was a Japanese

film actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. His nickname was "Arakan." He is famous for playing the role of '' Kurama Tengu'' series. He entered the film industry in 1927 and came to fame playing Kurama Tengu, a character in the

Bakumatsu were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate Meiji Restoration, ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a Feudali ...

era created by

Jirō Osaragi was the pen-name of a popular Japanese writer in Shōwa period Japan, known primarily for his historical fiction novels, which appeared serialized in newspapers and magazines. His real name was . Early life Osaragi Jirō was born in Yokohama. H ...

in his novels. In the 1950s he portrayed the

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in several hit films and appeared in

yakuza films is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of ''yakuza'', Japanese organized crime syndicates. In the silent film era, depictions of ''bakuto'' (precursors to modern yakuza) as sympathetic Robin Hood-l ...

in the 1960s. He won Mainichi Film Award for Best Supporting Actor award for his role in ''

The Profound Desire of the Gods is a 1968 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. The culmination of the director's examinations of the fringes of Japanese society throughout the 1960s, the film was an 18-month super-production which failed to make an impression at the time o ...

''.

Filmography

His filmography includes over 300 films:Japanese Movie Database
accessed 27 May 2009 * '' Kurama Tengu'' (鞍馬天狗, Kurama Tengu) (1928) * '' Kurama Tengu: Kyōfu Jidai'' (鞍馬天狗恐怖時代, The Frightful Era of Kurama Tengu) (1928) * '' Kurama Tengu ōedo ihen'' (鞍馬天狗大江戸異変 ) (1950) *'' Meiji tennō to Nichiro daisensō'' (明治天皇と日露大戦争) (1957) *'' Kyōen Kobanzame'' (侠艶小判鮫, Kyōen Kobanzame) (1958) *'' Jigoku'' (1960) *'' Hana no Shōgai'' (1963, TV series) *'' 13 Assassins'' (1963) as Kuranaga *'' Akō Rōshi'' (1964, TV series) *'' Abashiri Prison'' (網走番外地, Abashiri Bangaichi) (1965) *'' A Colt Is My Passport'' (1967) as Shimazu * ''

'' (神々の深き欲望, Kamigami no Fukaki Yokubo) (1968) * '' Higashi Shinakai'' (1968) * '' Soshiki Bōryoku Kyodai Sakazuki'' (1969) * '' Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo'' (1970) * ''

Oshizamurai Kiichihōgan also known as The Mute Samurai is a Japanese television ''jidaigeki'' or period drama, that was broadcast in 1973–1974. The lead star is Tomisaburo Wakayama, his younger brother Shintaro Katsu also appeared and directed episode 1. It is based o ...

'' (1973–74) * ''The Executioner II: Karate Inferno'' (1974) * '' Tora-san Meets His Lordship'' (1977) * ''

Shin Hissatsu Shiokinin is a Japanese ''jidaigeki'' or period television drama. It is the tenth in the Hissatsu series. The drama is a sequel to Hissatsu Shiokinin. Shin Hissatsu Shiokinin is one of the most popular Jidaigeki dramas in Japan. Former professional Baseba ...

'' (1977 television series) (ep. 11) * ''Orenji Rodo kyūkō'' (1978) * ''

Nichiren was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the '' Lotus Sutra''. Nichiren declared that the '' Lotus Sutra ...

'' (1979)

References

Bibliography

External links

* *
Kinema Junpō Database
Japanese male film actors 1903 births 1980 deaths Male actors from Kyoto 20th-century Japanese male actors {{film-actor-stub