137 results found for: Saisho no Bansan
Onoe Matsunosuke
Onoe Matsunosuke was a Japanese actor. He was initially an actor with an itinerant kabuki troupe. In his autobiography, he claimed that he had made his stage debut as early as 1880, in a performance given by the Tamizo Onoe company. Fascinated by the stage, he left his home by the age of 14 to travel…
Hayasaka Fumio
Hayasaka Fumio is a Japanese composer born in the city of Sendai on the main Japanese island of Honshū. In 1918, Hayasaka and his family moved to Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaidō. In 1933, Hayasaka and Akira Ifukube organized the New Music League, which held a new music festival the year…
Tanaka Kinuyo
Tanaka was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. She became a leading actress at an early age, appearing in Ozu Yasujiro's I Graduated, But... in 1929. The following year she played the lead in Aiyoku no ki, and in 1931 she appeared in Japan's first talkie, The Neighbor's Wife and Mine,…
Shiina Kippei
Shiina Kippei is a Japanese actor whose first true breakthrough performance was in the 1993 film, Nûdo no yoru. His portrayal of a young yakuza enamored with his boss led to a Best New Actor Award at the 9th Takasaki Film Festival. He met actress Yamamoto Mirai on the set of TV Asahi's drama 'BLACK…
Abe Yutaka
A director from the mid-twenties, Abe had trained in Hollywood, where he played bit parts in films starring his compatriot, Sessue Hayakawa. After returning home, he became known as the Lubitsch of Japan, a reputation founded on his witty and polished social satires. A Mermaid on Land (Riku no ningyo,…
Mizoguchi Kenji
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Mizoguchi's work is renowned for its long takes and mise-en-scène. According to writer Mark Le Fanu, "His films have an extraordinary force and purity. They shake and move the viewer by the power, refinement and compassion with which they…
Araki Shinobu
Araki Shinobu was born in 1891 in Niigata. He spent the early part of his life in a small traveling theater company and performing in Asakusa, before joining Nikkatsu Mukojima in 1921, stepping into the world of acting for the first time. He began by appearing in the Shinpa dramas Futari Shizuka (Two…
Kagawa Kyoko
Kagawa was born in Tokyo in 1931. She originally wanted to become a ballerina. She was discovered by a film studio after winning a beauty contest and began a career in acting. Her first major film role was in a movie Mado Kara Tobidase (Jump Out of the Window). She became a household name for her role…
