Hiroshi Teshigahara, film director and "Iemoto" grand master of the Sogetsu school of flower arrangement, died Saturday of acute lymphocytic leukemia at a Tokyo hospital, his family said Sunday. He was 74.
Teshigahara, son of Sofu Teshigahara, founder and grand master of the Sogetsu ikebana school, began his career as a film director in 1953 and established his own production company in 1964. One of his films, "Suna-no-Onna" ("The Woman in the Dunes"), won Special Judge's Prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year as well as other awards in film festivals in Japan and elsewhere.
Teshigahara was also the third-generation grand master of the Sogetsu school of flower arrangement. He assumed the post in 1980 after his second sister Kasumi died.
Teshigahara studied contemporary art with Taro Okamoto, a noted avant-garde artist, after college and filled his films and flower arrangements with an avant-garde sensibility.
After a private funeral service, two memorials are expected to be held at 2 p.m. on May 12 and at 11 a.m. on May 13, at the Sogetsu Kaikan building in Tokyo's Minato Ward.