Kumeko Urabe

Kumeko Urabe, born Kimura Kume, was a Japanese movie actress, one of the first in the country. She worked on stage and in film and television. Urabe was born in a rural part of Shizuoka Prefecture. She lived in several homes while growing up, as she relocated with her father, a Buddhist priest, among the temples to which he was assigned. Urabe completed her education in Numazu, and left school in 1919 to join a theatre company, touring under various stage names as an actor and dancer.
In 1923, Urabe auditioned at the film studio Nikkatsu, and adopted the name Kumeko Urabe, by which she was known for the rest of her life. She appeared in her first film the following year, and continued to act until 1987. She worked with such directors as Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikio Naruse, and performed in over 320 films, including Ikiru, Older Brother, Younger Sister, Portrait of Madame Yuki, She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum, and Street of Shame. She also starred in television dramas, including thirteen episodes of Toshiba Sunday Theatre between 1958 and 1980. In the following decade, she carved a niche as a Grandma idol, until her death in 1989.

Biography

Early life

Kimura Kume 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.
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".

Movie career

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. She appeared in her first film in 1924, playing the heroine in the film Seisaku's wife. She was one of the first female actors in Japanese cinema. Her skills attracted the attention of the director Kenji Mizoguchi, who cast her alongside Denmei Suzuki in the film The Dusty World, released in the same year.
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, Queen of the Circus and No Money, No Fight. 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. After a brief break from acting between 1928 and 1930, she appeared in Mizoguchi's next film Tojin Okichi. He also cast her in other films over the next decade, including Gion Festival and The Water Magician in 1933. Up to this point she had almost exclusively starred in silent films. 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.
Urabe continued to appear in films after the Second World War. The 1947 film Koisuru Tsuma was her first with director Ryo Hagiwara. In 1952, she played the role of Watanabe Kanji's wife Tatsu in Akira Kurosawa's film Ikiru. In the same year, she appeared in Mikio Naruse's Lightning. She subsequently worked with Naruse in Older Brother, Younger Sister released the following year and became one of his stable group of actors. She also rejoined Mizoguchi for his final film, Street of Shame, released in 1956. Her movies also reached an increasingly international audience. For example, in 1955, she appeared in Hiromichi Horikawa's Hiba Arborvitae Story, which was released with English subtitles as Tomorrow I'll be a Fire Tree.
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, which was released in English in 1967 as Eyes, the Sea and a Ball. She later appeared in, which explored the issue of dementia and was released with English subtitles in 1994 as Twilight Years''.
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.

Other work

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. 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. After 1980, Urabe increasingly found work as a Grandma Idol. She released two singles in November 1984, titled I Became a Singer and Octopus Song. She was at the time the oldest debut singer in history.

Private life

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. 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.

Filmography

Film

Urabe appeared in over 320 films including:

1924, Seisaku's wife, Come.
1924, The Dusty World, Omatsu.
1924, The Ax that Cuts of Love, Pearlko, Senami Chinami.
1924, Queen of the Circus, Supein no hato.
1925, A Women who Longs for the Law, Yuriko.
1925, Special Mission Ship Kanto, Village daughter.
1925, No Money, No Fight, Tsubame Musume.
1925, Human Front and Back, Yukie.
1925, General Nogi and Mr. Kuma, Kuma's wife, Yu
1927, Dolls House, Miyako Hayashida.
1930,, Omatsu.
1931, And They Go, Atsuko's mother.
1933, The Water Magician, Ogin.
1934, Messenger from the Moon, Jailer.
1936, The Lieutenant's daughter, Yutaka.
1937, Straits of Love, Midwife Murai Ume.
1938, Ah, My Home, Shinkichi's second wife.
1942, Kindness, Kinbe's wife.
1943, Genghis Khan, Weruenke.
1948, Women of the Night, Aunt of pimp.
1949, Hills of a Foreign Country, Iku.
1949,, Odai.
1950, Mrs Pearl Aunt Karasawa and Otami.
1950, A Mother's Love
1950, Portrait of Madame Yuki San.
1951, Marriage March, Auntie.
1951, Ikiru, Watanabe wife, Tatsu.
1951, Repast, Shige Taniguchi.
1952, Lightning, Osamu.
1953, Where Chimneys Are Seen, Kayo Nojima.
1953, Older Brother, Younger Sister, Riki.
1953, The Wild Geese (1953 film), Otsune.
1954, Twenty-Four Eyes, Teacher's wife.
1954, Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky, Shige.
1955, Hiba Arborvitae Story, Minko's grandmother.
1955, She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum, Minko's grandmother.
1955, The Magistrate, Shige.
1956, Street of Shame, Otane.
1956, Typhoon Over Nagasaki, Fujita.
1958, I Knew the Cat, Chie Kuwata.
1958, The Eternal Rainbow, Osamu's mother.
1960,, Mine Matsumoto.
1962, Japanese Grandma: A Comedy, Zamameba Asan Waka.
1962, Being Two Isn't Easy, Ino.
1962, Crazy Movie: Irresponsible Japanese Guy, Ume Nakagome.
1964, Yearning, Bar madam at Ginzang hot-spring.
1964, Jakoman and Tetsu, Taka.
1966, Hit and Run, Hisako Kanematsu.
1967, Happiness to you, Sentimental boy, Kura Ninotani.
1967, Scattered Clouds. Mishima Nui.
1968, A Woman and Miso Soup, Old guest.
1968, Sun on a Solitary Island, Oume.
1968, Crazy Movie: Mexican Free for All, Ume Suzuki.
1973, Man of Ecstasy, Grandma Kadoya.
1973, Shinano River, Mother.
1977, The Life of Chikuzan, Daikoku of the Temple.
1980, Before Spring, Ushima Zuyo.
1985, ''Lonely Heart, Fuki Inoue.
1987,, Mrs Uchigi.

TV

Urabe has appeared in over 100 TV episodes, including:

NHK – There Are People Here
KRT/TBS – Toshiba Sunday Theatre. 13 episodes including:
1961, CX – Sharp Tuesday Theatre "Like Nogiku".
1966, TBS – Keisuke Kinoshita Hour "Memorial Tree".
1971, NTV – Anxious Wife.
1981–1982, TBS – When Hamanasu flowers bloom.
1988, NTV – Female Lawyer Ayuko Takabayashi: 4 Shinshu Iida Line Tenryukyo Gorge.

Writing

Urabe authored a number of books including:

Urabe, Kumeko Half-life of a movie actress Tokyo: Tokyo Engei Tsūshinsha, 1925
Urabe, Kumeko I am the actress Kumeko Urabe Tokyo: Shikai Shobō, 1985
Urabe, Kumeko Crazy about the Movie: The Autobiography of Actress Kumeko Urabe Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1985
Urabe, Kumeko; Sugai, Ichiro and Kawazu, Seizaburo Movie Troublemakers Tokyo: Rikugei Shobo, 1966