is a Japanese actor.
Biography
Early life
He was born in
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
, son of ''
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 ...
'' film star
Ichikawa Utaemon, and graduated from
Waseda University
, abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902.
The university has numerou ...
School of Letters, Arts and Sciences II in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
.
Acting career
Kin'ya made his debut with his father in the 1956
Toei film ''Oyakodaka''
[ in the role of ]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 ...
. He is a contemporary of, and was taken to be a rival of, Hiroki Matsukata
, better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor. He was the son of ''jidaigeki'' actor Jūshirō Konoe and actress Yaeko Mizukawa and has a younger brother, Yūki Meguro, who is also an actor. With ex-wife actress Akiko Nishina he had tw ...
, who was also the son of a famous actor (Jūshirō Konoe
was a famous jidaigeki actor. He was born Toraichi Meguro in Nagaoka, Niigata. Debuting at Ajia Eiga in 1934, Konoe appeared in jidaigeki at Daito Eiga, Shochiku, and Toei, the latter having him star in a popular series about Yagyu Jubei. K ...
). In 1964, Kin'ya made his first appearance on stage in ''Cyrano de Bergerac
Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist.
A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...
''.
The 1960s and 1970s saw him in many contemporary roles. He appeared in '' Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima'' and '' Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode'' as well as ''Karei naru Ichizoku''. The title role in the 1975 film ''Takehisa Yumeji
was a Japanese poet and painter. He is known foremost for his ''Nihonga'' illustrations of ''bijin'', beautiful women and girls, though he also produced a wide variety of works including book covers, serial newspaper illustrations, '' furoshik ...
'' was his.
On television, Kitaōji portrayed Miyamoto Musashi
, also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...
in the 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 ...
show of the same name. A major historical role was Sakamoto Ryōma
was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period.
He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active oppon ...
in the year-long prime-time 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 terrestr ...
''taiga'' drama '' Ryōma ga Yuku'' (1968). He landed the title role in the long-running cop show ''Zenigata Heiji
, usually called and formerly Heiji Zenigata VII, is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series ''Lupin III'', which debuted in ''Weekly Manga Action'' on August 10, 1967. He is named after the famous fictional Japanes ...
'', set in the 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 ...
. In the 1985 twelve-hour New Year special ''Fūun Yagyū Bugeichō,'' he played Yagyū Jūbei, and in the following year's special, he portrayed both Tokugawa Yoshimune
was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Lineage
Yoshimune ...
and Yagyū Shinrokurō. The role of another shogun fell to him in the following new year as TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...
tapped him to play Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川 家光, August 12, 1604 – June 8, 1651) was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who a ...
. Kin'ya returned to NHK for the 1987 Taiga drama '' Dokuganryū Masamune'' as Date Terumune
was a Japanese samurai clan leader of the Sengoku period. Turnbull, Stephen. (2012) ''Samurai Commanders: 1577-1638,'' Vol, 2, p. 52 He had close relationship with Oda Nobunaga, one of the leading figures of the period. Terumune was the father o ...
, father of title character Date Masamune
was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all ...
.
Another role he took had been created by his father. Saotome Mondonosuke was the title character in the series '' Gozonji! Hatamoto Taikutsu Otoko''. It ran from 1988 to 1994 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 ...
. His father, Ichikawa Utaemon, had appeared in numerous films as Mondonosuke.
Kin'ya reprised the part of Miyamoto Musashi in the 1990 New Year's special. 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 '' ...
had portrayed Musashi in the earlier film, also based on the Eiji Yoshikawa
was a Japanese historical novelist. Among his best-known novels are revisions of older classics. He was mainly influenced by classics such as ''The Tale of the Heike'', ''Tale of Genji'', ''Water Margin'' and ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', m ...
story, that had won an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
. He returned to the New Year's special in 1996, again as the famous swordsman, in '' Tokugawa Kengōden Sore kara no Musashi''.
His first portrayal of Ōishi Kuranosuke Oishi may refer to:
* Ōishi (surname), a Japanese surname
* Oishi (Philippine brand), a snack company from the Philippines
* Oishi Group, a Thai food-and-drink company
* Ōishi Station
is a railway station on the Hanshin Electric Railway Mai ...
was in the 1996 ''Chūshingura is the title given to fictionalized accounts in Japanese literature, theater, and film that relate to the historical incident involving the forty-seven ''rōnin'' and their mission to avenge the death of their master, Asano Naganori. Including the ...
''. He took up the role again in 2004 for the NHK ''Saigo no Chūshingura'' and in 2007, in the New Year special '' Chūshingura Yōzei-in no Inbō''. Other historical roles from the Sengoku period
The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615.
The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...
include Azai Nagamasa
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period known as the brother-in-law and enemy of Oda Nobunaga. Nagamasa was head of the Azai clan seated at Odani Castle in northern Ōmi Province and married Nobunaga's sister Oichi in 1564, fathering h ...
, Saitō Dōsan
, also known as Saitō Toshimasa (斎藤 利政), was a Japanese samurai during the Sengoku period. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Saitō Dōsan"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 809.
He was also known as the for his ruthless tactics. His hono ...
, and Yamamoto Kansuke. In addition to historical parts, he appeared in fictional series. His portrayal of Ogami Ittō in the ''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 ...
'' ( Kozure 2) Which was a series for Asahi TV in Japan is representative of these appearances.
In 2008, Kitaōji revisited the role of Katsu Kaishū in the ''taiga'' drama '' Atsuhime''. He had portrayed Katsu in his 1956 debut.
He won the award for best actor at the 10th Hochi Film Award
The are film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Hochi Shimbun
, previously known as , is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper. In 2002, it had a circulation of a million copies a day.
It is an affiliate newspaper of ''Yomiuri Shimbun''.
...
for ''Fire Festival
is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling Zero1 to determine the top wrestler in the promotion, typically contested in late July/early August. Within the English-speaking professional wrestling world, th ...
'' and ''Haru no kane
is a 1985 Japanese film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara.
Cast
*Kin'ya Kitaōji
* Yūko Kotegawa
*Yoshiko Mita
*Akira Nakao
* Shinsuke Ashida
*Eiji Okada
* Mariko Kaga
Awards and nominations
10h Hochi Film Award
* Won: Best Actor - Kin'ya Kita ...
''.Hideo Nakata
is a Japanese filmmaker.
Life and career
Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as ''Ring'' (1998), ''Ring 2'' (1999) and ''Dark Water'' (2002). Several of these we ...
's psychological thriller film ''The Incite Mill
is a 2010 Japanese psychological thriller directed by Hideo Nakata. The movie is based on Honobu Yonezawa's novel ''The Incite Mill''.
Plot
Ten people are promised a dream job that pays 112,000 yen ($1,236 US dollars) per hour, no experience or ...
''.
In recent times, Kitaōji voices the Hokkaido-inu character of "Father" in SoftBank Mobile
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...
's White Family advertising campaign.
Filmography
Film
Television
Theater
Video games
Dubbing roles
Honours
*Medal with Purple Ribbon
are medals awarded by the Government of Japan. They are awarded to individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work. The Medals of Honor were established on December 7, 1881, and we ...
(2007)
* Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2015)
Sources
This article incorporates material from 北大路欣也 ("Kin'ya Kitaōji") in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved January 29, 2008.
References
External links
*
北大路欣也
at JMDB
Official page
at the Horipro agency
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitaoji, Kinya
1943 births
Living people
Japanese male film actors
Japanese male stage actors
Japanese male television actors
Japanese male child actors
Waseda University alumni
Male actors from Kyoto
Taiga drama lead actors
Horipro artists
Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon
Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class
20th-century Japanese male actors
21st-century Japanese male actors