Kinya Kitaoji
He was born in Kyoto, son of jidaigeki film star Ichikawa Utaemon, and graduated from Waseda University School of Letters, Arts and Sciences Ⅱ in Tokyo.
Acting career:
Kin'ya made his debut with his father in the 1956 Toei film Oyakodaka in the role of Katsu Kaishū. He is a contemporary of, and was taken to be a rival of, Hiroki Matsukata, who was also the son of a famous actor (Jūshirō Konoe). In 1964, Kin'ya made his first appearance on stage in Cyrano de Bergerac.
The 1960s and 1970s saw him in many contemporary roles. He appeared in Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima and Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode as well as Karei naru Ichizoku. The title role in the 1975 film Takehisa Yumeji was his.
On television, Kitaōji portrayed Miyamoto Musashi in the Nippon Television show of the same name. A major historical role was Sakamoto Ryōma in the year-long prime-time NHK Taiga drama Ryōma ga Yuku (1968). He landed the title role in the long-running cop show Zenigata Heiji, set in the Edo period. In the 1985 twelve-hour New Year special Fūun Yagyū Bugeichō, he played Yagyū Jūbei, and in the following year's special, he portrayed both Tokugawa Yoshimune and Yagyū Shinrokurō. The role of another shogun fell to him in the following new year as TV Tokyo tapped him to play Tokugawa Iemitsu. Kin'ya returned to NHK for the 1987 Taiga drama Dokuganryū Masamune as Date Terumune, father of title character Date Masamune.
Another role he took had been created by his father. Saotome Mondonosuke was the title character in the series Gozonji! Hatamoto Taikutsu Otoko. It ran from 1988 to 1994 on TV Asahi. His father, Ichikawa Utaemon, had appeared in numerous films as Mondonosuke.
Kin'ya reprised the part of Miyamoto Musashi in the 1990 New Year's special. Toshirō Mifune had portrayed Musashi in the earlier film, also based on the Eiji Yoshikawa story, that had won an Academy Award. He returned to the New Year's special in 1996, again as the famous swordsman, in Tokugawa Kengōden Sore kara no Musashi.
His first portrayal of Ōishi Kuranosuke was in the 1996 Chūshingura. He took up the role again in 2004 for the NHK Saigo no Chūshingura and in 2007, in the New Year special Chūshingura Yōzei-in no Inbō. Other historical roles from the Sengoku period include Azai Nagamasa, Saitō Dōsan, and Yamamoto Kansuke. In addition to historical parts, he appeared in fictional series. His portrayal of Ogami Ittō in the Lone Wolf and Cub ( Kozure 2) Which was a series for Asahi TV in Japan is representative of these appearances.
In 2008, Kitaōji revisited the role of Katsu Kaishū in the Taiga drama Atsuhime. He had portrayed Katsu in his 1956 debut.
He won the award for best actor at the 10th Hochi Film Award for Fire Festival and Haru no kane. Kitaōji played one of the lead roles in Hideo Nakata's psychological thriller film The Incite Mill.
In recent times, Kitaōji voices the Hokkaido-inu character of "Father" in SoftBank Mobile's White Family advertising campaign.
Filmography (169 Appearances)
白虎隊～敗れざる者たち
ボーダレス～広域移動捜査隊～
Toyama Shōgawa kai satsujin jiken
Believe: A Bridge to You
Alice in Wonderful Kitchen
Kazama Kimichika: Kyojo Zero
THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY
さすらい署長風間昭平スペシャル 塩屋岬いわき殺人事件
In His Chart
The Confidence Man JP – Episode of the Princess –
三屋清左衛門残日録 新たなしあわせ
Alive: Dr. Kokoro, The Medical Oncologist
Castle of Sand
Whistleblower
Kioku Sousa ~Shinjuku Higashi-sho Jiken Fairu~
がん消滅の罠～完全寛解の謎～
三屋清左衛門残日録 三十年ぶりの再会
三屋清左衛門残日録 完結篇
Virtual Detective Tabito Higurashi
Monster Strike The Movie: To The Place of Beginnings
One Piece Film: GOLD
Case 17
Sayonara Debussy - Pianist Tantei Misaki Yosuke
三屋清左衛門残日録
三屋清左衛門残日録
Fragile
Seven Detectives
I'm Home
Kenkaku Shōbai: Onikuma Izakaya
Seicho Matsumoto's Black Gospel
Sanbiki no Ossan
Sakura Housara
淋しい狩人
Hanzawa Naoki
Legal High SP
Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon
Asura
Breathless Summer
Blackboard
Man of Destiny
I Don't Want to Kidnap Anyone Anymore
The Last Revenge
Princess Go
Chushingura〜Sono Otoko, Oishi Kuranosuke
The Incite Mill
Sakurada Gate Incident
Eternal First Love
Absolute Zero
Genjuro's Deadly Sword: The Return of Shinigami
Triangle
刑事シュート しゅうと&ムコの事件日誌
Sushi King Goes to New York
Phantom Assassin
Atsuhime
Kuwayama Jubei travels to eight provinces
The Family
Magistrate Ooka Echizen
The Story of Dominating Countries
忠臣蔵
Roving Police Chief Kazama Shohei 2 - Lake Tazawa Murder Case
さすらい署長 風間昭平
Lone Wolf and Cub
生存 愛する娘のために
Hojo Tokimune
Secret Magistrate Asahina
Warlord of the Underworld
The Peking Man
SMAP×SMAP
Further Tales of Musashi
Another 47 Ronins: Genroku Taiheiki
Assassin's Target: Iemitsu
The Notorious Bored Samurai 9
Bored Hatamoto: The Kaga Conspiracy
事件 (テレビ朝日のテレビドラマ)
Bored Hatamoto: Letter of Death
The Notorious Bored Samurai 8
Yakuza Ladies Revisited 2
Date Masamune: The One-Eyed Dragon
The Notorious Bored Samurai 7
The Diary of Chuji's Travels
Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Conqueror of Japan
The Notorious Bored Samurai 6
Dohten
遊の人‐天下の御意見番 大久保彦左衛門‐
The Notorious Bored Samurai 5
Detective Heiji
Miyamoto Musashi
The Notorious Bored Samurai 3
Sensei
Sanada Yukimura
The Notorious Bored Samurai 2
The Notorious Bored Samurai
The Beauty of the Sundial Mansion
Masamune Shogun
Crisis at Edo Castle - Angry Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Chronicles: Ambition of the 3 Branches
Spring Bell
The Second Is a Christian
Yume-Chiyo
Fire Festival
The Story of a Man Among Men
Zero
Kukai
Shadow Conspirator
Future War 198X
Lake of Illusions
The Highest Honour
南十字星
Abandoned
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Complete Saga
Glowing Autumn
Dynamite Don-Don
Monument to Holy Service
Winter's Flower
Shag
Mount Hakkoda
The Alaska Story
The Corporation
Love and Separation in Sri Lanka
Takehisa Yumeji monogatari: koi suru
Gambling Den Heist
Shimane Prison Riot
Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack
Father of the Kamikaze
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode
Akumyo: Notorious Dragon
The Blossom and the Sword
Rise, Fair Sun
Men and War III: The Final Chapter
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima
A Woman Called En
Will to Conquer
Mominoki wa Nokotta
Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor
Admiral Borneo: Betting at the Equator
Tsugaru zessho
One Day at Summer's End
The Day the Sun Rose
Cry of the Mountain
Ryoma ga Yuku
River of Forever
Love on the Rainbow
Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu
Wolves, Pigs & Men
The Navy
53 Stages of Action
Tokaido Fullhouse
A Revengeful Raid
Keepers of Order
Yoka chigo zakura Make no wakamusha
Genkuro Yoshitsune
Knightly Advice
Young Lord and Second Son
Whistling Drifter
Law in Ghost Island
The Orphan Brother
Lord Mito: Struggle of Suke and Kaku
Fine Man
Traveling of Two Young Men
Bored Hatamoto: Island of No Return
Bloody Battle at Dawn
Bored Hatamoto: The Daimonji Conspiracy
The Acrobats of Death
Bored Hatamoto: Idle Vassal Tribute
Kingdom of Youth
The Mansion of Intrigue
Shadow Over Fuji
Avenging Father
Virtue in Spades