Kōji Yakusho

Kōji Yakusho
Kōji Yakusho
	Kōji Yakusho at the 26th Tokyo International Film Festival in 2015
Born	Kōji Hashimoto; 1 January 1956; Isahaya, Nagasaki, Japan
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1979–present
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Spouse(s)	Saeko Kawatsu (1982–present)

Kōji Hashimoto (橋本広司, Hashimoto Kōji, born 1 January 1956),[1] known professionally as Kōji Yakusho (役所広司, Yakusho Kōji), is a Japanese actor.[2]

Biography

Yakusho was born in Isahaya, Nagasaki, the youngest of five brothers. After graduation from Nagasaki Prefectural High School of Technology in 1974, he worked at the Chiyoda municipal ward office, or kuyakusho, in Tokyo, from which he later took his stage name. In 1976, he saw a production of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths and was inspired, first to watch, and then later to take part in, as many plays as possible.[1]

In the spring of 1978 he auditioned for Tatsuya Nakadai's the Mumeijuku (Studio for Unknown Performers) acting studio, and was one of four chosen out of 800 applicants.[1] While at the school he met actress Saeko Kawatsu, whom he married in 1982. Their son was born in 1985.

In 1983, he landed the role of Oda Nobunaga in the year-long NHK drama Tokugawa Ieyasu and was catapulted to fame. He also appeared in a TV version of Miyamoto Musashi from 1984 to 1985. For several years, he played Kuji Shinnosuke (or "Sengoku"), one of the title characters in the jidaigeki Sambiki ga Kiru!. He played a major character in Juzo Itami's 1986 Tampopo.[1]

In 1988, he was given a special award for work in cinema by the Japanese Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture and continued to appear in films and in a number of TV shows through the '90s.[1]

In 1996 and 1997, Yakusho enjoyed several major successes. The Eel, directed by Shohei Imamura, in which he played the eel-loving lead, won the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.[3] Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times called his performance "unerring."[4] A Lost Paradise, about a double-suicide, was second only to Princess Mononoke at the Japanese box office.

International breakthrough: Shall We Dance?

Shall We Dance? was such a major hit in Japan that it inspired a domestic dance craze. Ballroom groups and dance schools multiplied in the country after the film's release, and people who previously would never admit to taking lessons announced that they did with pride.[5] Director Masayuki Suo said of his lead, until that point was known mostly for playing good-looking samurai, "we thought he could play this overworked, tired Japanese businessman, and he did.... [H]e pulled everything off and took his dance training so seriously."[5]

The film also was one of Japan's highest-grossing movies outside the country.[1][5] It earned $9.5 million in the US and inspired a remake starring Jennifer Lopez with Richard Gere playing Yakusho's role.[6]

Yakusho next won the Hochi Film Award for Best Actor for Bounce Ko Gals, a film which dealt with high school prostitution specifically, and money worship in general. He collaborated with horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa in Cure,[1] License to Live,[7] Seance, Charisma,[1] Pulse,[8] Doppelganger,[9] Retribution,[10] and Tokyo Sonata.[11] Yakusho found further recognition with international audiences to some extent with roles in such films as Memoirs of a Geisha and Babel. In the latter, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, he played the father of the deaf-mute played by Rinko Kikuchi.[12]

Later work

In 2009, he debuted as director and writer of Toad's Oil. In 2010 and 2011 he was part of both ensemble casts in Takashi Miike's samurai films, 13 Assassins and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai. The latter was in 3D and the first 3D film to be in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

In the 2011 war drama film Rengō Kantai Shirei Chōkan: Yamamoto Isoroku, Yakusho portrayed Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Yakusho was reportedly the only actor considered for the role; had he not accepted it, the film would have been canceled.[13]

In 2018 he was in The Blood of Wolves.

Filmography

Kōji Yakusho at the 31st Tokyo International Film Festival in 2018

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1979	Hunter in the Dark	Kuwano
1979	The Last Game
1980	Twelve Months	Young soldier (voice)
1981	Willful Murder	Journalist
1982	Onimasa	Kondō	Hideo Gosha
	Eternal Monument	Otaka
	The Legend of Sayo	Hatsutaro
1985	Tampopo	Man in White Suit	Juzo Itami
1987	The Great Department Store Robbery	Cello player
1988	Another Way: D-Kikan Joho	Naoto Sekiya		Lead role
1990	Under Aurora	Genzo Tamiya		Lead role
1993	Gurenbana	Kenzo Nakada
1993	Drug Connection	Ryosuke Kano		Lead role
1994	Osaka Gokudo Senso: Shinoidare	Ippei Yoshikawa
1995	Kamikaze Taxi	Kantake	Masato Harada	Lead role
1996	Shall We Dance?	Shohei Sugiyama	Masayuki Suo	Lead role
	Sleeping Man	Kamimura
	Shabu gokudo	Makabe		Lead role
1997	Lost Paradise	Shoichiro Kuki		Lead role
	The Eel	Takuro Yamashita	Shohei Imamura	Lead role
	Bounce Ko Gals	Oshima		Lead role
	Cure	Kenichi Takabe	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Lead role
1998	Bonds	Takaaki Ise/Tetsuro Haga
1998	Tadon to chikuwa	Kida		Lead role
1999	License to Live	Fujimori	Kiyoshi Kurosawa
	Charisma	Goro Yabuike	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Lead role
	Spellbound	Hiroshi Kitano	Masato Harada	Lead role
2000	Swing Man
	Dora-heita	Koheita Mochizuki, aka Dora-heita		Lead role
	Eureka	Makoto Sawai		Lead role
2001	Pulse	Ship captain	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Cameo
2001	Warm Water Under a Red Bridge	Yosuke Sasano		Lead role
2002	The Choice of Hercules	Atsuyuki Sassa		Lead role
2003	Doppelganger	Michio Hayasaki	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Lead role
2003	Fireflies: River of Light	Mr. Takiguchi
2004	The Hunter and the Hunted	Detective Jin		Lead role
	Tokyo: Level One	The Governor of Tokyo		Lead role
	Lakeside Murder Case	Shunsuke Namiki		Lead role
	University of Laughs	Mutsuo Sakisaka		Lead role
2005	Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean	Masami Shin'ichi		Lead role
2005	Memoirs of a Geisha	Nobu	Rob Marshall	American film
2006	The Uchōten Hotel	Heikichi Shindo	Kōki Mitani	Lead role
	Babel	Yasujiro Wataya		Foreign film
	Retribution	Noboru Yoshioka	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Lead role
2007	I Just Didn't Do It	Masayoshi Arakawa	Masayuki Suo
	Argentine Baba	Satoru Wakui	Naoki Nagao	Lead role
	Silk	Hara Jubei	François Girard	Foreign film
	Walking My Life	Yukihiro Fujiyama	Satoshi Isaka	Lead role
2008	Paco and the Magical Book	Onuki	Tetsuya Nakashima	Lead role
2008	Tokyo Sonata	The Robber	Kiyoshi Kurosawa
2009	Mt. Tsurugidake	Morisaku Furuta	Daisaku Kimura
	Gelatin Silver Love	Client	Kazumi Kurigami
	Toad's Oil	Takuro Yazawa	Himself	Lead role, also director and writer
2010	13 Assassins	Shinzaemon Shimada	Takashi Miike	Lead role
2010	The Last Ronin	Magozaemon Senoo	Shigemichi Sugita	Lead role
2011	Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai	Kageyu Saito	Takashi Miike
	Isoroku	Isoroku Yamamoto	Izuru Narushima	Lead role
	Chronicle of My Mother	Kōsaku	Masato Harada	Lead role
	The Woodsman and the Rain	Katsuhiko	Shūichi Okita	Lead role
2012	A Terminal Trust	Shinzo Egi	Masayuki Suo
2013	The Kiyosu Conference	Shibata Katsuie	Kōki Mitani	Lead role
2014	The World of Kanako	Akikazu Fujishima	Tetsuya Nakashima	Lead role
2014	A Samurai Chronicle	Shūkoku Toda	Takashi Koizumi	Lead role
2015	The Emperor in August	Korechika Anami	Masato Harada	Lead role
	The Boy and the Beast	Kumatetsu (voice)	Mamoru Hosoda	Lead role
	Mifune: The Last Samurai	Himself	Steven Okazaki	Documentary film
2017	Sekigahara	Tokugawa Ieyasu	Masato Harada
	Oh Lucy!	Komori	Atsuko Hirayanagi	American-Japanese film
	The Third Murder	Misumi	Hirokazu Koreeda
2018	The Blood of Wolves	Shōgo Ōgami	Kazuya Shiraishi	Lead role
2018	Mirai	Grandpa (voice)	Mamoru Hosoda
2019	Wings Over Everest	Jiang Yuesheng	Fay Yu	Lead role, Chinese film
2019	Whistleblower		Katsuo Fukuzawa	Cameo
2020	Touge: The Last Samurai	Kawai Tsugunosuke	Takashi Koizumi	Lead role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
1980	Natchan no shashinkan	Kayama	NHK	Asadora
1980	Shishi no Jidai	Murakami Taiji	NHK	Taiga drama
1981	Onna Taikōki	Oda Nobutaka	NHK	Taiga drama
1983	Tokugawa Ieyasu	Oda Nobunaga	NHK	Taiga drama
1984–85	Miyamoto Musashi	Miyamoto Musashi	NHK	Lead role
1986	Inochi	Hamamura	NHK	Taiga drama
1987–1995	Sanbiki ga Kiru!	Kuji Shin'nosuke	EX
1990	Moeyo Ken	Hijikata Toshizō	TX	Lead role, miniseries
1991	Takeda Shingen	Takeda Shingen	TBS	Lead role, TV movie
1994	Hana no Ran	Ibuki Saburo Nobutsuna	NHK	Taiga drama
2000	Aikotoba wa Yūki	Jintaro Akatsuki	CX	Lead role
2000	Seance	Sato	CX	Lead role, TV movie
2010	Wagaya no Rekishi	Narrator	CX	Miniseries
2014	Oyaji no Senaka	Sōsuke Aoki	TBS	Lead role, ep. 2 "Wedding Match"
2017	Ties: A Miraculous Colt	Masayuki	NHK	Lead role, miniseries
	Rikuō	Kōichi Miyazawa	TBS	Lead role
	The Supporting Actors	Himself	TX	ep. 1
2018	The Supporting Actors 2	Himself	TX	ep. 1
2019	Idaten	Kanō Jigorō	NHK	Taiga drama

Dubbing roles

Live-action

Band of Brothers – Richard Winters (Damian Lewis)

Animation

Astro Boy – Dr. Tenma
Over the Hedge – RJ

Awards and Honors

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work(s)	Result
1984	8th Elan d'or Awards	Newcomer of the Year	Himself	Won
1996	50th Mainichi Film Award	Best Actor	Kamikaze Taxi	Won
	21st Hochi Film Award	Best Actor	Shall We Dance?, Sleeping Man, Shabu gokudo	Won
	9th Nikkan Sports Film Award	Best Actor		Won
1997	18th Yokohama Film Festival	Best Actor		Won
	51st Mainichi Film Award	Best Actor		Won
	70th Kinema Junpo Award	Best Actor		Won
	39th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Actor		Won
	6th Japanese Film Critics Awards	Best Actor		Won
	20th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Shall We Dance?	Won
	22nd Hochi Film Award	Best Actor	The Eel, Lost Paradise, Bounce ko GALS	Won
	10th Tokyo International Film Festival	Best Actor	Cure	Won
1998	42nd Asia-Pacific Film Festival	Best Actor	The Eel	Won
	21st Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	The Eel	Won
	40th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Actor	The Eel, Lost Paradise, Cure	Won
	71st Kinema Junpo Award	Best Actor	The Eel, Cure	Won
1999	22nd Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Kizuna	Nominated
2000	23rd Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Spellbound	Nominated
2001	24th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Dora-heita	Nominated
2001	Chicago International Film Festival	Best Actor	Warm Water Under a Red Bridge	Won
2002	25th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Warm Water Under a Red Bridge	Nominated
2003	26th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	The Choice of Hercules	Nominated
2005	28th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	University of Laughs	Nominated
2005	26th Yokohama Film Festival	Best Actor	University of Laughs, Yudan Taiteki, Tokyo Genpatsu	Won
2007	30th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	The Uchōten Hotel	Nominated
2008	31st Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Walking My Life	Nominated
2009	32nd Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Paco and the Magical Book	Nominated
2011	8th Dubai International Film Festival: Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature	Best Actor	The Woodsman and the Rain	Won
	34th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	13 Assassins	Nominated
	5th Asian Film Awards	Best Actor	13 Assassins	Nominated
2012	35th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	The Last Ronin	Nominated
2012	6th Asian Film Awards	Best Actor	Chronicle of My Mother	Nominated
2013	36th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Chronicle of My Mother, Isoroku	Nominated
2014	47th Sitges Film Festival	Best Actor	The World of Kanako	Won
2014	1st Kyoto International Art and Film Festival	Toshiro Mifune Award	Himself	Won
2015	38th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	A Samurai Chronicle	Nominated
2016	58th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Actor	The Emperor in August	Nominated
2016	39th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	The Emperor in August	Nominated
2017	28th Silver Screen Awards	Cinema Legend Award	Himself	Won
	42nd Hochi Film Award	Best Supporting Actor	The Third Murder, Sekigahara	Won
	30th Nikkan Sports Film Award	Best Supporting Actor		Won
2018	60th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	72nd Mainichi Film Awards	Best Supporting Actor	The Third Murder	Won
	27th Tokyo Sports Film Award	Best Actor		Nominated
	27th Tokyo Sports Film Award	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	41st Japan Academy Prize	Best Supporting Actor		Won
	41st Japan Academy Prize	Best Supporting Actor	Sekigahara	Nominated
	43rd Hochi Film Award	Best Actor	The Blood of Wolves	Won
	31st Nikkan Sports Film Award	Best Actor		Nominated
2019	40th Yokohama Film Festival	Best Actor		Won
	73rd Mainichi Film Awards	Best Actor		Nominated
	61st Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Actor		Nominated
	28th Tokyo Sports Film Award	Best Actor		Nominated
	14th Osaka Cinema Festival	Best Actor		Won
	42nd Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor		Won
	13th Asian Film Awards	Best Actor		Won
	13th Asian Film Awards	Excellence In Asian Cinema Award	Himself	Won

Honors

Year	Honor
2012	Medal with Purple Ribbon

References

"Koji Yakusho". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
"Yakusho Kōji", Nihon jinmei daijiten+Plus, Kōdansha, retrieved 13 February 2012
"Festival de Cannes: The Eel". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
"The Eel:Passion That Seethes Under the Surface". New York Times. 1998-08-21. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
"Masayuki Suo's Whole Wide Whirl". San Francisco Chronicle. 1997-07-13.
"Shall We Dance?". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
Mes, Tom (15 August 2001). "Midnight Eye review: License to Live". Midnight Eye.
Kipp, Jeremiah (June 20, 2005). "Pulse". Slant Magazine.
Mes, Tom (15 April 2004). "Midnight Eye review: Doppelgänger". Midnight Eye.
Bourne, Christopher (January 27, 2012). "Review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Retribution"". Meniscus.
Rafferty, Terrence (March 6, 2009). "This Time, the Horror's in the Normality". The New York Times.
"Review: Babel". LA Weekly. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
"Yakusho Koji portrays WWII naval commander Yamamoto Isoroku". TokyoGraph. May 14, 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2013.

External links

Official website
Kōji Yakusho on IMDb
Kōji Yakusho at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
Profile on All Movie Guide
Profile at Japan Zone
The Film of '97 at Japan File

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[MG-1] "Koji Yakusho". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-08-16.

[2] "Yakusho Kōji", Nihon jinmei daijiten+Plus, Kōdansha, retrieved 13 February 2012

[3] "Festival de Cannes: The Eel". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-09-24.

[4] "The Eel:Passion That Seethes Under the Surface". New York Times. 1998-08-21. Retrieved 2012-08-16.

[SFC-5] "Masayuki Suo's Whole Wide Whirl". San Francisco Chronicle. 1997-07-13.

[6] "Shall We Dance?". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-08-16.

[7] Mes, Tom (15 August 2001). "Midnight Eye review: License to Live". Midnight Eye.

[8] Kipp, Jeremiah (June 20, 2005). "Pulse". Slant Magazine.

[9] Mes, Tom (15 April 2004). "Midnight Eye review: Doppelgänger". Midnight Eye.

[10] Bourne, Christopher (January 27, 2012). "Review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Retribution"". Meniscus.

[11] Rafferty, Terrence (March 6, 2009). "This Time, the Horror's in the Normality". The New York Times.

[12] "Review: Babel". LA Weekly. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2012-08-16.

[TokyoGraph-13] "Yakusho Koji portrays WWII naval commander Yamamoto Isoroku". TokyoGraph. May 14, 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2013.