is a Japanese film and television actor from

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

. A graduate of

Senshu University Senshu University (専修大学, ''Senshū Daigaku''), generally referred to as Senshu (専修) or Sen-Dai (専大), is a private university located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1880 as Senshu College , which was recognised as one of t ...

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

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

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

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

taiga drama is the name NHK gives to the annual year-long historical drama television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white ''Hana no Shōgai'', starring kabuki actor Onoe Shoroku II and Awashima Chikage, the network regul ...

'', ''Mominoki wa Nokotta'' in 1970. The network tapped him the following year for the role of Araki Mataemon 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 Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

'' 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 ...

'', 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 film, yakuza films, typified by the Battles With ...

.) 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 t ...

'' with

Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor and producer. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades over a lengthy career, he is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time. He often played hypermasculine characters and was noted for his commandin ...

. 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. It was serialized in Futabasha's manga magazine '' Weekly Manga Action'' from September 1970 to April 1976, with its chapters collected in 28 ' volumes. ...

'' TV series, and ''

Suikoden is a series of role-playing video games developed and published by Konami. 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 g ...

''. Returning to NHK, he portrayed

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

in the 1973 ''taiga drama'' ''

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 ...

.'' 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 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 ...

'' (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 with the highest viewing rating of 47.8%. The drama was adapted from the novel ...

'' (1987). He played

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

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roles have included

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 ...

Kondō Isami was a Japanese swordsman and samurai 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 Miyagawa ...

, 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, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...

'' 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 appeared in nearly 300 film and television productions, both in leading and supporting roles, and was the winner of two Japan Academy Film Prizes. At the height of his career, he wa ...

. 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 , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

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, and

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

. 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 due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

, 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 film stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades, and was a prominent figure in the G ...

's Stewart McMillan in the NHK broadcasts of ''

McMillan & Wife ''McMillan & Wife'' (known simply as ''McMillan'' from 1976 to 1977) 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, ...

''.

Filmography

Film

* '' Karafuto 1945 Summer Hyosetsu no Mon'' (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 Hill 203. The film depicts the fiercest battles at Hill 203 in the Siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War 1904 - 1905. Cast * T ...

'' (1980) * '' Ambition Without Honor 2'' (1997) * ''Musashi'' (2019) * ''Baian the Assassin, M.D.'' (2023) * ''Kami no Shima'' (2025)

Television

* ''

'' (1971) * '' Haru no Sakamichi'' (1971), Araki Mataemon * ''

'' (1973),

* '' The Water Margin'' (1973), * '' Amigasa Jūbei'' (1974) * ''

'' (1976–82) * ''

'' (1983),

* ''

'' (1987), Sanada Yukimura * ''

Ōedo Sōsamō and are long-running 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" for the seco ...

'' (1991),

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

* '' Lunch no Joō'' (2002) * ''

Sushi Ōji! is an original Japanese television drama series directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko (堤幸彦) with main lead played by Domoto Koichi of KinKi Kids. It aired on Friday nights for a total of 8 episodes, from July 27 to September 14, 2007. Plot Maiz ...

'' (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 e ...

'' (2009),

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

* ''

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 adaptati ...

'' (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