Kinuyo Tanaka (1910-1977)
Kinuyo Tanaka(1946)
She was born in 28 November 1910, Shimonoseki, Japan. She went to school in Osaka until 1919 and learned how to play biwa. She appeared in musical theather, with the Biwa Shojo Kafeti Girls revue in Osaka from 1920 to 1923. From then, film company, Shochiku Kamata offered to make her first movie, Genroku Onna ('Women of Genroku').
She married with the director Hiroshi Shimizu, but the marriage ended to divorce in the same year. She was known as character of silent movies such Genroku Onna was, but when she had appereance in Madame to Nyobo ('Madame and wife', (1931) audience fell in love with her beautiful, gentle voice. Okoto to Sasuke (1935) got her recognition from her brilliant acting as a blind woman.
Her career lasted over 50 years, and there are numerous films from roles of strong and innocent women to prostitutes and women whose life is in chaos. Especially she is famous from her work with Kenji Mizoguchi whose film Osaka Elegy started their long lasting collaboration. Perhaps her most unforgettable role was in Mizoguchi's movie Victory of Women "Josei no Shori" (1946).
She has been also directed several movies, such as Chibusa yo eien nare / The Eternal Breasts (1955).
She can capture intense emotions and represent them with least possible facial expressions. Her appereance in Yasujiro Ozu's Equinox Flower was unforgettable.
Complete filmography as an actress
| Year | Movie and her role in it / International titles |
| 1929 | Daigaku wa deta keredo / I Graduated But... (1929) |
| 1930 | Ojosan .... Kinuko / Young Miss (1930) |
| 1931 | Madamu to nyobo / Neighbor's Wife and Mine, The (1931) |
| 1932 | Chushingura Genroku chushingura (1932) (Japan) / Loyal Forty-Seven Ronin, The (1932) / Vengence of the Forty-Seven Ronin, The (1932) |
| 1932 | Seishun no yume imaizuko / Where Are the Dreams of Youth? (1932) / Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth (1932) |
| 1933 | Hijosen no onna .... Tokiko / Dragnet Girl (1933) / Women on the Firing Line (1933) |
| 1933 | Izu no odoriko |
| 1933 | Tokyo no onna .... Harue /Woman of Tokyo (1933) |
| 1935 | Hakoiri musume .... Oshige / Innocent Maid, An (1935) / Young Virgin, The (1935) |
| 1935 | Okoto to Sasuke / Okoto and Sasuke (1935) (International: English title: informal literal title) |
| 1937 | Hana-kago no uta .... Yoko Mori / Song of the Flower Basket (1937) |
| 1938 | Aizen katsura |
| 1944 | Rikugun Army, The (1944) (informal literal English title) |
| 1944 | Miyamoto Musashi .... Shinobu Nonomiya / Musashi Miyamoto (1944) / Swordsman, The (1944) |
| 1944 | Danjuro sandai .... Okano / Three Danjuros (1944) / Three Generations of Danjuro (1944) |
| 1946 | Nikoniko taikai uta no hanakago dainihen |
| 1946 | Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna .... Okita / Five Women Around Utamaro (1946) / Utamaro and His Five Women (1946) |
| 1946 | Josei no shôri .... Hiroko Hosokawa / Victory of Women, The (1946) / Women's Victory (1946) |
| 1947 | Joyû Sumako no koi .... Sumako Matsui / Love of Sumako the Actress, The (1947) / Actress Sumako's Love(1947) |
| 1948 | Kaze no naka no mendori .... Tokiko Hen in the Wind, A (1948) |
| 1948 | Yoru no onnatachi .... Fusako Owada Women of the Night (1948) |
| 1949 | Yotsuya kaidan / Ghost of Yotsuya (1949) / Yotsuya Ghost Story, The (1949) |
| 1949 | Waga koi wa moenu () .... Eiko Hirayama / Flame of My Love (1949) / My Love Burns (1949) / My Love Has Been Burning (1949) |
| 1950 | Munekata kyodai .... Setsuko / Munekata Sisters, The (1950) / Munekata shimai (1950) |
| 1951 | Musashino fujin .... Michiko Akiyama / Lady Musashino (1951) / Lady from Musashino, The (1951) (UK) |
| 1951 | Oyû-sama .... Oyû Kayukawa / Lady Ôyu (1951) (literal English title) |
| 1952 | Okasan .... Masako Fukuhara / Mother (1952) |
| 1952 | Saikaku ichidai onna .... Oharu / Diary of Oharu (1952) / Life of Oharu, The (1952) |
| 1953 | Entotsu no mieru basho .... Hiroko / Four Chimneys, The (1953) / Where Chimneys Are Seen (1953) |
| 1953 | Magokoro /Sincerity (1953) |
| 1953 | Ugetsu monogatari .... Miyagi / Tales of Ugetsu (1953) (USA) / Tales of a Pale and Mysterious Moon After the Rain (1953) / Ugetsu (1953) |
| 1954 | Uwasa no onna .... Hatsuko Umabuchi / Crucified Woman, The (1954) / Woman of Rumour, The (1954) |
| 1954 | Sanshô dayû .... Tamaki / Bailiff, The (1969) (USA) / Sansho the Bailiff (1954) |
| 1955 | Osho ichidai |
| 1956 | Nagareru .... Rika Yamanaka/Oharu / Flowing (1956) |
| 1956 | Arashi / Storm, The (1956) |
| 1957 | Jôshû to tomo ni / Women in Prison (1957) |
| 1957 | Ibo kyoudai .... Rie, Kido's second wife / Stepbrothers (1957) (International: English title) |
| 1958 | Higanbana .... Kiyoko / Equinox Flower (1958) |
| 1958 | Narayama bushiko .... Orin / Ballad of Narayama (1958) (USA) |
| 1959 | Birth of Japan, The |
| 1959 | Nippon tanjo |
| 1959 | Age of the Gods |
| 1960 | Ototo.... Mother / Her Brother (1960) |
| 1961 | Wakarete ikiru toki mo Yoko Tsukasa / Eternity of Love (1961) |
| 1962 | Lonely Lane |
| 1962 | Wanderer's Notebook, A () |
| 1962 | Horoki |
| 1963 | Alone on the Pacific (USA) Enemy, the Sea, The (1963) (USA: festival title) My Enemy the Sea (1963) |
| 1963 | Taiheiyo Hitori-Bochi .... Youth's Mother |
| 1965 | Red Beard |
| 1965 | Akahige .... Noboru's mother |
| 1966 | Arupusu no wakadaishô .... Shinjiro / It Started in the Alps (1966) |
| 1972 | Tora-san / Tora-san's Dream-Come-True (1972) (USA) |
| 1972 | Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajiro yumemakura |
| 1974 | Aru eiga-kantoku no shogai .... Herself, Interviewee / Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (1981) (USA) |
| 1975 | Oreno yuku michi .... Kiku Sasaki / Let's Go, Grandma! (1976) (USA) |
| 1975 | Sandakan hachibanshokan bohkyo Osaki Yamakawa, as an old woman / Brothel 8 (1975) / Sandakan 8 (1975) (USA) |
| 1975 | Kita no misaki / Cape of North (1975) (USA: alternative transliteration) |
| 1976 | Daichi no komoriuta .... Farmer / Lullaby of the Earth (1976) (USA) |
Filmography as director
| Year | Movie / International titles |
| 1955 | Chibusa yo eien nare / Eternal Breasts, The (1955) |
| 1960 | Oginsama / Love Under the Crucifix (1960) (USA) |
| 1962 | Onna bakari no yoru |
See also: Kinuyo Tanaka at IMDB.
