[JAPAN] Yoshiko Sakuma Tribute – Legendary Actress

[JAPAN] Yoshiko Sakuma Tribute – Legendary Actress

This video is dedicated to Ms. Yoshiko Sakuma, one of the legendary actresses born in pre-WW2 Japan. Yoshiko was born to a wealthy family in Tokyo. Her father, a military doctor, was the second son of one of the leading landowners in his hometown, and worked for a postwar pharmaceutical company and later became an executive. Her mother was the eldest daughter of a manufacturing company CEO. Her parents’ marriage was between upper-class families. Yoshiko grew up in the Western-style house with a large garden surrounded by a tall red brick wall. As a child, she spent all her time in the garden. She had a younger sister and brother whom she coudl play with.
Her father served in Manchuria, Japan when Yoshiko was two years old. In March 1945, she was sent to a mass evacuation just before she went to elementary school. When her father saw Yoshiko, who had lost weight in his evacuation location in Gunma Prefecture, his father was surprised and immediately took her in, and moved with the family to his new evacuation location in Kuwaori, Fukushima Prefecture. There, she attended a local elementary school and played around the mountains like wild children. It was only a year or two after the end of the war that Yoshiko returned to her parents’ house in Tokyo.
In 1956, while attending Kawamura High School, Yoshiko was invited by a senior member of Kawamura Gakuen and Toei actress Mitsue Komiya; Yoshiko attended a sports day at the Tokyo Film Studio. When she returned home, Toei executives continued to persuade her parents, telling them that their daughter could become a major Toei star. Yoshiko’s parents told Yoshiko that the entertainment business is not for her. Acting was considered for people from lower-class families, so Lady Yoshiko was not suited to enter such a world. Yoshiko, however, asked her parents to let her try only for one year.
In 1957, Yoshiko refused to perform the swimsuit review for the 4th term of Toei New Face, but she was accepted as a substitute and joined Toei. Yoshiko received training at the Haiyuza Training School for six months, and during this time she was the first model for Toei’s “The White Snakes” to stand in front of the camera. In 1958, Yoshiko made her film debut as a minor role in the film “The Tale of Beautiful Sisters: Early Spring in Agony.” Yoshiko was selected to play Shinjiro Ehara’s partner in the following two-part series, “Typhoon Son.” Since then, Yoshiko has been a promissing actress who has been a high-profile actress for Tokyo Studios since early on, and has been ranked 10th in the popularity poll for the magazine “Heibon” in her second year of debut. In Aug 1960, a fan club was established; the club chairman was Jisaburo Ushiyama, executive director of Yashika Co., Ltd.
Since 1960, Yoshiko has steadily appeared in social masters such as “White Cliffs” (1960), directed by Miyoji Iejo, “Secrets,” and “Hometown is Green” (a film adaptation of Takeo Tomishima’s “Memories of Snow”), directed by Shinji Murayama. In the same year, Yoshiko played Tsuruta’s partner in “The Sun Crossing the Desert,” the first film by Koji Tsuruta to join Toei, and has since co-starred in “The Lakeside Man.” From the time of “Life Theatre: Rook-Kaku,” she became a huge hit in the media of the time as Koji Tsuruta’s girlfriend in real life.
In 1962, at the Milan International Trade Fair held in Italy, Yoshiko set out for Italy as the representative actresses of Toei, with Masa Shimizu (President Toho) as the leader of the Milan Japanese Film Fair, held from April 15th to 19th, along with Nagamasa Kawakita, Yu Okuyama, actresses Sayuri Yoshinaga (Nikkatsu), Yuriko Hoshi (Toho), and others, who are the representative actresses of various film companies. At that time, it was still a rare to go abroad, even before the liberalization of travel abroad.
From around 1967, Yoshiko moved to television dramas and stage plays; she appeared on TV in “The Wives of Tokugawa” and “The Princess’s Palace.” Her first performance in 1969, Spring Snow, was well received and was a long four-month run, earning her acclaimed actress, but the drawback was that Yoshiko had few or no representative works as a major film actress. In particular, the role of Nene in “Onna Taikoki,” which was one of the few female lead roles in the history of NHK Taiga dramas.
On stage, Yoshiko won the Kazuo Kikuta Theater Award in 1983 and the Ministry of Education’s Arts Festival Award in 1995. In the 2004 stage drama “Rokumeikan” (original work by Yukio Mishima), Yoshiko co-starred with her ex-husband Mikijiro Taira and their son, Takehiro.
In April 1970, Yoshiko and actor Mikijiro Hira got married in Tokyo. In 1974, Yoshiko gave birth to her son, Takehiro, and then, her daughters (twins). Yoshiko and Mikijiro got divorced in 1984 due to their busy schedules.

Thanks for watching…; peace out… cheers!