Kumeko Urabe

Kimura Kume (木村 くめ) was born on October 5, 1902, the daughter of Keichu Kume, a Rinzai priest at Kenchō-ji, and Hana Kume. She grew up in the rural district of Kamo as an only child, her one sibling, an older brother, having died when he was young. In 1909, the family moved to Kawazu, also in Shizuoka Prefecture, where Kume attended the primary school. In 1915, the family moved again, this time to Numazu, where her father served at the Myōshin-ji temple. Kume finished her formal schooling two years later, attending Numazu Girls' School. During this time, her interest in acting had been formed by seeing Rensageki, a form that mixed silent film and stage play. In 1919, she left school and joined Yasuyoshi Suzuki's troupe, adopting the stage name Kumeko Ichijo.[1]

Over the next four years, Kume joined travelling theatres and opera companies, perfecting her singing and dance routines, as well as learning to act in many roles. She also adopted a number of stage names, including Toyama Midori, Chidori Shizuura, and Chidori Toyama. It was also during this time that she met Chieko Saga: the pair became known as "Sagachi" and "Tochi".[2]

Kumeko Urabe in Wild Geese (雁) directed by Shirō Toyoda, 1953

In August 1923, Yasumasa Hatano recommended that she audition at the film studio Nikkatsu. Urabe was successful, and adopted the stage name Kumeko Urabe, which she retained for the rest of her career with pride. In fact, decades later, she objected to her birth name on the Medal of Honour with Purple Ribbon, saying that the award was for the work of Kumeko Urabe.[3] She appeared in her first film in 1924, playing the heroine in the film Seisaku's wife (清作の妻). She was one of the first female actors in Japanese cinema.[4] Her skills attracted the attention of the director Kenji Mizoguchi, who cast her alongside Denmei Suzuki in the film The Dusty World (塵境), released in the same year.[5]

After this, Urabe became one of the most popular members of the studio, after Yoneko Sakai and Haruko Sawamura. She worked with Mizoguchi on many of his films which were released in the next four years, including The Ax That Cuts Love (恋を断つ斧), Queen of the Circus (曲馬団の女王) and No Money, No Fight (無銭不戦).[6][7] She developed a close relationship with the director, even being by his side when he was attacked by Yuriko Ichiro, the scar from which became what Tokuzo Tanaka calls Mizoguchi's badge of honour.[8] After a brief break from acting between 1928 and 1930, she appeared in Mizoguchi's next film Tojin Okichi (唐唐人お吉). He also cast her in other films over the next decade, including Gion Festival (祇園祭) and The Water Magician (瀧の白糸) in 1933.[9] Up to this point she had almost exclusively starred in silent films.[10] In July 1933, she left the studio to join Shinkō Kinema, which in 1942 became Daiei Film. It was during this time that she first appeared in talking pictures.[11]

Urabe continued to appear in films after the Second World War. The 1947 film Koisuru Tsuma (恋する妻) was her first with director Ryo Hagiwara.[12] In 1952, she played the role of Watanabe Kanji's wife Tatsu in Akira Kurosawa's film Ikiru (生きる).[13] In the same year, she appeared in Mikio Naruse's Lightning (稲妻). She subsequently worked with Naruse in Older Brother, Younger Sister (あにいもうと) released the following year and became one of his stable group of actors.[11][14] She also rejoined Mizoguchi for his final film, Street of Shame (赤線地帯, Akasen Chitai), released in 1956.[15] Her movies also reached an increasingly international audience. For example, in 1955, she appeared in Hiromichi Horikawa's Hiba Arborvitae Story (あすなろ物語), which was released with English subtitles as Tomorrow I'll be a Fire Tree.[16]

During the 1960s, Urabe continued to be cast in films, often in the role of a grandma, as in Keisuke Kinoshita's Lovely Flute and Drum (なつかしき笛や太鼓, Natsukashiki fue ya taiko), which was released in English in 1967 as Eyes, the Sea and a Ball.[17] She later appeared in Kōkotsu no hito (恍惚の人), which explored the issue of dementia and was released with English subtitles in 1994 as Twilight Years.[18]

By the end of her career, Urabe had appeared in over 320 films and worked with some of the most well-known directors in Japanese cinema. During her life, she received a number of accolades, including the Medal of Honour with Purple Ribbon in 1966 and the individual merit award at the inaugural Fumiko Yamaji Film Awards in 1977.[19][20]

In addition to her movie career, Urabe expanded her repertoire by appearing in television drama, firstly in episodes of There Are People Here which were aired in 1957 and 1959.[21] She subsequently went on to play many roles, increasingly of grandmothers, in other shows, including Sharp Tuesday Theatre and Toshiba Sunday Theatre. In the latter case, she appeared in a total of thirteen episodes in the period between 1958 and 1980, her last in the 1228th episode, titled Song of Thoughts (想思樹の歌).[22] After 1980, Urabe increasingly found work as a Grandma Idol.[19] She released two singles in November 1984, titled I Became a Singer (わたし歌手になりましたよ) and Octopus Song (タコの唄). She was at the time the oldest debut singer in history.[23]

On October 23, 1928, Urabe married Koichi Ueno, the son of a wealthy man from Kyoto. The couple gambled heavily, and the marriage ended in divorce in April 1930.[11] Urabe never remarried. In her free time, she enjoyed mahjong and gambled on bicycle and boat races. On October 25, 1989, the stove in her Tokyo apartment set alight her clothing and she was severely burned. Taken to Tokyo Medical University Hospital in Nishi-Shinjuku, she died of her injuries the next day.[19]

Urabe appeared in over 320 films including:

Urabe has appeared in over 100 TV episodes, including:[21]

• Asoshiētsu, Nichigai (2008). 映画基本書目大正・昭和・平成 [Basic movie books: Taisho, Showa, Heisei] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Hatsubaimoto Kinokuniya Shoten. ISBN 978-4-81692-194-0.
• Buehrer, Beverley Bare (1990). Japanese Films: A Filmography and Commentary 1921—1989. Chicago: St James Press. ISBN 978-1-55862-163-3.
• Cowie, Peter; Elley, Derek (1977). World Filmography 1967. London: Tantivy Press. ISBN 978-0-89950-458-2.
• Ekusupuresu, AV (1998). 映画大全集 [Movie Guide] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Metamoru Shuppan. ISBN 978-4-89595-216-3.
• Galbraith, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: A Complete Reference to 209 Filmmakers and the Over 1250 Films Released in the United States, 1900 Through 1994. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-78640-032-4.
• Galbraith, Stuart (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-1-46167-374-3.
• Inomata, Katsuhito (1975). 日本映画名作全史 [Full History of Japanese Movie Masterpieces] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shakai Shisōsha. ISBN 978-4-39010-803-4.
• Iwamoto, Kenji (2007). サイレントからトーキーへ : 日本映画形成期の人と文化 [From Silent to Talkies, People and Culture in the Age of Japanese Film Formation] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shinwasha. ISBN 978-4-91608-778-2.
• Kanshōkai, Musei Eiga; Eigasha, Matsuda (2005). 日本無声映画俳優名鑑 [The Great Japanese Silent Movie Stars] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Āban Konekushonzu. ISBN 978-4-90084-975-4.
• Kinema Junpōsha (1980). 日本映画俳優全集・女優編 [Complete Works of Japanese Film Actors and Actresses] (in Japanese). Tōkyō: Kinema Junpōsha. OCLC 22823615.
• Matsūra, Kōzō (1982). 日本映画史大鑑: 映画渡来から現代まで・86年間の記錄 [Japanese Film History Encyclopedia: A record of 86 years from the arrival of movies to the present day] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Bunka Shuppankyoku. OCLC 12700245.
• Miyagi, Kenshu (1990). 戦後・戦争映画史 [Movies: Wartime and Post-war] (in Japanese). Okinawa: Tanteki Chokusanbō. ISBN 978-4-88218-034-0.
• Morris, Peter (1967). Mizoguchi Kenji. Ottawa: Canadian Film Institute. OCLC 803953367.
• Nobuyoshi, Nishida (1991). 溝口健二集成 [Kenji Mizoguchi Compilation] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kinema Junpōsha. ISBN 978-4-87376-045-2.
• Richie, Donald (2006). A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. Tokyo: Kodansha. ISBN 978-4-77002-995-9.
• Russell, Catherine (2008). The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-82234-312-7.
• Sato, Tadao (2006). 溝口健二の世界 [The World of Kenji Mizoguchi] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Heibonsha. ISBN 978-4-58276-593-9.
• Shinbunsha, Yomiuri (1997). 映画百年 : 映画はこうしてはじまった [100 Years of Movies: The Beginnings] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kinema Junpōsha. ISBN 978-4-87376-198-5.
• Tsūshinsha, Nyūsu (1994). テレビドラマ全史, 1953—1994 [The History of TV Drama, 1953—-1994] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Tōkyō Nyūsu Tsūshinsha. OCLC 32241958.
• Yoshimoto, Mitsuhiro (2000). Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-82232-519-2.