Famed Japanese Actor Tatsuya Nakadai Dies at 92

Tokyo, Nov. 11 (Jiji Press)–Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai, who starred in movies including “Ningen no Joken” (The Human Condition) and “Kagemusha” (The Shadow Warrior), died of pneumonia on Saturday, it was learned Tuesday. He was 92. Born in Tokyo, Nakadai, whose real first name was Motohisa, joined famed Japanese theater company Haiyuza in 1955. He won attention for his starring role in the stageplay “Yurei” (Ghost). He made his breakthrough in the 1956 film “Hinotori” (Phoenix) and played the lead in “Ningen no Joken,” directed by Masaki Kobayashi. Nakadai appeared in popular movies such as “Yojimbo” (The Bodyguard) and “Sanjuro,” both directed by prominent Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, “Fumo Chitai” (The Barren Zone) by Satsuo Yamamoto and “Wagahai wa Neko de Aru” (I Am a Cat) by Kon Ichikawa. “Seppuku” (Harakiri) directed by Kobayashi, in which Nakadai starred, won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963, and “Kagemusha” was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1980 Cannes festival. Nakadai played the lead role of Taira no Kiyomori, a chief of the Taira clan in the Heian period (794-1185), in television drama “Shin Heike Monogatari” (The New Tale of Heike), aired by Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK, in 1972. He also acted in several masterpiece TV dramas, including “Kiga Kaikyo” (A Fugitive from the Past) and “Daichi no Ko” (A Son of the Good Earth). Nakadai founded a private acting school with his wife, Yasuko Miyazaki, and trained famed actors including Koji Yakusho and Mayumi Wakamura. He continued to appear in theater works such as “The Lower Depths,” “Richard III” and “Driving Miss Daisy,” while mentoring up-and-coming actors. He was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1996 and the Order of Culture in 2015, and was chosen as a Person of Cultural Merit in 2007. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]