Akihiko Katayama
Acting
Biography
No biography available for Akihiko Katayama.
Born: November 11, 1926
Place of Birth: Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
Known For
Professional Killers
A shikakenin was an under-the-cover trade that undertook killing in Edo. Hanemon of Otowa, an agency that introduced laborers and maids, was also one of these. Katsugoro Iseya was a timber dealer who had come in as a client. His target was the constructions magistrate Hanno, and the Tatsumiya who sipped on the benefits. Hanemon who had a stong code towards killing, where he would only kill those who do no good to be in the world, accepts this request. Baian Fujieda, a needle doctor would carry out the killing. However, the professional killer Baian fails to bring down Tatsumiya. Hanemon then looks to another shikakenin, the ronin Sanai Nishimura for the role. Although Sanai's ability with the sword is good, he lives poorly in a tenement, and accepts this commission on the condition that it is kept a secret from his wife and child. Here, they close in on Hanno and Tatsumiya again...
The Ambitious
The story of Ryoma Sakamoto, considered to be the architect behind the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate. He was considered an outlaw by his own clan, hunted by his government, and was despised by supporters of the Shogun as well as the Loyalists for desiring the opening of Japan to the West in order to learn its technology, in the hopes of one day defeating the West with a modern army and navy.
Her Hidden Past
Adaptation of a famous Kyouka Izumi novel. Set in the early 1900's, it tells the story of the impossible love between a young scholar a beautiful geisha.
Mother
A teenaged girl witnesses her widowed mother's attempt to sustain her family.
Vendetta of a Samurai
Mataemon Araki, a renowned swordsman, helps a young man find vengeance.
Satan's Sword: The Dragon God
The sequel to Daibosatsu tôge (1960) and the second of the trilogy follows the adventures of Ryunosuke Tsukue after he is blinded.
Dancing Girl
The troubled relationship between a writer and his ballet teacher wife, who has for years loved another man, finally leads to the breakup of the family.
The Lady of Musashino
Set in post-war Japan, The Lady of Musashino tells the story of Michiko, a disillusioned young woman trapped in a loveless marriage. She confides in her younger cousin, Tsutomo, and the two become close, but decide not to consummate their affair. He instead becomes involved with the flirtatious Tomiko, who is also conducting an affair with Michiko's husband. When Michiko finds that her husband has abandoned her, she decides to take her fate into her own hands.
A Pebble by the Wayside
Tomotaka Tasaka's A Pebble by the Wayside (Robo no Ishi), made in 1938 and taken from a Yuzo Yamamoto novel, takes place around 1902, was about a young boy brought up entirely by his mother since his drunken father is never home. An intelligent teacher wants to send him to middle school, but instead the father apprentices him to a clothing store to which he is in debt. The mother dies and the boy is forced to quit work when his father insults the store owner. Later the boy goes to Tokyo, but only to continue his hardships. First he is forced to do a maid's job at a boarding house and later is used by an old woman to steal at funerals. Finally he is rescued by the teacher, whom he meets in Tokyo.
Explosion!
"Around the time he made such remarkably ambivalent war films as Mud and Soldiers and Five Scouts, Tasaka directed this 'home front' comedy-drama which is too bizarre to be serious propaganda. [The plot revolves around a public contribution campaign to buy airplanes.] The mayor's aviator son promises to fly over the village in salute, and much of the narrative concerns the preparations for this great event. Tasaka throws in a few songs, some village humor and satire, and tremendous camera mobility, finally wringing every possible effect from his climax." John Gillett, British Film Institute
Filmography
as Toranosuke Nakahira
as Yasuhara
as Koizumi
as Takashi Murakami
as Katsuya Kitahara
as Eikichi Kono
as 山口先生
as Tomotsuna
as Tanaka
as 半次
as 佐野正平
as Marquis Genjiro Mizuno
as Ensign Nishida
as Susumu Fukuhara
as Minoru, the eldest son
as Tsutomu Miyaji
as Takao
as Michitada Kôno
as Goichi Aikawa