Sayuri Yoshinaga Explained

Sayuri Yoshinaga
Birth Date:13 March 1945
Birth Place:Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation:Actress
Years Active:1957–present

is a Japanese actress and activist. She has won four Japan Academy Best Actress awards, more than any other actress, and has been called "one of the foremost stars in the postwar world of film."[1]

Career

Her first media appearance was in the radio drama "Akado Suzunosuke" in 1957, and she has been one of the most popular actresses in Japan since the 1960s, with fans called "Sayur-ists" (Sayurisuto) - for example, Akiyuki Nosaka and Tamori.

She made a contract with the movie corporation Nikkatsu and played the lead role in many of its films. In 1962, Yoshinaga played a junior-high school girl in her most famous film, "Foundry Town", and got the Japan Record Award for "Itsudemo Yume wo" (Always Keep the Dream) with the male singer Yukio Hashi. In the 1970s and 1980s, Yoshinaga appeared in films made by other companies, as well as in TV drama serials, commercials, and talk shows. After this period, she returned to films and she has featured in commercials for some big companies such as Sharp Aquos, Nissey and Kagome. She has been awarded the Japan Academy Prize four times. Yoshinaga has appeared in 123 films, mostly in the leading role. Yoshinaga starred in Kon Ichikawa's Ohan and The Makioka Sisters.[2] [3] She also starred in Yoji Yamada's Kabei: Our Mother and About Her Brother.[4] [5]

In 2012, she starred in Junji Sakamoto's A Chorus of Angels.[6]

Character

Yoshinaga graduated from Waseda University, the Schools of Letters, Arts and Sciences II in 1969. Under a tight schedule, she took the runners-up value in the school among the graduates in that year. In 1973, she married Taro Okada, a TV director worked in Fuji Television, keeping her maiden name "Yoshinaga" as her stage name. She has no children.

From the 1980s, after playing Yumechiyo in TV drama, a hibakusha geisha by Atomic bombings of Hiroshima, she has worked for the anti-nuclear movement. Her most well-known action is reading the poems about atomic bombs over 20 years, and she worked without guarantees for voice guidance in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. She is also famous for supporting a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) club, Seibu Lions. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, the former owner of this team is a fan of Yoshinaga, and she bought a pension from Tsutsumi's Seibu Railway group.

Selected filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleDirector NotesRef
1960Kenju burai-chō Denkō Setsuka no OtokoDan Noriko
1960Mutekiga Ore o YondeiruHamazaki YukikoTokujirō Yamazaki
1962Foundry TownJunKirio UrayamaLead role
1963Izo no OdorikoKatsumi NishikawaLead role
1966The Hearth of HiroshimaKoreyoshi KuraharaLead role
1968Monument to the Girls' CorpsToshio MasudaLead role
1971Men and War Part IIYoriko GodaiSatsuo Yamamoto[7]
1972Tora-san's Dear Old HomeUtakoYoji Yamada
1973Men and War Part IIIYoriko GodaiSatsuo Yamamoto[8]
1974Tora-san's LovesickUtakoYoji Yamada
1978August Without the EmperorSatsuo Yamamoto
1980DōranShirō Moritani
1983The Makioka SistersYukiko MakiokaKon Ichikawa
1984Station to HeavenMasanobu DemeLead role
OhanOhanKon IchikawaLead role
1985Yumechiyo YumechiyoKirio UrayamaLead role[9]
1987Film ActressKinuyo TanakaKon IchikawaLead role
1988A Chaos of FlowersAkiko YosanoKinji FukasakuLead role
1992GekashitsuBandō Tamasaburō VLead role
1993YearningBandō Tamasaburō VLead role
1998Diary of Early Winter ShowerShinichiro SawaiLead role
2000Nagasaki burabura bushiYukio FukamachiLead role
2001Sennen no Koi Story of GenjiMurasaki ShikibuTonkō HorikawaLead role
2005Year One in the NorthIsao YukisadaLead role
2008Yoji YamadaLead role
2010About Her BrotherYoji YamadaLead role
2012A Chorus of Angels Junji SakamotoLead role
2014Cape NostalgiaIzuru NarushimaLead role
2015Nobuko FukuharaYoji YamadaLead role
2018Sakura Guardian in the NorthTetsu EzureYōjirō TakitaLead role[10]
2019The Bucket ListSashie KitaharaIsshin InudoLead role[11]
2021A Morning of FarewellSawako ShiraishiIzuru NarushimaLead role[12]
2023Mom, Is That You?!FukueYoji YamadaLead role[13]

Television

YearTitleRoleNetworkNotesRef
1970Momi no Ki wa Nokotta UnoNHKTaiga drama[14]
1976Kaze to Kumo to Niji to TakakoNHKTaiga drama
1981–84The Diary of Yumechiyo YumechiyoNHKLead role; 3 seasons[15]

Awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Yoshinaga Sayuri: Last of the Silver Screen's National Heroines. www.nippon.com. 2013-09-21. December 7, 2012. Tatsuo. Inamasu.
  2. Web site: Kevin. Thomas. Movie Review : 'Ohan': When A Woman Molds A Man. Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1985.
  3. Web site: Scott A.. Gray. The Makioka Sisters - Directed by Kon Ichikawa. Exclaim!. January 24, 2013.
  4. Web site: Henry. Stewart. Kabei: Our Mother. Slant Magazine. May 17, 2009.
  5. Web site: Charles. Webb. Japan Cuts 2010: About Her Brother Review. Twitch Film. July 16, 2010.
  6. Web site: Liz. Shackleton. Toei sings with A Chorus Of Angels. Screen International. November 3, 2012.
  7. Web site: 戦争と人間 第二部・愛と悲しみの山河. October 6, 2023. eiga.com.
  8. Web site: 戦争と人間 完結篇. October 6, 2023. eiga.com.
  9. Web site: 夢千代日記. February 6, 2024. eiga.com.
  10. Web site: 吉永小百合、120本目の映画出演作「北の桜守」封切りに感無量「昨夜は眠れませんでした」. February 1, 2021. eiga.com.
  11. Web site: 吉永小百合121本目の映画が製作決定!天海祐希共演でハリウッド映画をリメイク. February 1, 2021. Movie Walker Plus.
  12. Web site: 吉永小百合、映画出演122本目で初の医師役 コロナ禍で"いのち"の大切さ問う. January 29, 2021. Natalie.
  13. Web site: 山田洋次監督の新作、主演は吉永小百合&大泉洋!『こんにちは、母さん』来年9月公開. October 3, 2022. Cinematoday. 2 October 2022.
  14. Web site: 大河ドラマ 樅ノ木は残った. March 23, 2022. NHK.
  15. Web site: 夢千代館. February 6, 2024. Yumekousha.
  16. Web site: http://cinemahochi.yomiuri.co.jp/h_award/1984/. ja:報知映画賞ヒストリー. January 26, 2010. ja. Cinema Hochi. Yomiuri Shimbun. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090131124850/http://cinemahochi.yomiuri.co.jp/h_award/1984/. January 31, 2009.