was a Japanese stage and film actor active from 1960 to 1993.「個性光る、名脇役」　

Asahi Shimbun is a Japanese daily newspaper founded in 1879. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. The ''Asahi Shimbun'' is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan along with the ''Yom ...

読売新聞1993 March 26 朝刊31面 He is mostly associated with the films of director

Nagisa Ōshima was a Japanese filmmaker, writer, and left-wing activist who is best known for his fiction films, of which he directed 23 features in a career spanning from 1959 to 1999. He is regarded as one of the greatest Japanese directors of all time, and ...

Biography

Toura was born Mutsuhiro Toura in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, Japan. A graduate of

Kyoto University , or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...

, he worked as an English teacher at a private high school before becoming an actor at the

Shochiku is a Japanese entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed '' kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establis ...

studios at Ōshima's recommendation. He left Shochiku together with Ōshima the following year and became a freelance actor who often worked with Ōshima, but also repeatedly with director

Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include '' Children of Hiroshima'', '' The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', '' Kuroneko'' a ...

. Toura died of

polyarteritis nodosa Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a systemic necrotizing inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis) affecting medium-sized muscular arteries, typically involving the arteries of the kidneys and other internal organs but generally sparing the lungs' ...

in 1993 at the age of 62.

Selected filmography

Film

* '' The Sun's Burial'' (1960) as Masa * ''

Night and Fog in Japan is a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Nagisa Ōshima. It deals with the contemporary Zengakuren opposition but also evokes the 1950 protests against the Anpo treaty; this political content is related to the particular approach of memory ...

'' (1960) as Higashiura * '' Zatoichi and the Chess Expert'' (1965) as crippled yakuza * '' Violence at Noon'' (1966) as Genji * ''

Japan's Longest Day is a 1967 Japanese epic film, epic war film directed by Kihachi Okamoto. The subject of the majority of the movie is the period between noon on August 14, 1945, and noon on August 15, 1945, when Emperor Hirohito's decision to surrender to the ...

'' (1967) as Shun'ichi Matsumoto * '' Double Suicide: Japanese Summer'' (1967) * '' Tales of the Ninja'' (1967) (voice) * ''

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief is a 1969 Japanese New Wave film co-written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima. Synopsis The film centers around Birdie, a young Japanese book thief who is caught by a store clerk named Umeko. As their encounters grow increasingly fraught with te ...

'' (1968) as himself * ''

Curse of the Blood is a 1968 Japanese jidaigeki Horror film directed by Kazuo Hase and screenplay by Masashige Narusawa. It stars Masakazu Tamura. Curse of the Blood was adapted from the novel ''Kaidan Kasanegafuchi'' written by Renzaburō Shibata. Plot Source: ...

'' (1968) as Fukaya Shinzaemon * ''

Death by Hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. ...

'' (1968) as medical officer * '' Kuroneko'' (1968) as a warlord * '' Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts'' (1969) (narrator) * '' Live Today, Die Tomorrow!'' (1970) as Gondo * '' The Ceremony'' (1971) as Sakurada Mamoru * ''Stray Cat Rock: Beat '71'' (1971) * ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...

'' (1971) as interpreter * '' Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41'' (1972) as Ministry of Justice officer * '' Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons'' (1973) as Oribe * '' Bodigaado Kiba: Hissatsu sankaku tobi'' (1973) as Karasaki Gen * '' Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs'' (1974) as Tani * '' Military Comfort Women'' (1974) as Yamagami * '' The Life of Chikuzan'' (1977) as Hikoichi * ''

Sanada Yukimura no Bōryaku is a 1979 Japanese film directed by Sadao Nakajima. The film deals with Sanada Yukimura and the Siege of Osaka. Cast *Hiroki Matsukata as Sanada Yukimura *Chiezō Kataoka as Sanada Masayuki * Tatsuo Umemiya as Sanada Nobuyuki * Teruhiko Aoi as ...

'' (1979) as Ono Harunaga * '' Edo Porn'' (1981) * ''

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence , also known as , is a 1983 war film co-written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima, co-written by Paul Mayersberg, and produced by Jeremy Thomas. The film is based on the experiences of Sir Laurens van der Post (portrayed by Tom Conti as Lt. Col. J ...

'' (1983) as interpreter * '' Early Spring Story'' (1985) * '' Tree Without Leaves'' (1986) as bailiff * '' Yearning'' (1993)

Television

* '' Akō Rōshi'' (1964) as Takebayashi Takashige * '' Taikoki'' (1965) as

Hosokawa Fujitaka , also known as , was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and prominent samurai lord of the Sengoku period. A former senior retainer of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the fifteenth and final Ashikaga shōgun, Fujitaka later aligned with Oda Nobunaga. As a reward fo ...

* '' Ten to Chi to'' (1969) as

Suwa Yorishige Suwa Yorishige may refer to: * Suwa Yorishige (daimyo), Japanese samurai daimyo of the Shinano province * Suwa Yorishige (Nanboku-chō period), military commander during the Nanboku-chō period {{hndis ...

* ''

Kunitori Monogatari is a historical novel by Japanese novelist Ryōtarō Shiba. It was serialised in Sunday Mainichi (Mainichi Shimbun Publishing Inc.) from August 1963 to June 1966. It consists of a first part starring Saito Dōsan and a second part starring Oda No ...

'' (1973) as

Shimozuma Rairen (1537 – 1626), famously known as , was a Japanese Shin Buddhist priest within Hongan-ji. He led on the defence of Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji between 1570 and 1580. During that time the temple was in conflict from Oda Nobunaga. Rairen p ...

* ''

Katsu Kaishū Count , born , best known by his nickname , was a Japanese statesman, naval engineer and military commander during the late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy (Kaishū S ...

'' (1974) as

Takano Chōei was a prominent scholar of ''Rangaku'' (western science) during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. Life Chōei was born as Gotō Kyōsai, the third son of Gotō Sōsuke, a middle-ranking samurai in Mizusawa Domain of Mutsu Province in what is now ...

* ''

Kusa Moeru is a 1979 Japanese television series. It is the 17th NHK taiga drama. It is also the first Taiga drama to standardize the use of modern language in dialogue starting with this one onward. On the other hand, characters did not use first names to ...

'' as

Minamoto no Yukiie was a brother of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, and one of the commanders of the Minamoto forces in the Genpei War at the end of the Heian period of Japanese history. In 1181, he was defeated at the Battle of Sunomatagawa by Taira no Shigehira. After ...

* ''

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

'' as

Hirate Masahide was a Japanese samurai who served the Oda clan for two generations. His original name was . Life Masahide first served Oda Nobuhide and then become one of the Four karōs that helped Oda Nobunga in his early life. He was a talented samurai as ...

* '' Unmeitōge'' (1974) as Yami no Hichibei * ''Miyamoto Musashi'' (1985) as Sakai Tadatoshi * '' Sanada Taiheiki'' (1985-86) as Ninja Nakayama Nagatoshi

References

External links

* * 1937 births 1993 deaths Male actors from Osaka 20th-century Japanese male actors {{Japan-film-actor-stub