Yūnosuke Itō

{{Infobox person

| image = Yunosuke_Ito.jpg

| caption = Yūnosuke Itō in Kobayashi's I Will Buy You (1956)

| name = Yūnosuke Itō

| birth_date = 3 August 1919

| birth_place = Tokyo, Japan

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|3|11|1919|8|3|df=yes}}

| death_place =

| othername =

| occupation = Actor

| years active = 1924–1979

}}

{{Nihongo|Yūnosuke Itō|伊藤雄之助|Itō Yūnosuke|3 August 1919 – 11 March 1980}} was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than ninety films from 1947 to 1979.

File:Ito Yunosuke grave at Saikoji Temple, Chitose, Tokyo.jpg

Career

Itō made his film debut at Toho in 1946,{{cite web|title=Itō Yūnosuke|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BC%8A%E8%97%A4%E9%9B%84%E4%B9%8B%E5%8A%A9-1055297|website=Kotobanku|publisher=Asahi Shinbun|access-date=26 February 2015|language=ja}} and although mostly a prominent supporting actor—playing memorable figures such as the novelist in Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru—he also was cast in leading roles such as Kon Ichikawa's Mr. Pu. He is acclaimed as "one of the...extremely talented character actors who populated Japanese movies in [the Shōwa] era, playing a broad range of roles."{{cite web|title=Oh Bomb/Aa bakudan (1964)|url=https://japanonfilm.wordpress.com/2019/12/01/oh-bomb-aa-bakudan-1964|website=Japan On Film|publisher=Japan On Film|access-date=6 December 2022}}

Itō received the 1962 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actor for his dual role in the seminal ninja film Shinobi no Mono.{{cite web|title=Shinobi no Mono Liner Notes|url=https://www.animeigo.com/liner/samurai/shinobi-no-mono|website=www.animeigo.com|publisher=AnimEigo|access-date=24 May 2021}} Film scholar Stuart Galbraith IV has noted that the "horse-faced actor...was a real chameleon, despite his instantly recognizable, distinctive features...[and] gives what may be the performance of his career [as] one of the all-time great Japanese movie villains.''{{cite web|author=Staurt Galbraith IV|title=Shinobi no mono (The Ninjas)|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/31058|website=DVD Talk|publisher=Internet Brands|access-date=6 December 2022}}

The son of kabuki actor Sawamura Sōnosuke I (1886-1924), Itō was the brother of actor Sōnosuke Sawamura (1918-1978), who was born Keinosuke Itō and took the name Sawamura Sōnosuke II when their father died, appearing on stage until the 1950s when he also became a TV and film actor, though never achieving his younger brother's renown.{{cite web|title=Sawamura Sōnosuke: Three Generations|url=https://www.kabuki21.com/sonosuke.php

|website=Kabuki 21|publisher=Shôriya Aragorô|access-date=30 December 2022}}

Itō penned a memoir in 1968 in which he recounted his difficult path to fame, titled Radish Actor (a term of disdain for hammy performers). In 1977, he was urged to record the wistful song "Square Box" by its lyricist, Haruka Homura. Released as a single by Warner Records, a planned follow-up LP was never recorded, as Itō died while practicing the several songs Homura had written for it.{{cite web|title=Square Box, for Mr. Yūnosuke Itō|url=http://sikakuihako.blog93.fc2.com/blog-entry-2.html|website=In A Square Box|publisher=Inside the Square Box|language=japanese|access-date=3 August 2023}}

Legacy

In 2008, Itō was one of the actors commemorated in the Seven Supporting Characters film festival held at the now-defunct{{cite web|title=(Closed) Cinema Arton Shimokitazawa|url=https://www.shibuyabunka.com/space.php?id=113&wovn=en|website=Shibuya Bunka|publisher=Shibuya Bunka Project|access-date=14 September 2020}} Cinema Artone in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa entertainment district.{{cite web|title=Comedy Limited Express Act 9: Seven Supporting Characters|url=https://intro.ne.jp/contents/2008/03/06_2357.html|website=Intro Creators Movie Magazine|publisher=Intro Cinema|access-date=14 September 2020|language=ja}}

Tokyo's arthouse theatre Laputa Asagaya curated a 30-film retrospective in 2011 titled Great Character Actor of the Century: Fantastic Yūnosuke Itō.{{cite web|title=Great Character Actor of the Century: Fantastic Yūnosuke Itō|url=http://www.laputa-jp.com/laputa/program/itoyunosuke/|website=laputa-jp.com|publisher=Laputa Asagaya|access-date=9 January 2023|language=ja}}

In July 2019, Tokyo's Cinemavera Shibuya celebrated the 100th anniversary of his birth by screening 11 of his films in a shared festival honoring Itō and actor Kō Nishimura.{{cite web|title=Famous Supporting Roles IV: Yunosuke Itō vs. Kō Nishimura Showdown|url=https://lp.p.pia.jp/shared/cnt-s/cnt-s-11-02_1_f9be9b42-2ffa-4f3a-b48d-b2c8692e93f1.html|website=lp.p.pia.jp|publisher=PIA Global Entertainment|access-date=6 November 2022|language=ja}}

A character designed as a caricature of Itō is regularly featured in the cat-oriented manga Mon-chan and Me, published in Fusosha's popular{{cite web|title=Fans In Japan Don't Want These Anime Turned Into Live-Action Movies|url=https://kotaku.com/fans-in-japan-dont-want-these-anime-turned-into-live-ac-1845763883|website=Kotaku|publisher=G/O Media Inc.|accessdate=16 November 2022}} webzine Joshi Spa! (Women's Spa!).{{cite web|title=Who Did The Mysterious Cat and Human Meet In The Forest One Day?|url=https://joshi-spa.jp/1205601/5|website=Joshi Spa!|publisher=Fusosha Publishing|accessdate=7 December 2022|language=Japanese}}

Selected filmography

=Films=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! Director ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
1949 \|Stray Dog \|Manager of Bluebird Theatre \|Akira Kurosawa \|first collaboration with Kurosawa
1952 \|Ikiru \|Novelist \|Akira Kurosawa \|
1953 \|The Thick-Walled Room \| \|Masaki Kobayashi \| released 1956
1955 \|Keisatsu Nikki \| \|Seiji Hisamatsu \|
1957 \|Yellow Crow \|Ichirō Yoshida \|Heinosuke Gosho \|
1958 \|Giants and Toys \|Junji Harukawa \|Yasuzo Masumura \|
1958 \|The Ballad of Narayama \|Matayan's son \|Keisuke Kinoshita \|
1962 \|Sanjuro \|Mutsuta \|Akira Kurosawa \|
1962 \|The Graceful Brute \|Tokizō Maeda \|Yuzo Kawashima \|
1963 \|Kanto Wanderer \|Okaru-Hachi \|Seijun Suzuki \|
1963 \|High and Low \|Baba \|Akira Kurosawa \|
1965 \|Samurai Assassin \|Kenmotsu Hoshino \|Kihachi Okamoto \|
1967 \|The Doctor's Wife \|Seishu's father \|Yasuzo Masumura \|
1967 \|Japan's Longest Day \|Toshio Nonaka \|Kihachi Okamoto \|
1968 \|The Human Bullet \|Ship captain \|Kihachi Okamoto \|
1972 \|Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance \|Retsudō Yagyū \|Kenji Misumi \|
1979 \|Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko \|Bus hijacker \|Kazuhiko Hasegawa \|

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! Director

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1949

|Stray Dog

|Manager of Bluebird Theatre

|Akira Kurosawa

|first collaboration with Kurosawa

1952