Toshiro Mifune

Japan's Most Famous Actor Mifune Toshiro was born in Tsingtao to Japanese parents and grew up in the Manchurian capital of Dairen (Dalian). He did not set foot in Japan until he was 21. His father was an importer and a commercial photographer, and young Mifune worked in his father's studio for a time after graduating from Dairen Middle School. He was automatically drafted when he turned 20, and enlisted in the Air Force where he was attached to the Aerial Photography Unit for the duration of the Second World War. In 1947, he took a test for Kajiro Yamamoto, who recommended him to director Senkichi Taniguchi, thus leading to Mifune's first film role in Shin Baka Jidai (1947). Mifune then met and bonded with director Akira Kurosawa, and the two joined to become the most prominent actor-director pairing in all Japanese cinema.

Beginning with Yoidore Tenshi (1948), Mifune appeared in sixteen of Kurosawa's films, most of which have become world-renowned classics. In Kurosawa's pictures, especially Rashomon (1950) and Seven Samurai (1954), Mifune would become the most famous Japanese actor in the world. A dynamic and ferocious actor, he excelled in action roles, but had as well the dramatic depth to express intricate and subtle parts. A personal rift during the filming of Akahige (1965) ended the Mifune-Kurosawa collaboration, but Mifune continued to perform leading roles in major films both in Japan and in foreign countries.

Mifune was twice named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, for Yojimbo (1961) and Akahige (1965). In 1963, he formed his own production company and turned to directing and producing films. In his later years, he gained new fame in the title role of the American TV miniseries Shogun (1980). Before his death in 1997 he appeared infrequently in cameo roles for both movies and television.

As an interesting bit of movie trivia, Toshiro Mifune was cast as the Emperor Meiji in the 1980 Japanese war movie about a famous battle in Port Arthur. The event took place just a few miles from his home in Dalian (Dairen). 203 Kochi (Ni-hyaku-san kochi) recreates a pivotal campaign during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the famous and bloody struggle over Hill 203.

The movie is not political, but does follow in a patriotic series of Japanese movies about victories in its war against Russia. The motion picture was not filmed on location in Port Arthur (now modern day Lushun). The real Hill 203 has no black volcanic sand. And while it does have an English name (The Battle of Port Arthur), the DVD currently for sale has no English subtitles.

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