Yoshiko Kuga

Yoshiko Kuga
Yoshiko Kuga
久我くが美子よしこ
	Kuga in 1953
Born	Haruko Koga; 21 January 1931; Tokyo, Japan
Died	9 June 2024 (aged 93)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1947–2000
Spouse	Akihiko Hirata (m. 1961; died 1984)

Yoshiko Kuga (久我くが美子よしこ, Kuga Yoshiko, 21 January 1931 – 9 June 2024), was a Japanese actress.

Life and career

Kuga was born in Tokyo, Japan. Her father, Michiaki Koga (久我くが通どおり顕あらわ), was a marquis and a member of the House of Peers.^[1]

In 1946, while still attending Gakushuin Junior High School, she became an actress for Toho studios.^[2] In June 1946, Toho had sponsored a search for "new faces", choosing Kuga as one of 48 new actresses and actors from 4,000 applicants.^[3] In 1947, she made her debut as one of the lead actresses in the omnibus movie Four Love Stories (四よっつの恋こいの物語ものがたり, Yottsu no Koi no Monogatari). She was one of the actors active in the 1948 union strike at Toho studios.^[3] In the 1950s, she started working independently and starred in many productions of the Shochiku studios under the direction of Keisuke Kinoshita. Other important directors include Kenji Mizoguchi (The Woman in the Rumor), Yasujirō Ozu (Equinox Flower), and Tadashi Imai (An Inlet of Muddy Water). In 1954, she co-founded the film production company Ninjin Club (Bungei purodakushon ninjin kurabu) with actresses Keiko Kishi and Ineko Arima to enable better working conditions for actors within the studio system.^[4] Since the 1970s, she appeared mainly on television and on stage.^[5]

Kuga was married to actor Akihiko Hirata from 1961 until his death in 1984. She died from aspiration pneumonia on 9 June 2024, at the age of 93.^[6]

Selected filmography

Film

1948: Drunken Angel (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
1950: Until We Meet Again (dir. Tadashi Imai)
1951: The Idiot (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
1953: Older Brother, Younger Sister (dir. Mikio Naruse)
1953: An Inlet of Muddy Water (dir. Tadashi Imai)
1953: Love Letter (dir. Kinuyo Tanaka)
1954: The Woman in the Rumor (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
1954: The Garden of Women (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
1955: Shin Heike Monogatari (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
1956: The Rose on His Arm (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
1956: Farewell to Dream (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
1957: Yellow Crow (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
1957: Elegy of the North (dir. Heinosuke Gosho)
1958: Equinox Flower (dir. Yasujirō Ozu)
1959: The Snow Flurry (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita)
1959: Good Morning (dir. Yasujirō Ozu)
1960: Cruel Story of Youth (dir. Nagisa Ōshima)
1961: Zero Focus (dir. Yoshitarō Nomura)
1961: The Story of Osaka Castle (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)
1964: Whirlwind (dir. Hiroshi Inagaki)^[7]
1989: Godzilla vs. Biollante (dir. Kazuki Ohmori) (cameo)
1997: Toki o Kakeru Shōjo (dir. Haruki Kadokawa)

Television

1974–1975: Karei-naru Ichizoku (NET)^[8]

Awards

1954: Mainichi Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
1956: Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actress
1994: Kinuyo Tanaka Memorial Award at Mainichi Film Awards^[9]
1995: The Golden Glory Award

References

^ 霞かすみ会館かいかん華族かぞく家系かけい大成たいせい編輯へんしゅう委員いいん会かい, ed. (September 1996). 平成へいせい新しん修おさむ旧きゅう華族かぞく家系かけい大成たいせい (Heisei Shinshu Former Chinese Family Taisei) (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Tokyo: Kasumi Kaikan. p. 588. ISBN 978-4-64203670-2. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
^ "久我くが美子よしこ (Yoshiko Kuga)". kotobank.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b Hirano, Kyoko (1992). Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation, 1945–1952. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-157-1.
^ González-López, Irene; Smith, Michael, eds. (2018). Tanaka Kinuyo: Nation, Stardom and Female Subjectivity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-0969-8.
^ "久我くが美子よしこ女優じょゆう (Yoshiko Kuga, actress)". NHK (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 February 2021.
^ 女優じょゆう久我くが美子よしこさん死去しきょ　93歳さい　誤あやま嚥えん性せい肺炎はいえん　第だい１期き東宝とうほうニューフェイス　「３時じのあなた」司会しかいも (in Japanese)
^ "士魂しこん魔道まどう大だい竜巻たつまき". eiga.com. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
^ "華麗かれいなる一族いちぞく". Family Gekijyo. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
^ "田中たなか絹代きぬよ賞しょうとは". Tanaka Kinuyo Memorial Association. Retrieved March 20, 2021.

External links

Yoshiko Kuga at IMDb
Yoshiko Kuga at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)

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[1] 霞かすみ会館かいかん華族かぞく家系かけい大成たいせい編輯へんしゅう委員いいん会かい, ed. (September 1996). 平成へいせい新しん修おさむ旧きゅう華族かぞく家系かけい大成たいせい (Heisei Shinshu Former Chinese Family Taisei) (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Tokyo: Kasumi Kaikan. p. 588. ISBN 978-4-64203670-2. Retrieved November 21, 2018.

[kotobank-2] "久我くが美子よしこ (Yoshiko Kuga)". kotobank.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 February 2021.

[Hirano-3] Hirano, Kyoko (1992). Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation, 1945–1952. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-157-1.

[4] González-López, Irene; Smith, Michael, eds. (2018). Tanaka Kinuyo: Nation, Stardom and Female Subjectivity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-0969-8.

[5] "久我くが美子よしこ女優じょゆう (Yoshiko Kuga, actress)". NHK (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 February 2021.

[6] 女優じょゆう久我くが美子よしこさん死去しきょ　93歳さい　誤あやま嚥えん性せい肺炎はいえん　第だい１期き東宝とうほうニューフェイス　「３時じのあなた」司会しかいも (in Japanese)

[7] "士魂しこん魔道まどう大だい竜巻たつまき". eiga.com. Retrieved October 4, 2021.

[8] "華麗かれいなる一族いちぞく". Family Gekijyo. Retrieved August 27, 2021.

[9] "田中たなか絹代きぬよ賞しょうとは". Tanaka Kinuyo Memorial Association. Retrieved March 20, 2021.

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