is a Japanese film and television actor from

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

. A graduate of

Senshu University is a private university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Campuses *Kanda, Tokyo, Kanda Campus (Main campus): 3-8 Kandajimbo-cho, Chiyoda, Tokyo 101-8425 :The Kanda Campus is situated in Jimbocho, a college community in central Tokyo. This urban ca ...

, Wakabayashi became a member of Shin Kokugeki, then Wakabayashi Promotions. Currently he is a member of

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

Entertainment. After some roles in minor television series, he appeared for the first time in an

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

'' taiga drama'', ''Mominoki wa Nokotta'' in 1970. The network tapped him the following year for the role of

Araki Mataemon was a Japanese samurai active in the early Edo period. Araki Mataemon was the founder of the koryū martial art Yagyū Shingan-ryū, known sometimes as Yagyū Shingan-ryū Taijutsu. Araki Matemon studied Yagyū Shinkage-ryū under Yagyū Munen ...

in ''Haru no Sakamichi''. (A different Araki, the ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

'' Jūzaemon, was his character in a later film, ''

The Fall of Ako Castle is a 1978 Japanese historical martial arts period film directed by Kinji Fukasaku. It depicts the story of the forty-seven Ronin (''Chūshingura''). The film is one of a series of period films by Fukasaku starring Yorozuya Kinnosuke, including ''S ...

'', directed by

Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative filmmaking," Fukasaku worked in many different genres and styles, but was best known for his gritty yakuza films, typified by the ''Battles Without Honor ...

.) Also in 1971, he appeared as Maehara Isuke in the year-long series ''

Daichūshingura (Dai Chushingura) is a Japanese television dramatization of the events of the Forty-seven Ronin. The first episode aired on January 5, 1971, and the 52nd and final episode appeared on December 28 of the same year. The NET network broadcast it in th ...

'' with

Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

. He took guest roles in many other television series, including Mifune's ''Kōya no Surōnin'', the 1970s ''

Lone Wolf and Cub is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, and is ...

'' TV series, and ''

Suikoden is a series of role-playing video games created by Yoshitaka Murayama. The games are loosely based on the classical Chinese novel ''Water Margin'', whose title is rendered as in Japanese. Each individual game centers on themes of politics, co ...

''. Returning to NHK, he portrayed

Saitō Yoshitatsu or Toki Yoshitatsu was a Japanese samurai during the Sengoku period. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003).html" ;"title="DF 54 of 80">"Saitō," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', ...

in the 1973 ''taiga drama'' ''

Kunitori Monogatari is a 1973 Japanese television series. It is the eleventh NHK ''taiga'' drama. Plot The series is set in the Sengoku period. Based on Ryōtarō Shiba`s novel of the same name. The story chronicles the lives of Dosan Saito and Nobunaga Oda. Pro ...

.'' He has also appeared as

Sanada Yukimura , also known as , was a Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku period. He was especially known as the leading general on the defending side of the Siege of Osaka. Yukimura was called "A Hero who may appear once in a hundred years", "Crimson D ...

in ''

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

'' (1983), and as the same warrior in ''

Dokuganryū Masamune is a 1987 Japanese historical television series. It is the 25th NHK ''taiga'' drama. The broadcast received an average viewer rating of 39.7 percent in the Kanto area. The drama was adapted from the novel of Sōhachi Yamaoka. Plot Toyotomi Hidey ...

'' (1987). He played

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in the 1990 ''Tobu ga Gotoku'', his most recent ''taiga drama'' appearance. Other

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

roles have included

Katsu Kaishū Count , best known by his nickname , was a Japanese statesman and naval engineer during the late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy (Kaishū Shooku ) by Sakuma Shōzan. He ...

Kondō Isami was a Japanese swordsman and official of the late Edo period. He was the fourth generation master of Tennen Rishin-ryū and was famed for his role as commander of the Shinsengumi. Background He was born Miyagawa Katsugorō to a farmer Miyagaw ...

, Nakajima Saburōsuke, Ōkubo Ichiō, and

Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi was one of the most famous and romanticized of the samurai in Japan's feudal era. Life Very little is known about the actual life of Yagyū Mitsuyoshi as the official records of his life are very sparse. Yagyū Jūbē Mitsuyoshi (born "Shichirō ...

. A ''

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

'' role was Hotta Settsu-no-kami in '' Meibugyō Tōyama no Kin-san.'' In the mid-1970s, Wakabayashi took prominent contemporary roles, appearing as a detective in ''Taiyō ni Hoero!'', ''Oretachi no Kunshō'', and ''

G-Men '75 was a long-running prime-time popular television detective series in Japan. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:54 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) network from May 24, 1975 to April 3, 1982. A sequel, ''G-Men ' ...

''. In the last, he had a regular prime-time role in Episodes 105–335, co-starring with

Tetsurō Tamba was a Japanese actor with a career spanning five decades. He is best known in the West for his role in the 1967 James Bond film '' You Only Live Twice'' as Tiger Tanaka. Biography Tamba had a part-time job as an interpreter at Supreme Commande ...

. The pair played the same roles in ''G-Men '82'' (1982–83). Wakabayashi appears frequently in two-hour specials, often as a detective. He has starred in shows on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

, and

Tokyo Broadcasting System formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...

. A very different role was as a chef in ''Sushi Ōji'' (2007). He is also a

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

, appearing on variety and quiz shows. He has done commercials for a variety of products. Wakabayashi dubbed the voice of

Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golde ...

's Stewart McMillan in the NHK broadcasts of ''

McMillan & Wife ''McMillan & Wife'' (known simply as ''McMillan'' from 1976–77) is an American police procedural television series that aired on NBC from September 17, 1971, to April 24, 1977. Starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James in the title roles, the ...

''.

Filmography

Film

* ''

Karafuto 1945 Summer Hyosetsu no Mon is a 1974 Japanese film based on the Soviet Union's invasion of Karafuto during the Soviet–Japanese War near the end of World War II. The movie is set in Maoka (present day Kholmsk), and the story is based on the deaths of nine women who worked ...

'' (1974) * ''

'' (1978) * ''

The Battle of Port Arthur is a 1980 Japanese war film directed by Toshio Masuda. The Japanese title "Ni hyaku san kochi" means 203 Hill. The film depicts the fiercest battles at 203 Hill in the Siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War 1904 - 1905. Cast * Tat ...

'' (1980) * '' Ambition Without Honor 2'' (1997) * ''Musashi'' (2019) *''Shikake-nin Fujieda Baian'' (2023)

Television

* ''

'' (1971) * ''

Haru no Sakamichi Haru is a Japanese word that means "spring (season)". Haru is also a Korean word that means " day" in Korean. Haru may also refer to: *Haru (woreda), a woreda (district) in Ethiopia *Haru (given name), a unisex Japanese given name *Haru (actress ...

'' (1971) * ''

'' (1973),

*''

The Water Margin ''Water Margin'' (''Shuihu zhuan'') is one of the earliest Chinese novels written in vernacular Mandarin, and is attributed to Shi Nai'an. It is also translated as ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' and ''All Men Are Brothers''. The story, which is s ...

'' (1973), * ''

Amigasa Jūbei is a Japanese television ''jidaigeki'' or period drama that was broadcast from 1974 to 1975. It is based on Shōtarō Ikenami's novel by the same title. It depicts the stories of Tsukimori Jūbei and the Forty-seven rōnin. A remake was aired in 1 ...

'' (1974) * ''

'' (1976–82) * ''

'' (1983),

* ''

'' (1987), Sanada Yukimura *''

Ōedo Sōsamō and are long-running (1970 to 1992) prime time television ''jidaigeki'' programs that originally aired from 1970 to 1992. The series was broadcast on TV Tokyo (Tokyo 12 Channel). The title literally translates as "Oedo Dragnet" ("New Oedo Dragnet" ...

'' (1991),

Matsudaira Sadanobu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the mid-Edo period, famous for his financial reforms which saved the Shirakawa Domain, and the similar reforms he undertook during his tenure as chief of the Tokugawa shogunate, from 1787 to 1793. Early life Mats ...

* ''

Lunch no Joō is a Japanese drama series aired in Japan on Fuji TV in 2002. It stars Yūko Takeuchi, Yōsuke Eguchi, Satoshi Tsumabuki, and Shinichi Tsutsumi. Synopsis Season 1 (2002) Natsumi loves lunchtime and food. Nothing excites her more than to wal ...

'' (2002) * '' Sushi Ōji!'' (2007) * ''

Tenchijin is a 2009 Japanese super historical drama television series, and the 48th taiga drama of NHK. It aired every Sunday from January 4 to November 22, 2009, spanning 47 episodes.It is an unusual Taiga Drama as the final episode will be broadcast as ...

'' (2009),

Shima Sakon , also known as Shima Tomoyuki and Shima Katsutake, was a Japanese samurai of the late Sengoku period. His nickname was (Shima the right hand). Sakon eventually left the service of the Hatakeyama clan, Tsutsui Junkei, Toyotomi Hidenaga and event ...

* ''

Kodoku no Gourmet is a Japanese cuisine ''seinen'' manga series written by Masayuki Qusumi and illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi. It has been adapted into a Japanese television drama series and a Chinese web series (). A 10-episode original net animation adaptatio ...

'' (2017) * ''Cold Case Season 3'' (2020)

References

Sources

This article incorporates material from 若林豪 (''Wakabayashi Gō'') in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on March 4, 2008.

External links

*
若林豪
at JMDB
若林　豪
Toho Entertainment Official Site {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakabayashi, Go 1939 births Japanese male actors Living people People from Nagasaki