
Acting
Kyōko Kishida (April 29, 1930 – December 17, 2006) was a Japanese actress, voice actress, and writer of children's books. Her father was Kunio Kishida, a playwright and the founder of the Bungaku-za. She became an actress in 1950, and starred in a Yukio Mishima production of Salome (1960). Her film and television drama credits number in the hundreds. Among them are four Taiga drama series on NHK television, with roles such as Aguri (the wife of Asano Naganori and Yodo-Dono (the wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi). She appeared in various roles, including acting and narrating, in various Ōoku series on television. In the series Gokenin Zankurō, she portrayed the mother of the title character (played by Ken Watanabe), and narrated a Lone Wolf and Cub television series. Kishida's film credits include Yasujirō Ozu's An Autumn Afternoon (1962), The Broken Commandment (based on a novel by Shimazaki Toson), Hiroshi Teshigahara's The Woman in the Dunes (1964) and The Face of Another (1966) (both from novels by Kōbō Abe), Kon Ichikawa's The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (1987), based on the classic story, Heaven and Earth (1990), and Spring Snow, the 2005 Isao Yukisada adaptation of the Mishima novel. Anime fans know Kishida as the voice of Moomin in the original 1960s television series. She provided narration for Vampire Princess Miyu and Princess Tutu as well as the 2005 Book of the Dead. In addition, she dubbed roles for Columbo and Miss Marple, and narrated Prophecies of Nostradamus. Kishida appeared in commercials for Nestle, TDK, and Asahi Shimbun. Kyōko Kishida died on December 17, 2006 in Tokyo from respiratory failure caused by a brain tumor. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kyōko Kishida, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Warlord Oda Nobunaga seeks to unite a fractured Japan. A young man trained in the arts of ninjitsu is manipulated by a ninja master into attempting to assassinate the warlord before he completes his task.

A sheltered aristocratic woman in feudal Japan, bored and unfamiliar with the world outside her estate, passes the time copying a special Buddhist sutra sent by her father who has been absent on official business for years. While gazing out her window one late afternoon, the setting sun creates a vision of a holy figure in the distant mountains.

Based on the first novel, Spring Snow, of Mishima Yukio's Sea of Fertility tetralogy, it follows the troubled and illicit affair between two youngsters amongst the aristocracy and rich of early twentieth century Japan.

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his old life, he faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his men sneak behind enemy lines.

Warlords Kagetora and Takeda each wish to prevent the other from gaining hegemony in feudal Japan. The two samurai leaders pursue one another across the countryside, engaging in massive battles of cavalry and infantry. Younger and less brutal, Kagetora must find the strength to be as brutal as his opponent, but at what cost?

A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his new doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality and causing him to question his identity.

Late in the 1500s, an aging tea master teaches the way of tea to a headstrong Shogun. Through force of will and courageous fighting, Hideyoshi becomes Japan’s most powerful warlord, unifying the country.

A drama of two aging women who live a solitary life collecting discarded items from a nearby town. One day they return home to find a young girl knitting a red sweater in their house. Each time the girl finishes her dress, she promptly unravels it and the mystery unfolds.

A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.

Thief Yaheiji (Keizo Kanie) helped a dying young samurai (Hiroaki Murakami), after recovering, he lost his memory and returned to Edo under the name of Yataro Tanigawa. Yaheiji meets Yataro again in Edo, by which time Yataro has become a dark hunter (Hired Assassin). The boss of thieves to whom Yaheiji obeys is killed, and Yaheiji participates in the battle to take his place Yataro helps him defeat and save his life, and Yaheiji also tries to save Yataro from the world of assassins... The drama "Dark Hunter" is based on the novel by Shotaro Ikenami, who is best known for his TV series Onihei Hankacho, Kenkaku Shobai and Fujieda Baian's Shikake-nin. The film version directed by Hideo Gosha is well known, but this version is more faithful to the original.
