Tono Eijiro is a Japanese actor and essayist born in Nanokaichi, Tomioka City, Gunma Prefecture. His stage name before the war was Honjo Katsuji. His eldest son is actor Tono Eishin.

After graduating from the former Tomioka Junior High School, he entered the Faculty of Commerce at Meiji University. While he was in school, he joined the on-campus illegal circle and social science institute and awakened to leftist ideas.

In April 1931, he entered the Proletarian Theater Research Institute of the Theater Company Tsukiji Shrine as the first student and made his stage debut in "Osoreyama Tunnel" at the Tokyo Left-wing Theater. In September of the same year, after graduating from the institute, he joined the new construction theater company and took the stage as a bit part under the stage name of Honjo Katsuji, while engaging in the proletarian movement.

In 1939, he played major roles, such as Kanji in "Do" and Manosuke in "Kaientai", and also served as general secretary, planning department manager, and acting department manager of the theater company.

On August 19, 1940, he got arrested for violating the Peace Preservation Law together with Hatta Motoo, Ikeda Shoji, and others. The theater company was forcibly dissolved on August 23. The following year, in 1941, he was released and appeared in the movie "Nagare Tabi no Hitobito". In May of the same year, he was officially released without charge, but he was ordered by the Ministry of Interior to work under his real name.

In 1944, he formed the Haiyuza Theater with Ozawa Eitaro, Senda Koreya, Aoyama Sugisaku, Higashiyama Chieko and others. At the same time, he joined the Japan Mobile Theater Federation and organized the Fuyo corps to tour the region. After the war, he played major roles in "Kensatsukan", "Nakahahsi Kokan", "Akai Jinbaori", and "Yoru no Raihosha" as the center of the Haiyuza Theater Company. He later served as a director of the theater.

In the historical TV drama "Mito Komon", he played the leading role of Mitsukuni from season 1 to season 13, a total of 14 years and 381 episodes. The drama became a masterpiece. On July 8, 1982, he announced that he would drop the role due to the decline in energy and physical strength caused by old age.

In 1990, he became the chairman of the Japan New Drama Actors Association. After that, he was sporadically active as an actor.

He died of heart failure at home on September 8, 1994, at the age of 86. Edit Biography