Screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto, who worked on a number of iconic Japanese films including Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" and "Seven Samurai," has died of pneumonia at his home in Tokyo, his family said Friday. He was 100.

Known for his style of exploring human nature through antitheses such as good and bad or love and hate, Hashimoto played a major role in creating the golden era of Japanese films in the 1950s.

The Hyogo Prefecture native, who died Thursday, joined the film industry after working for the national railways and being removed from wartime military duties due to illness.