Full Name Masaru Okumura Role Actor Occupation Actor Children Kiichiro Wakayama | Years active 1955–1991 Siblings Shintaro Katsu Name Tomisaburo Wakayama | |
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Spouse Reiko Fujiwara (m. 1963–1965) Movies Shogun Assassin, Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart Similar People Shintaro Katsu, Kenji Misumi, Koji Tsuruta, Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima | ||
Best mixed martial arts fight scene of tomisaburo wakayama
Tomisaburō Wakayama (若山 富三郎, Wakayama Tomisaburō, September 1, 1929 – April 2, 1992), born Masaru Okumura, was a Japanese actor best known for playing Ogami Ittō, the scowling, 19th century ronin warrior in the six Lone Wolf and Cub samurai movies.
Contents
- Best mixed martial arts fight scene of tomisaburo wakayama
- Tomisaburo Wakayama Oshi Samurai The Mute Samurai s01e15 End fight
- Biography
- Filmography
- References
Tomisaburo Wakayama - Oshi Samurai ('The Mute Samurai'): s01e15, End fight
Biography
Wakayama was born on September 1, 1929, in Fukagawa, a district in Tokyo, Japan. His father was Tohiji Katsu (or Katsutōji Kineya), a noted kabuki performer and nagauta singer, and the family as a whole were kabuki performers. He and his younger brother, Shintaro Katsu, followed their father in the theater. Wakayama tired of this; at the age of 13, he began to study judo, eventually achieving the rank of 4th dan black belt in the art.
In 1952, as part of the Azuma Kabuki troupe, Wakayama toured the United States of America for nine months. He gave up theater performance completely after his two-year term with the troupe was over. Wakayama taught judo until Toho recruited him as a new martial arts star in their jidaigeki movies. He prepared for these movies by practicing other disciplines, including kenpō, iaidō, kendo, and bōjutsu. All this helped him for roles in the television series The Mute Samurai, the 1975 television series Shokin Kasegi (The Bounty Hunter), and his most famous role: Ogami Ittō, the Lone Wolf.
Wakayama went on to star in many films, performing in a variety of roles. It has been estimated that he appeared in between 250 and 500 films. His only roles in American movies were as a baseball coach in The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978) and as a yakuza boss, Sugai, in Ridley Scott's Black Rain (1989) that delivers a memorable English monologue that becomes a defining moment for the film, and the film's title.
Wakayama died of acute heart failure on April 2, 1992, in a hospital in Kyoto. He was survived by a son, Kiichiro Wakayama (born c. 1965), also an actor.
Filmography
Wakayama appeared in the following films, amongst others.