Dorama 90th-anniversary Taiga Fantasy
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
2016
Shin Godzilla
2019
Q: A Night at the Kabuki
2019
Fly Me to the Saitama
2019
NHK’s special drama A Stranger in Shanghai: Ryunosuke Akutagawa in Shanghai.
2017
new Kabuki productions:
Roppongi Kabuki: Zatoichi
Collaboration with Local Government | Contributions to Ina City, Nagano Prefecture
In 2014, while continuing his work as a Jinbutsu Designer, Tsuge planned E-na Movies, a project designed to promote migration and settlement as part of Ina City’s city promotion efforts. Until 2018, under the concept of “A Nostalgic Future,” he served as both general producer and director for the video series Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, The Soba Traveler, and Voice of the Forest.
In 2018, he planned and launched the public-private collaborative organization Ina City Midorina Committee, becoming its chairperson. Ina City promotes a policy called the “Ina City 50-Year Forest Vision,” which aims to bring richness to citizens through forest resources. Tsuge supported this initiative and created an organization with the purpose of “connecting forest and people” under the concept of “Forest, People, and Beauty.”
From April 6 to May 19, 2019, Isao Tsuge UNITY: The World of Jinbutsu Design was held at the Shinshu Takato Museum of Art in Ina City, Nagano Prefecture. It was a large-scale exhibition gathering design drawings, costumes, props, sculptural objects, and other materials from past Taiga Dramas, Taiga Fantasy works, television dramas, films, and stage productions. Inside the museum, videos were also shown in which Keishi Otomo, Taku Kato, Shinji Higuchi, Takashi Miike, Keishi Nagatsuka, and Ruiji Yamaguchi spoke about the artist.
2019
Isao Tsuge UNITY:
The World of Jinbutsu Design
2018
Mori JOY
Hosted by the Ina City Midorina Committee
2014–2018
i-na Movies
A Nostalgic Future: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter
2020– | The Development of “Jinbutsu Design” | Challenges in Live-Action Adaptation
In 2020, Tsuge served as Appearance Design Supervisor for Macoto Tezka’s Barbara. The project began when, at the opening-night toast for the 2018 stage production Pluto, directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Tsuge reunited with Tezka, who had supervised the stage production, for the first time since Hakuchi. Tezka said, “There is another work I would like to ask you to do.” Tsuge replied, “There is also a work I would very much like to do, and in fact, it is Barbara.” Tezka was surprised and laughed, saying, “That is exactly the Barbara I’m talking about.”
The film was shot by cinematographer Christopher Doyle and won the Grand Prix at Fantafestival in Italy.
From 2020 onward, Tsuge has served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor for NHK’s drama Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, based on the manga by Hirohiko Araki, directed by Kazutaka Watanabe and starring Issey Takahashi. Tsuge was approached at an early stage, when only the producer and screenwriter had been decided. Director Watanabe had been a close collaborator since Ryomaden and Taira no Kiyomori. At the first meeting, Watanabe said, “I became a director because I wanted to adapt this manga into live action.” Tsuge has said that he felt deeply honored to be invited from the earliest stage of such a work.
The production, once considered extremely difficult to adapt into live action, was highly praised by viewers and received the Encouragement Award at the 58th Galaxy Awards for fiscal year 2020, as well as the Monthly Award for January 2021.
In 2023, Tsuge served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor for NHK’s Taiga Drama What Will You Do, Ieyasu? It was his first Taiga Drama in eleven years since Taira no Kiyomori, and the highly theatrical appearance designs for figures such as Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Shingen attracted attention.
He also served as Appearance Design Supervisor and Costume Designer for Hideaki Anno’s Shin Kamen Rider. For Rohan at the Louvre, a film directed by Kazutaka Watanabe and developed from NHK’s drama Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, he served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor and Costume Designer.
He also served as Visual Director and Costume Designer for Evangelion Beyond, directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the opening production of the new theatre THEATER MILANO-Za in Shinjuku.
2023
Evangelion Beyond
2020
Barbara
2020
NHK’s drama
Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan
2023
NHK Taiga Drama
What Will You Do, Ieyasu?
2025 | Publication of Bijin / Launch of Bijin Hyakuyo
| Consolidating the Theory of Jinbutsu Design and Beginning the Dissemination of Aesthetic Thought
In May 2025, Tsuge published Bijin through Sunmark Publishing. The 626-page book consists of three chapters: “Jinbutsu Design Theory,” which describes in detail the know-how of Jinbutsu Design; “Aesthetic Records,” a collection of interviews with leading figures from various fields about their episodes with Tsuge and their own aesthetics; and “Bijin Theory,” in which Tsuge explains his own idea of the beautiful person.
The book includes contributions from 51 prominent figures. The actors’ section features Anne, Marie Iitoyo, Noriko Eguchi, Shun Oguri, Teruyuki Kagawa, Keiko Kitagawa, Fumino Kimura, Kyoko Koizumi, Kayoko Shiraishi, Issey Takahashi, Naoto Takenaka, Tao Tsuchiya, Shinobu Terajima, Nao, Fumi Nikaido, Hiroki Hasegawa, Kotone Furukawa, Arata Furuta, Nanako Matsushima, Takako Matsu, Jun Matsumoto, Wakana Matsumoto, Kenichi Matsuyama, Hiroki Mikami, and Mirai Moriyama.
The creators’ section features Hideaki Anno, Yoshio Ishizuka, Keishi Otomo, Taku Kato, Yuichi Sato, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Takeshi Shibata, Hideo Jojo, Yojiro Takita, Hideki Takeuchi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Keisuke Dobashi, Macoto Tezka, Keishi Nagatsuka, Hideki Noda, Shinji Higuchi, Seiichi Hishikawa, Katsuhiko Hibino, Takashi Miike, Nobuo Mizuta, Amon Miyamoto, Naoki Murahashi, Ruiji Yamaguchi, Takashi Yamazaki, and Kazutaka Watanabe.
The book also includes a conversation with Masaharu Fukuyama in place of an afterword, making it a culmination of Isao Tsuge’s work to date.
In December 2025, Tsuge launched Bijin Hyakuyo: Unraveling Beauty at NHK Culture Center Aoyama. Through conversations with guests from various fields, the course aims to offer clues for understanding beauty. Inspired by Bijin, the series began with actor Nao as the guest for its first session.
In 2025, Tsuge worked on his first Netflix production, Keishi Otomo’s 10DANCE, serving as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor and Costume Designer. The film marked his first collaboration with Otomo in sixteen years since Ryomaden. Centered on ballroom dance, the work received high praise after its release for the beauty of its visual world. In March of the following year, Otomo was invited as the guest for the second session of Bijin Hyakuyo: Unraveling Beauty.
2025
10DANCE
2025
published
Bijin
2025
Bijin Hyakuyo: Unraveling Beauty at NHK Culture Center Aoyama
Current Activities
In NHK’s drama Rosanjin no Kamado, broadcast in March 2026, Tsuge served as Jinbutsu Design Supervisor for Rockefeller III, played by Hollywood actor Simon Pegg. Pegg was cast after filming had already begun, and Tsuge was urgently asked to take charge of him personally.
Tsuge is also responsible for Beauty Design for Fahrenheit Minus 320°, written and directed by Hideki Noda and starring Sadao Abe, Eri Fukatsu, and Suzu Hirose. This marks his first work with NODA・MAP since Q. Tsuge has stated that NODA・MAP is the only company for which he serves as a hair and makeup planner, and that this work allows him to reconnect with his most primal creative instincts.
For AmberS, the opening production of EX THEATER ARIAKE, Tsuge serves as Character Visual Director and Costume Designer. The work is written, scripted, and creatively produced by Shigeaki Kato. Following Evangelion Beyond, this is the second time Tsuge has worked on the opening production of a newly launched theatre.
Tsuge is also responsible for Appearance Design for King Lear, directed by Keishi Nagatsuka and starring Kotaro Yoshida, as part of the Sainokuni Shakespeare Series 2nd Vol. 3. Through his participation in this series at Saitama Arts Theater, one of Japan’s major centers for Shakespeare performance, he continues to deepen his interest in and understanding of the classics.
2026
King Lear
2026
AmberS
2026
NHK’s drama
Rosanjin no Kamado
2026
Fahrenheit Minus 320°