Takako Irie

Acting

Takako Irie

Born 1911-02-07 · Tokyo, Japan

Takako Irie (入江 たか子 Irie Takako, 7 February 1911 – 12 January 1995) was a Japanese film actress. Born in Tokyo into the aristocratic Higashibōjō family (her birth name was Hideko Higashibōjō (東坊城 英子 Higashibōjō Hideko)), she graduated from Bunka Gakuin before debuting as an actress at Nikkatsu in 1927. She became a major star, even starting her own production company, Irie Productions, in 1932. One of Kenji Mizoguchi's silent film masterpieces, The Water Magician, was produced at that company with Irie starring. She appeared in many advertisements, as well as on fans and other commercial goods. Irie was also the subject of a folding screen painting by Nihonga artist Nakamura Daizaburō, which appeared in the 1930 Teiten (Imperial Exhibition), and which is today in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art; toy dolls were also produced based on this image. In the postwar period, Irie became known as a "ghost cat actress" (bakeneko joyū) for appearing in a series of kaidan (ghost story) movies. One of her late memorable roles was in Akira Kurosawa's Sanjuro, where she plays Mutsuta's wife, the lady who warns Sanjuro (Toshirō Mifune) that "the best sword stays in its scabbard".

Acting credits

Sanjuro poster
7.9

In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

Sanjuro

1962

Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki poster
9.0

The Lord of Okazaki is killed by his brother-in-law. Although the Lord's widow bears a child, she is also killed. Then, a ghost cat begins stalking in the castle.

Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki

1954

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director poster
7.2

In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with film excerpts and stills, Shindō recounts the life and career of his friend and mentor Mizoguchi.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director

1975

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time poster
6.8

Kazuko Yoshiyama is a third-year junior-high-school student. One day, while cleaning the lab, she smells lavender and faints. From then on, she has the power to travel through time.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

1983

Learn from Experience, Part One poster
6.7

Wealthy young Toyomi and Shintaro are in love. However, Shintaro’s father is arranging for him to marry Yurie, the scion of an even wealthier family. The two lovers flee to Tokyo, but when Shintaro returns to proclaim his intent to marry Toyomi, his father browbeats him into attending the marriage meeting with Yurie. Part one of a two-part romance based on a story by noted author Kikuchi Kan.

Learn from Experience, Part One

1937

Haha no hitomi poster
NR

A blind little girl searches for her mother.

Haha no hitomi

1953

No artwork available
7.0

While returning by boat to Japan, Yoshie Fujiwara meets a rich woman who suggests him to become a singer thanks to an impresario friend of hers.

Yoshie Fujiwara's Hometown

1930

No artwork available
NR

A Daiei erotic film depicting the five passionate love affairs of a voluptuous married woman, driven by her beauty.

Doku bara

1949

Love Letter poster
6.8

Five years after the end of the Second World War, Reikichi, a repatriated veteran, translates love letters for Japanese women to American GIs, while searching for his lost love, Michiko.

Love Letter

1953

The House of Hanging poster
6.2

This time, Kousuke investigates a murder in a hospital. The murderer leaves misleading evidence to divert Kousuke's attention on the case. Suspicion and doubt clouds Kousuke's mind.

The House of Hanging

1979

Jean Valjean: Part One poster
7.0

The first part of a fascinating melodrama based on Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, the action of which is transferred to the era of the Meiji Revolution. The film has not survived.

Jean Valjean: Part One

1931

Dekoboko taikōki poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Dekoboko taikōki

1953

The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing poster
7.1

A kabuki actress is murdered. Her pet cat laps its mistress's blood and becomes a demon possessed by the vengeful murder victim.

The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing

1954

Tsuki yori no shisha poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tsuki yori no shisha

1934

Ghost-Cat of Yonaki Swamp poster
7.0

A remake of Kaidan Saga yashiki (1953).

Ghost-Cat of Yonaki Swamp

1957

A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again poster
10.0

Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, Minakami, feels something that attracts him deeply towards Kayo. On the other hand, Kayo prays for the happiness of her best friend and marries a very ordinary man. However, at one point, this mediocre but increasingly ferocious husband died in an accident ... A triangular love story develops depicting a woman's heart that sways between love and morals. Based on a novel by Nobuko Yoshiya, there were originally two parts to the film (If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again), both supposed to be 85 minutes, but apparently what we have now is this 103-minute amalgam of the two.

A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again

1937

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tales of a Drifter

1951

No artwork available
NR

A film depicting the duties of a detective and the anguish of human compassion.

Female Prisoner #36

1947

Matashirō Fighting Journey poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Matashirō Fighting Journey

1956

The Most Beautiful poster
5.6

Young women at a precision optics factory in wartime Japan push to exceed production quotas, enduring illness, injury, and personal hardship to “serve the country.” Led by Tsuru Watanabe, they fight fatigue and setbacks to keep their line moving—even when duty collides with grief.

The Most Beautiful

1944

Three Mothers poster
NR

Movie about biological mothers, foster mothers, and stepmothers.

Three Mothers

1949

The Battle of Kawanakajima poster
7.0

This epic depicts the battle between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. The focus of the story is the struggle by the unit leader in charge of the main supply wagons and the supply troops to transport materiel to the Uesugi army. To this are added episodes involving an itinerant woman.

The Battle of Kawanakajima

1941

Wings of Victory poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

Wings of Victory

1942

The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations poster
8.0

A power struggle in the fief of Okazaki causes the death of Namiji, a nobleman's daughter. As her fiancé seeks revenge, he finds Namiji's cat helping him, along the Fifty-Three stations of the Tokaido Road. Co-starring Shintarô Katsu and Takako Irie.

The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations

1956

Behind the camera