Acting

Kinuyo Tanaka

Born November 28, 1909 · Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan

Died March 21, 1977 · aged 67

Kinuyo Tanaka (田中絹代 Tanaka Kinuyo, 29 November 1909 – 21 March 1977) was a Japanese actress and director. Tanaka was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. She became a leading actress at seventeen years old, appearing in Heinosuke Gosho's An Embarrassing Dream in 1927. She proceeded to take leading parts in, among others, Yasujirō Ozu's I Graduated, But... in 1929, Gosho's Aiyoku no …

Known For

Ugetsu

MovieFantasyDrama

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

Red Beard

Red Beard · 1965

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.

Miss Oyu

Miss Oyu · 1951

MovieDramaRomance

Shinnosuke is introduced to Shizu as a prospective marriage partner, but he falls in love with her widowed sister Oyu. Convention forbids Oyu to marry because she has to raise her son as the head of her husband's family. Oyu convinces Shinnosuke and Shizu to marry so that she can remain close to Shinnosuke.

Sansho the Bailiff

Sansho the Bailiff · 1954

Sansho the Bailiff

In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.

Ginza Cosmetics

Ginza Cosmetics · 1951

Ginza Cosmetics

A few days in the life of a quiet geisha, single mother of a smart young boy, in the lively Tokyo quarter of Ginza. A woman devoted to others' needs, she'll end by taking part herself in one of the many disguises of Ginza.

The Ballad of Narayama

The Ballad of Narayama · 1958

The Ballad of Narayama

In a remote village where food is scarce, elders who reach the age of 70 are carried by their children to the top of a nearby mountain to die in solitude. Orin, a vibrant 69-year-old grandmother, has accepted her fate — but struggles to prepare the rest of her family for the ritual.

The Eternal Rainbow

The Eternal Rainbow · 1958

The Eternal Rainbow

Two men at an ironworks encounter roadblocks: the first does not have the grades to get a job, while the other finds himself falling for a co-worker.

Forever a Woman

Forever a Woman · 1955

Forever a Woman

MovieDramaRomance

Fumiko, mother of two and wife to an unfaithful man, shares her family life with her budding vocation as a poet. The beginning of her successful literary career coincides with her divorce and her breast cancer diagnosis. In her final stages, Fumiko meets a young journalist from Tokyo who wants to write a story on her experiences.

Filmography

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Ugetsu

MovieFantasyDrama

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

Miyagi

Red Beard

Red Beard · 1965

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.

Madame Yasumoto

Miss Oyu

Miss Oyu · 1951

MovieDramaRomance

Shinnosuke is introduced to Shizu as a prospective marriage partner, but he falls in love with her widowed sister Oyu. Convention forbids Oyu to marry because she has to raise her son as the head of her husband's family. Oyu convinces Shinnosuke and Shizu to marry so that she can remain close to Shinnosuke.

Oyû Kayukawa

Sansho the Bailiff

Sansho the Bailiff · 1954

Sansho the Bailiff

In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.

Tamaki

Ginza Cosmetics

Ginza Cosmetics · 1951

Ginza Cosmetics

A few days in the life of a quiet geisha, single mother of a smart young boy, in the lively Tokyo quarter of Ginza. A woman devoted to others' needs, she'll end by taking part herself in one of the many disguises of Ginza.

Yukiko Tsuji

The Ballad of Narayama

The Ballad of Narayama · 1958

The Ballad of Narayama

In a remote village where food is scarce, elders who reach the age of 70 are carried by their children to the top of a nearby mountain to die in solitude. Orin, a vibrant 69-year-old grandmother, has accepted her fate — but struggles to prepare the rest of her family for the ritual.

Orin

The Eternal Rainbow

The Eternal Rainbow · 1958

The Eternal Rainbow

Two men at an ironworks encounter roadblocks: the first does not have the grades to get a job, while the other finds himself falling for a co-worker.

Fumi

Forever a Woman

Forever a Woman · 1955

Forever a Woman

MovieDramaRomance

Fumiko, mother of two and wife to an unfaithful man, shares her family life with her budding vocation as a poet. The beginning of her successful literary career coincides with her divorce and her breast cancer diagnosis. In her final stages, Fumiko meets a young journalist from Tokyo who wants to write a story on her experiences.

Director

I Flunked, But...

I Flunked, But... · 1930

I Flunked, But...

After the plans of a group of college students to cheat on their final exams goes awry, they're left to reassess their lives and educations and get back on track.

Cafe's Waitress

Stepbrothers

Stepbrothers · 1957

In a military family, an illegitimate son is brutalized by his brothers. A patriarchal, feudalistic household where dissent is forbidden is used to reveal the whole imperialist system that afflicted Japan between 1921 and 1946.

Rie

Women of the Night

Women of the Night · 1948

Women of the Night

In early post-war Osaka, three women—war widow Fusako, her Korean expat sister Natsuko, and Kumiko, Fusako's sister-in-law—descend into prostitution, all for their individual reasons.

Fusako Owada

The Life of Oharu

The Life of Oharu · 1952

The Life of Oharu

During the Edo Period, a noblewoman's banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.

Oharu

Equinox Flower

Equinox Flower · 1958

MovieComedyDrama

Wataru's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares her love for a coworker and is adamant to live her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.

Kiyoko Hirayama

Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1

Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1 · 1949

Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1

Iemon Tamiya is an impoverished masterless samurai who craves a better life, which he cannot have because of his marriage to Oiwa, who is completely devoted to her husband.

Oiwa / Osode

Sandakan No. 8

Sandakan No. 8 · 1974

MovieDramaHistory

A young journalist interviews an elderly woman about being forced into prostitution in Borneo at a brothel called Sandakan No. 8.

Old Osaki

The Moon Has Risen

The Moon Has Risen · 1955

The Moon Has Risen

MovieDramaRomance

Mokichi Asai is a widowed father living in Nara with three daughters—Chizuru, Ayako, and Setsuko. The youngest, Setsuko, plays matchmaker for her older sisters, leading to humorous and awkward romantic entanglements.

Director

Girls of the Night

Girls of the Night · 1961

Girls of the Night

In the wake of the 1956 Prostitution Prevention Law, a young woman recently released from one of Japan's new rehabilitation centers struggles to build a new life.

Director

Love Under the Crucifix

Love Under the Crucifix · 1962

Love Under the Crucifix

MovieRomanceDrama

A tea master and his daughter Ogin are both Christians in feudal Japan. Ogin falls in love with a married feudal prince who shares her faith. When the Shogun bans Christianity, the situation worsens.

Director

Mother

A teenaged girl witnesses her widowed mother's attempt to sustain her family.

Masako Fukuhara

ABC Lifeline

ABC Lifeline · 1931

Japanese silent film directed by Yasujirô Shimazu, originally released as a two-part movie on December 11, 1931.

A Hen in the Wind

A Hen in the Wind · 1948

A Hen in the Wind

Tokiko patiently awaits her husband's return from WWII when her four-year old son falls ill. She takes him to the doctor but has no means of paying, so she resorts to prostitution. A month later, her husband returns to find his desperate wife, who tells him the truth. Together, they must deal with the consequences.

Tokiko Amamiya

Brother and Sister

Brother and Sister · 1953

Brother and Sister

The eldest daughter of a rural family Mon returns home from Tokyo pregnant after an affair with a college student Kobata, which causes a scandal that will threaten the marriage prospects of the younger sister San, in her cash-strapped family. The ill-tempered eldest brother Inokichi decides to take on the role of disciplinarian, with harrowing results.

Assistant Director

Young Lady

Young Lady · 1930

Lost film. Two reporters find that they are repeatedly beaten to the scoop by a new female journalist, 'young miss'. They decide to team up with her to investigate a secret club for wealthy voyeurs. Considered to be a lost film.

Kinuko

Where Chimneys Are Seen

Where Chimneys Are Seen · 1953

Where Chimneys Are Seen

Where Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Senju, a poor industrial section of Tokyo.

Hiroko Ogata

Mominoki wa Nokotta

Mominoki wa Nokotta · 1970

Mominoki wa Nokotta

Depicting Date clan’s internal strife that occurred during a peaceful Edo period governed by the 4th Tokugawa shogun.

Tsuta