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Japanese actors bios

Linn1

By Linn1
in Classic Martial Arts Cinema 1920-1985

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Guest Daisho2004

Guest Daisho2004

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Tomisaburo Wakayama is most probably the Greatest Swordsman who ever graced the Silver Screen. His skill with a Sword is second to none. In Zatoichi when he twirled around his sword and returned it to his scabbard while he was a One Armed Ronin that was something that was almost impossible for any Actor to do, but he did it in a blink of any eye. When you watch his movies you always see something never done before or just his skill alone with a sword or any other weapon and I know that I always end up rewinding it a few times then slow it down in amazement. I tried to find a Bio of him but it was a little hard to find, even on the net.

I would like to know what your opinion of him is, and who if any do you think was a better Swordsman.

Tomisaburo Wakayama (1929-1992) was a Japanese actor, best known for playing Ogami Itto, the disgraced, scowling, 17th century ronin in the six Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub) samurai feature movies.

Tomisaburo Wakayama was born into a family of Kabuki performers. He and his little brother Shintaro Katsu both followed in their father's footsteps until Tomisaburo got sick of it and decided it was time for a change. When he was thirteen years old, he began to study judo and became 4th Dan black belt. This made him give up theatre altogether. He spent most of his time teaching Judo until Toho decided to recruit him as a new martial arts star. Although at first reluctant because of his disillusion about Japanese theatre and acting, he eventually agreed and began to star in jidaigeki movies.

He prepared for these movies by practicing other disciplines such as Kenpo, Iaido, Kendo, or Bo-Jitsu. All this helped him for his most famous role: Ogami Itto, the Lone Wolf. After that, Tomisaburo starred in many films, performing under many different roles. It has been estimated that he has acted in between 250 to 500 films, though there isn't a clear record of them. His only roles in American movies were as a baseball coach in The Bad News Bears Go To Japan and as aYakuza boss playing opposite Michael Douglas in Ridley Scott's Black Rain.

Tomisaburo Wakayama passed away in a Kyoto hospital on April 2, 1992 of accute heart failure. The Lone Wolf died at the age of 62 before he could become any more popular in the West. However, he will always have a cult following remembering him for his most celebrated role as the wandering ronin, Lone Wolf.

Partial Filmography

Tomisaburo Wakayama starring in Lone Wolf and Cub movie series

* Gyakushu orochimaru (1955)

* Rage (1959)

* Fukaku hichô (1959)

* Jirochô kesshôki: Nagurikomi kôjinyama (1960)

* Megitsune henge (1961)

* Ghost of Oiwa (1961)

* Zatoichi 2 (1962)

* Ninja 1 (1962)

* Love for a Mother (1962)

* Sleepy Eyes of Death: The Chinese Jade (1963)

* Teuchi (1963)

* Ninja 2 (1963)

* Ninja 3 (1963)

* Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (1964)

* Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Seduction (1964)

* Ninja 4 (1964)

* Virgin Witnessed (1966)

* A Brave Generous Era (1966)

* Fraternal Honor: Three Brothers of Kanto (1966)

* Bakuchi uchi (1967)

* Hokkai yûkyôden (1967)

* Red Peony Gambles Her Life (1968 )

* Kyôdai jingi gyakuen no sakazuki (1968 )

* Yôen dokufu-den hannya no ohyaku (1968 )

* Bakuto retsuden (1968 )

* Kaettekita gokudo (1968 )

* Ballad of Murder (1968 )

* Wicked Priest (1968 )

* Nunnery Confidential (1968 )

* Bakuchi-uchi: socho tobaku (1968 )

* Gendai yakuza: yotamono no okite (1968 )

* Memoir of Japanese Assassins (1969)

* Tabi ni deta gokudo (1969)

* Japan Organized Crime Boss (1969)

* Nihon jokyo-den: kyokaku geisha (1969)

* Nihon ansatsu hiroku (1969)

* Red Peony: The Hanafuda Game (1969)

* Matteita gokudo (1969)

* Gokudô bôzu: nenbutsu hitokiri tabi (1969)

* Blind Yakuza Monk (1970)

* Bakuchi-uchi: Nagaremono (1970)

* Underground Syndicate (1970)

* Shiruku hatto no ô-oyabun (1970)

* Shiruku hatto no ô-oyabun: chobi-hige no kuma (1970)

* Thugs of Shinjuku (1970)

* Gokuaku bozu nenbutsu sandangiri (1970)

* Gokudo Kamagasaki ni kaeru (1970)

* Gokudo kyojo tabi (1970)

* Hakurai jingi: Kapone no shatei (1970)

* Nihon boryoku-dan: kumicho kuzure (1970)

* Saigo no tokkôtai (1970)

* A Boss with the Samurai Spirit (1971)

* Gamblers in Okinawa (1971) (International: English title)

* Bakuto kirikomi-tai (1971)

* Boryokudan sai buso (1971)

* Kizudarake no seishun (1971)

* Nippon akuninden (1971)

* Nihon yakuza-den: Sôchiyô e no michi (1971)

* Bakuchi-uchi: Inochi-huda (1971)

* Cherry Blossom Fire Gang (1972)

* Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)

* Lone Wolf and Cub: Perambulator of the River of Sanzu (1972)

* Lone Wolf and Cub: Perambulator Against the Winds of Death (1972)

* Lone Wolf and Cub: In Peril (1972)

* Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Land of Demons (1973)

* Kamagasaki gokudo (1973)

* ESPY (1974)

* Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (1974)

* Datsugoku Hiroshima satsujinshû (1974)

* Gokudo VS furyô banchô (1974)

* Gokudo VS Mamushi (1974)

* Bôryoku kinmyaku (1975)

* Devil's Bouncing Ball Song (1977)

* Edogawa Rampo no injû (1977)

* Torakku yarô: Otoko ippiki momojirô (1977)

* Sugata Sanshiro (1977)

* Phoenix (1978 )

* Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978 )

* Oh My Son (1979)

* Distant Tomorrow (1979)

* Shogun Assassin (1980)

* The Gate of Youth (1981)

* Samurai Reincarnation (1981)

* Flames of Blood (1981)

* Conquest (1982)

* The Shootout (1982)

* Irezumi: Spirit of Tattoo (1982)

* Theatre of Life (1983)

* Shôsetsu Yoshida gakko (1983)

* Hakujasho (1983)

* Story of the Yamashita Boy (1985)

* A Promise (1986)

* Shinran: Path to Purity (1987)

* Black Rain (1989)

* Jotei: Kasuga no tsubone (1990)

* Checkmate (1991)

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lone-wolf2.jpg

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Guest Daisho2004

Guest Daisho2004

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Good Link for pic's and Bio info: www.shokosugitheninja.com/main.htm

Shô Kosugi, for myself he was the one that introduced me to Ninja movies, and I was hook every since. He had a few good roles in the early 80's Ninja craze, but then it just died out, I'm disappointed that he really never resurfaced back into American mainstream since Martial Arts is in almost every movie that is out now a days. I would really like to see him do a movie with Sonny Chiba, since we always associate Sonny Chiba with Ninjas.

Biography for:

Shô Kosugi

Date of Birth

17 June 1948, Tokyo, Japan

Birth Name

Shôichi Kosugi

Nickname

The visible ninja

Mini Biography

Easily the best known actor/martial artist during the 1980s ninja cinema craze, Kosugi was a proficient martial artist & skilled weapons performer which was highlighted in his several starring roles.

Kosugi grew up as the youngest child and only son of a Tokyo fisherman, and began his martial arts training at the age of five studying karate at a local dojo. Sho expanded upon his martial arts studies, also learning judo & kendo, and by his 18th birthday he had achieved the status of All Japan Karate Champion. Intent on entering the world of international finance, Sho left Japan at only 19 years old to study and reside in Los Angeles, USA where he achieved a Bachelor's Degree in Economics, yet he also remained focused on constantly improving his martial arts skills. Throughout the early 1970s, Sho competed in hundred's of martial arts tournaments & demonstrations including winning the L.A. Open in 1972, 1973 & 1974. In addition, he also met a young Chinese woman named Shook, who was eventually to become his wife and mother of his children, plus Sho had his first foray into the cinema with part's in a minor Taiwanese film titled "The Killers", and then in a Korean production, shot in Los Angeles known as "The Stranger From Korea".

Sho's big break came in 1981 when karate legend Mike Stone pitched a screenplay under the title of "Dance of Death" to Cannon Films. Cannon was at the time, a lackluster production house that had two years prior been purchased by film producer cousins Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus. The innovative cousins quickly turned Cannon into a profitable key player in the independently produced film market by latching onto topics popular to the youth market, having rapid shooting schedules, relatively unknown casts and tight budgets. Menehem Golan once remarked that he believed it was impossible to lose money on a film shot for the US market with a budget of under $5 million!!

Cannon Films backed Stone's screenplay and the title was changed to _Enter The Ninja (1981)_ starring Franco Nero, Christopher George & Susan George with filming completed in the Phillipines in early 1981. Sho's role was as the evil black ninja "Hasegawa", and his icy screen presence and martial arts skills grabbed the attention of martial arts film fans, and ignited the huge fascination with ninjitsu that engulfed martial arts for the next decade. With the financial success of their first "ninja" film, Cannon readily backed a further ninja movie, only this time Sho was elevated to being the star of the film and had become a good guy!! Revenge of the Ninja (1983) was shot in Salt Lake City, Utah in late 1982 and featured Sho as a ninja master forced to flee from Japan to America with his only surviving son, after the rest of his family are butchered by opposing ninjas's. Launching into an art importing business with an American business partner, Sho finds out too late that his partner is also a ninja, importing drugs hidden in Sho's Japanese dolls. The second film outstripped the first on box office takings, and Sho Kosugi was now the hottest star in martial arts cinema!

Based on those booming ticket sales, Cannon were once again happy to back another ninja movie, and in late 1983 shooting commenced in Phoenix, Arizona on Ninja III: The Domination (1984). The plot line however, was a rather strange affair, with the spirit of dead ninja possessing the body of dance instructor Christie (played by Solid Gold dancer Lucinda Dickey)......it was a misguided attempt by Cannon to combine ninjutsu with the 80s break dancing craze and horror movies about possession. None the less, fans didn't seem to mind, and the third installment in Cannon's ninja trilogy did reasonable business at the box office.

Kosugi then starred in the short lived action TV series _"The Master" (1984)_ alongside legendary screen bad guy 'Lee van Cleef' , before going onto star in several more ninja films, including taking on Mafia thugs in the bloody Pray for Death (1985), stopping terrorists as a ninja commando in Nine Deaths of the Ninja (1985) and as a ninja secret agent taking on "the Muscles from Brussels" Jean-Claude Van Damme in the military adventure Black Eagle (1988 ) .

However, by 1990 the US movie going public had grown tired of a decade of black clad ninja's hurling shuriken's and swords at each other, and Sho Kosugi left Hollywood to venture back to Japan where he became involved in numerous TV productions again centered around martial arts. In 1992, Kosugi starred in his biggest budgeted movie to date, a samurai epic titled _Journey of Honor (1992)_ also featuring screen legends Toshirô Mifune and Christopher Lee. Since then, Kosugi has remained very active in Japanese TV, was involved in contributing martial arts choreography for the highly popular Sony Playstation game "Tenchu; Stealth Assassins", plus he returned to Hollywood in the late 1990s to set up the Sho Kosugi Institute to assist Asian actors wishing to break into the mainstream US film market.

Undeniably, many of the ninja films featuring Sho Kosugi were marred by low budgets & cheap production....however his superb martial arts skills and captivating on screen presence have assured him a unique place in the history of martial arts cinema, and his name has become synonymous with the art of ninjitsu.

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Guest Daisho2004

Guest Daisho2004

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Any site wouldn't be complete without adding Sonny Chiba to its list of Favorite Actors this is a good link with a lot of info:

www.starpulse.com/Actors/...Biography/

AKA: Sadao Maeda (original name), Shinichi Chiba

Gender: male

Profession: actor, action director

Born: January 23, 1939 (Fukuoka, Japan)

Biography: (by Mark Pollard) Sonny Chiba, a fourth-degree black belt in karate and trained in judo, ninjutsu, kendo, and kempo has enjoyed a successful film career spanning 40 years. He is best remembered as the vicious assassin in the Street Fighter series of films beginning in 1974 which has earned him a cult following around the globe.

Chiba, originally Sadao Maeda was the second of five children born to Shichinosuke Maeda, a military test pilot and his wife Haruko. At an early age, he developed an interest in traditional Japanese theater and gymnastics. The latter nearly put him on the Japanese Olympic team before a back injury ended his gymnastics career. Nippon Taiiku University is where he began learning karate under World Karate Grand Master Masatatsu "Mas" Oyama. He went on to earn a first degree black belt in judo and eventually coach at the university during his senior year.

In 1960, he was discovered during a "New Faces" contest held by Toei Company and renamed Shinichi Chiba. ("Sonny" would be added a number of years later as a result of a Toyota Sunny-S ad campaign he participated in.) Thanks to his athleticism, Chiba was groomed by the studio as an action star appearing first on television and eventually cast in leading roles in a series of action films, while often returning to television. In 1969, Chiba created the Japan Action Club to train stars in martial arts and action scenes. Both Etsuko Shihomi and Hiroyuki Sanada were graduates of the program. To capitalize on the post-Bruce Lee craze in the mid-'70's, Toei turned to Chiba to star in his most famous role beginning with The Street Fighter in 1974, followed by a number of spin-offs.

Throughout the late '70's and eighties, Chiba appeared in a number of films, although few have reached great success outside of Japan. Having relocated to Los Angeles, he has appeared in a number of low-grade American films, often billed fourth or fifth. Thankfully, Hong Kong filmmakers have recently cast him in a number of films including Andy Lau's Storm Riders. Chiba continues to train and assist up-and-coming actors in Japan and he may yet get a much deserved greater recognition in the West for his role in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2002).

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Guest Jesse Smooth

Guest Jesse Smooth

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Perhaps Japan's only female action star as nobody has really surpassed her as far as martial arts skills and athleticism goes. Oddly enough, not much is known about her. Despite Shinichi Chiba and Hiroyuki Sanada still being active, Etsuko has gone obscure. She wont even come out for interviews.

Born on October 29, 1955, Etsuko grew up as a tomboy and idolized Shinichi Chiba. While in high school, she sent several letters to Japan Action Club asking that they take her as a student.She passed the tests and joined. She had trained in martial arts and gymnastics and the rest is history.

She is best known as Koryu Lee (Tina Long in the US version) in the Sister Streetfighter Series. Japan's first female action star. And her films are finally getting the respect that they deserve.

She married Japanese musician Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi, though there are rumors that they were divorced due to infedelity on the part of Nagabuchi.

Selected Filmography:

Karate kiba

THe Streetfighter

Sister Streetfighter Series

Shorinji kempo

Dragon Princess

Second is a Christian

13 Steps of maki (also performed theme song)

Hoero! Tekken (AKA Roaring Fire)

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Guest will91XingYu

Guest will91XingYu

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Kane Kosugi

born:1974, october 11th

Kane Kosugi is son of Sho Kosugi and older brother to Shane Kosugi. He has been in films with his dad starting in 1983! He is trained is several martial arts such as karate, wushu, taekwondo and judo. I didnt knw this but apparently he and his dad are no longer on speaking terms. This is because Kane chose a career to act in japanese tv and films rather than helping his dad run some martial arts schools, aparently Sho has called his son a coward. He has appeared in a few hollywood films such as War (2007) with Jet li (there short fight is the best part of the film), DOA (2006) with Holly Valance and Colin Chou and even made a japanese film with him as the lead called Bloodheat which also stars Jackie Chan bodyguard Ken Lo, this film looks amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc8WCUBO0q0

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