Yūsaku Matsuda
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was a Japanese actor. In Japan, he was best known for roles in action films and a variety of television series in the 1970s as well as a switch to a wider range of roles in the 1980s. His final film appearance was as the villain Sato in
Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...
's '' Black Rain''. He died in 1989 at the age of 40. He is considered one of Japan's most important film actors. Several
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
,
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
and
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
characters are based on him, including
Kenshiro is a fictional character and the protagonist of the ''Fist of the North Star'' manga series created by Tetsuo Hara and Buronson. In the story, Kenshiro is the rightful successor of an ancient art of assassination called '' Hokuto Shinken'', ...
in ''
Fist of the North Star is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 245 issues published from 1983 to 1988 and initially collected in 27 volumes ...
'',
Spike Spiegel is a fictional character introduced as the protagonist of the 1998 anime series ''Cowboy Bebop''. Spike is a former member of the criminal Red Dragon Syndicate, which he left by faking his death after falling in love with a woman named Julia. H ...
in ''
Cowboy Bebop is a 1998 Japanese neo-noir space Western anime television series that aired on TV Tokyo and Wowow from 1998 to 1999. It was created and animated by Sunrise (company), Sunrise, led by a production team of director Shinichirō Watanabe, ...
'', Rikiya Busujima in ''
Zombie Revenge is a beat 'em up video game released for arcades and Dreamcast in 1999. Armed with their fists, feet, and whatever weapons they should find along the way, players are tasked with ridding an unnamed city of zombies. Originally titled ''Blood Bul ...
'', Aokiji in ''
One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...
'', Wabisuke in ''
Summer Wars is a 2009 Japanese animated science fiction film directed by Mamoru Hosoda, produced by Madhouse, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film's voice cast includes Ryunosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura, Sumiko Fuji ...
'', and Jubei Yagyu in '' Onimusha 2''.


Career

He began acting after graduating from high school, moving through several theatre companies before joining the
Bungakuza is a Japanese theatre company. Along with the Mingei Theatre Company and the Haiyuza Theatre Company it is considered one of the "Big Three" among Shingeki theatre troupes. History The company was founded by Kunio Kishida, Mantarō Kubota ...
theatre group at around the same time as
Kaori Momoi is a Japanese actress. Life and career Momoi was born in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of 12, she traveled to London to study dance at the Royal Ballet Academy. After three years, she returned to Tokyo. She graduated from Japan's Bungakuza School ...
. His career as a screen actor started in 1973 with a role as a junior police officer in a TV detective drama called ''
Taiyō ni Hoero! , literally ''Roar at the Sun!'', was a long-running prime-time television detective series in Japan, which ran from 1972 to 1986 for a total of 718 episodes. The lead star was Yujiro Ishihara. It also helped further the career of actors such a ...
'' He went on to appear in various television series and action films during the seventies. His most remembered role on television was in ''
Tantei Monogatari , or ''Detective Story'', is an action Japanese TV series starring Yūsaku Matsuda that was originally broadcast on Nippon TV in 27 forty-five-minute episodes from September 18, 1979 to April 1, 1980. The show had various directors including T ...
'', in which he starred as an unlikely private detective. In films, he was known for such gun-toting roles as assassin Shōhei Narumi in the ''Yūgi'' (''Game'') series of films, and master criminal Asakura in ''Resurrection of the Golden Wolf''. In the 1980s, desiring to be seen as more than an action star, he moved from action films to a wider range of dramatic roles. He made a dramatic weight loss to appear in the film '' The Beast to Die'' in 1980. The following year he appeared in another action film, ''Yokohama BJ Blues'', which also featured his singing, and the surreal art film '' Kagerō-za''. In 1983, he won the award for best actor at the 8th
Hochi Film Award The are film-specific prizes awarded by the '' Hochi Shimbun''. Categories *Best Picture *Best International Picture *Best Animated Picture (since 2017) *Best Actor *Best Actress *Best Supporting Actor *Best Supporting Actress *Best New Artist ...
for ''
Detective Story Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...
'' and ''
The Family Game is a 1983 Japanese comedy and family drama film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. It follows the story of a nuclear family of four whose father hires a tutor for the younger son, a distracted and low-ranking middle school student who will soon be ta ...
''. In 1985 he took the lead role in the award-winning '' Sorekara''. In 1986, he directed '' A Homansu'', after the scheduled director left due to disagreements. This was the only film he directed. During the eighties, he also appeared in many commercials, such as for Gatsby hair products or Triangle shochu. In addition to acting, from the late seventies to the eighties he toured as a singer, releasing several albums of music. In 1989, although already diagnosed with cancer, he starred as the villain, Sato, in '' Black Rain''. Director
Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...
and co-stars
Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the ...
,
Andy Garcia Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of real individuals and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianis ...
, and
Kate Capshaw Kathleen Sue Spielberg (''née'' Nail; born November 3, 1953), known professionally as Kate Capshaw, is an American former actress and painter. She is best known for her portrayal of Willie Scott, an American nightclub singer and performer in '' ...
praised his professionalism and performance, despite his suffering. He died shortly afterwards, after making a final appearance in a special television drama with
Florence Griffith-Joyner Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete and the fastest woman ever recorded. She was married to Al Joyner, a 198 ...
, in which he was supposed to run against her, but was unable to do so because of his illness. After his death, his image continued to be used in commercials, such as a 2000 campaign for Schick razors using his image from the ''Tantei Monogatari'' television series. Books, films, television specials, and other products, such as scale models of his most famous characters, continue to appear long after his death. In 1998, a film called ''Yomigaeru Yūsaku: Tantei Monogatari Tokubetsu-hen'' was released, containing two episodes of the ''Tantei Monogatari'' television series and some additional material. In 2009, his second wife,
Miyuki Matsuda is a Japanese actress, the widow of Yūsaku Matsuda, and the sister of Mami Kumagai. At the age of 17 she appeared in a television series, '' Tantei Monogatari'', starring Yūsaku Matsuda, who was then married. They started a relationship and ...
, produced a tribute film, ''Soul Red'', including clips from his films and interviews with actors such as
Andy Garcia Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of real individuals and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianis ...
, as well as his two sons.


Personal life

Matsuda was born out of wedlock in
Shimonoseki file:141122 Shimonoseki City Hall Yamaguchi pref Japan01s3.jpg, 260px, Shimonoseki city hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,193 in 128,762 households and a pop ...
, to a Japanese father, a probation officer, whom he never met, and a
Zainichi Korean () are ethnic Koreans who immigrated to Japan before 1945 and are citizens or permanent residents of Japan, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South Korean nationals who have immigrated to Japan since t ...
mother, Kaneko Matsuda, originally Kim. She was a Korean who had married a Japanese man who died during World War II. Kaneko wrote his birth year incorrectly as 1950 on his birth records deliberately. He grew up and was educated in Shimonoseki, attending Kanda elementary school and Bunyo Junior High School, before entering Shimonoseki Secondary School. In 1967, while at high school, at the urging of his mother, he stayed with his aunt in the city of Seaside in America for one year. He attended Seaside High School. However, extremely unhappy in America, malnourished, unable to speak English, and feeling himself the victim of discrimination, he returned to Japan. Because he was afraid of facing his mother, he went to stay with his older brother in Tokyo. He attended as a night student and graduated in 1969. After graduating, he entered a theatre company called , leaving in November 1969. In 1971 he joined a theatre group "Club Marui", then in 1972 he joined "Bungakuza". He met his future wife Michiko through Club Marui in May 1971. At the time he was working as a barman. He changed his citizenship from Korean to Japanese while he was starring in ''
Taiyō ni Hoero! , literally ''Roar at the Sun!'', was a long-running prime-time television detective series in Japan, which ran from 1972 to 1986 for a total of 718 episodes. The lead star was Yujiro Ishihara. It also helped further the career of actors such a ...
'', with the help of Michiko, whose father was a member of the Liberal Democratic party who was head of the then-Prime Minister's support office. In 1975 he was involved in two fracases, first with two journalists, and then with a student who attacked him with a wooden kendo sword because the student thought he was assaulting a woman. The student ended up in a hospital, and Matsuda received a suspended sentence for assault. This caused a major disruption in his career, with film studios and television companies dropping him. He married Michiko Kumamoto in 1975 and had one daughter. They divorced in 1981 after six years of marriage. In 1983, he married Miyuki Kumagai, with whom he had started a relationship in 1979, when she was 17, when she appeared in the television series ''Tantei Monogatari''. They had three children. Two of the children, Ryuhei and Shota, became actors and daughter Yuki became a singer.


Death

In 1988, Matsuda was diagnosed with
bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...
, before shooting began for ''Black Rain''. Matsuda refused
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...
, as he thought it would affect his ability to act in the film. After his death, his first wife, who had experienced him ignoring an ear infection until it required surgery to prevent deafness, wrote that she suspected that he did not actually realize the seriousness of his illness. During the filming, he was urinating blood. By the time shooting finished, in March 1989, his cancer had spread to his spine and lungs, making it inoperable. On October 7, 1989, Matsuda was hospitalized. A month after he was admitted, Matsuda died at 6:45 PM JST on November 6 at the age of 40, at a Tokyo hospital. He was buried in in
Akiruno, Tokyo file:Akigawa River in the autumn.jpg, 260px, Akigawa River in the autumn is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 80,177, and a population de ...
.


In popular culture

A number of
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
and
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
characters were inspired by Matsuda.
Manga author A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the industry as a pri ...
and artist
Tetsuo Hara is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for co-creating the post-apocalyptic martial arts series ''Fist of the North Star'' (1983–1988) with writer Buronson, which is one of the best-selling manga in history with over 100 million copies ...
cited Yūsaku Matsuda as one of the two major influences on the character design of
Kenshiro is a fictional character and the protagonist of the ''Fist of the North Star'' manga series created by Tetsuo Hara and Buronson. In the story, Kenshiro is the rightful successor of an ancient art of assassination called '' Hokuto Shinken'', ...
, the protagonist of manga and
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
series ''
Fist of the North Star is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 245 issues published from 1983 to 1988 and initially collected in 27 volumes ...
''. The other major influence was martial artist
Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...
, with Hara combining the appearance and character traits of Lee and Matsuda when he came up with the character design of Kenshiro. In the anime series ''
Cowboy Bebop is a 1998 Japanese neo-noir space Western anime television series that aired on TV Tokyo and Wowow from 1998 to 1999. It was created and animated by Sunrise (company), Sunrise, led by a production team of director Shinichirō Watanabe, ...
'', protagonist
Spike Spiegel is a fictional character introduced as the protagonist of the 1998 anime series ''Cowboy Bebop''. Spike is a former member of the criminal Red Dragon Syndicate, which he left by faking his death after falling in love with a woman named Julia. H ...
's appearance was primarily based on the main protagonist of ''
Tantei Monogatari , or ''Detective Story'', is an action Japanese TV series starring Yūsaku Matsuda that was originally broadcast on Nippon TV in 27 forty-five-minute episodes from September 18, 1979 to April 1, 1980. The show had various directors including T ...
'', portrayed by Matsuda. Spike's voice actor
Kōichi Yamadera is a Japanese actor, narrator and singer from Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University's economics school and is currently affiliated with Across Entertainment. Before that, he was affiliated with the Tokyo Acto ...
was a fan of Matsuda, but avoided imitating Matsuda's distinctive manner of speaking, noting that it "wouldn't have sounded right" for Spike."Spike: A Complex Soul". Matsuda also inspired the character Aokiji from the manga and anime series ''
One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...
''. In the video game '' Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny'', the hero Jubei Yagyu was modelled after Yūsaku Matsuda.


Filmography


Film


Television


Video games


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsuda, Yusaku 1949 births 1989 deaths 20th-century Japanese male actors Deaths from bladder cancer in Japan Japanese male actors of Korean descent Japanese male film actors Japanese male television actors Japanese people of Korean descent People from Shimonoseki Zainichi Korean people Naturalized citizens of Japan