Asakazu Nakai (Japanese: 中井朝一; August 29, 1901 – February 28, 1988) was a Japanese cinematographer, born in Kobe. He worked on a dozen films with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work in the film Ran (1985). In 1950 he won the award for Best Cinematography at the Mainichi Film Concours for Stray Dog.