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Fusako Fujima

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Fusako Fujima
藤間 房子
A Japanese woman bent forward, seated indoors, lighting a cigarette
Fujima in 1947
Born
Ginko Yanoshima

21 August 1882
Tokyo, Japan
Died9 January 1954 (age 71)
Occupation(s)Actress, dancer, singer

Fusako Fujima (Japanese: 藤間 房子, 21 August 1882 – 9 January 1954), born Ginko Yanoshima, was a Japanese actress, dancer, and singer. She was with the Imperial Theatre in the 1910s, and appeared in Japanese films in the 1930s and 1940s, including Mikio Naruse's Sincerity (1939) and Akira Kurosawa's No Regrets for Our Youth (1946).

Early life and education

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Ginko Yanoshima was born in Tokyo, the daughter of a paper merchant.[1] She studied art, music, and dance, and trained for the theatre at the school of Sada Yakko.[2] She began her stage career in the Imperial Theatre.[3][4]

Stage career

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Fujima's early career was on the stage. She played Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor in Tokyo in 1912.[5] "The fearlessness and scorn of the samurai mother, played by Miss Fusako Fujima, was a revelation of what the shy, sophisticated Japanese women can do in simulating passion," wrote an American reviewer in 1914, in Overland Monthly.[6] She was described as "the best Japanese dancer among the actresses", in a 1915 report in The Far East, about the Imperial Theatre's "Toy Ballet".[7] She was noted for her "comical" skills, in a 1918 article about fellow actress Ritsuko Mori,[8] and she was described as a singer in a 1926 newspaper photo with Mori and Irish tenor John McCormack.[9]

Filmography

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Fujima often played older women, wives, mothers, and grandmothers, in Japanese films made in the 1930s and 1940s by directors including Akira Kurosawa, Masahiro Makino, Teinosuke Kinugasa, Mikio Naruse, Osamu Fushimizu,[10] and Torajiro Saito.[11]

  • Hakui no kajin (1936)
  • Kokyo (1937, Hometown)[10]
  • Gonzo to Sukejyu (1937)[10]
  • Ôma no tsuji (1938)
  • Magokoro (1939, Sincerity)[10]
  • Nizuma Kagame (1940)
  • Shina no yoru (1940, China Night, both parts)[10]
  • Zoku Hebihimesama (1940, The Snake Princess)
  • Kinō kieta otoko (1941, The Man Who Disappeared Yesterday)[10]
  • Ani no hanayome (1941)
  • Waga ai no ki (1941)
  • Otoko no hanamichi (1941)
  • Midori no daichi (1942)
  • Hanako-san (1943)[10]
  • Tokkan ekichō (1945, Station Chief of the Nonstop Train)[10][11]
  • Tokyo gonin otoko (1945, Five Tokyo Men)
  • Hometown in Green (1946)
  • Waga seishun ni kuinashi (1946, No Regrets for Our Youth)[10][11]
  • Waga ai wa jama no kanata ni (1948)
  • Ojōsan kampai (1949, Here's to the Young Lady)
  • Hakuchû no kettō (1950, Duel in the Sun)

References

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  1. ^ Kurita, Shunjiro (1913). Who's who in Japan. Who's Who in Japan Office. p. 80.
  2. ^ Weil, Elsie F. (March 16, 1918). "Modern Drama Finds Welcome on the Japanese Native Stage". The Evening Post: 32.
  3. ^ Paris, John (1926). Banzai (Hurrah!). Boni and Liveright. p. 184.
  4. ^ ""The Ascent of Mount Fuji" and "The Treachery of Teru Tora"". The National Magazine. 39: 954. 1913.
  5. ^ "The Merry Wives of Windsokio! Shakespeare in Japan". The Sketch. 79: 173. August 14, 1912.
  6. ^ McBride, Walter S. (March 1914). "Japan and Modern Drama". The Overland Monthly. 63 (3): 335.
  7. ^ "The Stage". The Far East. 6: 560. February 6, 1915.
  8. ^ "Miss Ritsuko Mori". The New East. 2 (6): 621. June 1918.
  9. ^ "John McCormack (photo)". The Buffalo News. May 18, 1926. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Galbraith, Stuart (2008-05-16). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. pp. 13, 17, 32, 40–41, 45, 54, 58–59, 61. ISBN 978-1-4616-7374-3.
  11. ^ a b c Nollen, Scott Allen (2019-03-28). Takashi Shimura: Chameleon of Japanese Cinema. McFarland. pp. 176, 178. ISBN 978-1-4766-7013-3.
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