Hirohisa Kawaragi

Hirohisa Kawaragi (河原木宏尚, 1959 - 1 April 2001) was a Japanese underground filmmaker and physician associated with Nagoya’s independent film scene in the early 1980s. As a member of the film club at Aichi Medical University, he became involved in an underground cultural movement that brought together punk music, experimental cinema, and other forms of alternative artistic expression

His best-known work, Ran・Easter (乱・Easter, 1981), was a provocative underground film described as a visual scandal fusing punk with underground culture and rooted anarchism, reportedly prompting the exclamation “Vile and vulgar!” from Nagisa Ōshima. After moving to Tokyo at the age of 18, Kawaragi encountered the city’s urban culture and underground arts scene, which influenced his filmmaking and challenged the expectations placed upon him by his conservative family background.

A few minutes into Ran・Easter, a man’s voice says, “I can’t take this anymore.” According to a recollection by a collaborator, the voice belongs to Kawaragi himself and can be understood as the inner monologue of a young man who had moved to Tokyo at 18.