Utaemon Ichikawa

Acting

Utaemon Ichikawa

Born 1904-02-11 · Marugame, Kagawa, Japan

Utaemon Ichikawa was a Japanese film actor famous for starring roles in Jidaigeki from the 1920s to the 1960s. Trained in kabuki from childhood, he made his film debut in 1925 at Makino Film Productions under Shōzō Makino. Quickly gaining popularity, he followed the example of Makino stars such as Tsumasaburō Bandō in starting his own independent production company, Utaemon Ichikawa Productions, in 1927. It was there he first began the "Idle Vassal" (Hatamoto taikutsu otoko) series, which would become his signature role. When his company folded in 1936 as sound film came to the fore, he moved to Shinkō Kinema and then Daiei Studios before helping form the Toei Company after World War II. He served on the board of directors along with fellow samurai star Chiezō Kataoka. Utaemon appeared in over 300 films during his career. His son, Kin'ya Kitaōji, is also a famous actor in film and television.

Acting credits

Turbulent Highways poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Turbulent Highways

1959

Goblin Courier poster
6.0

Jida-geki by Santaro Marune.

Goblin Courier

1949

牢獄の花嫁 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

牢獄の花嫁

1955

Flowers on the Trail poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Flowers on the Trail

1957

Bored Hatamoto: The Mysterious Demon Palace poster
NR

In Kyoto, a samurai named Boredom Otoko, Saotome Mondonosuke , appears and helps a woman being chased by a spy named Genshichi. Unfortunately, the woman is shot and killed. Later, Genshichi explains that the woman was a member of a band of thieves, and because she was let go once, the police officer, Genjuro Mazaki, was demoted to a desk job. Consumed by guilt, Boredom Otoko...

Bored Hatamoto: The Mysterious Demon Palace

1955

The 47 Ronin poster
6.9

In the early 18th-century, Lord Takumi-no-kami Asano, feuding with Lord Kira, tries to kill his opponent in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Asano to seppuku and deprives the palace and lands from his clan, but does not punish Kira. Asano's vassals leave the land and his samurais become ronin and want to seek revenge against the Lord's dishonour. But their leader Kuranosuke Oishi seeks to restore the Asano clan with his brother Daigaku Asano. One year later, the Shogun refuses, and Oishi and 46 rōnin are out for revenge.

The 47 Ronin

1941

Lords of Oppression 2 poster
NR

Period drama directed by Yasushi Sasaki.

Lords of Oppression 2

1957

Knightly Advice poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Knightly Advice

1962

Bored Hatamoto: The Daimonji Conspiracy poster
6.0

Master swordsman and loyal vassal Saotome Mondonosuke goes on a mission to find a missing princess.

Bored Hatamoto: The Daimonji Conspiracy

1959

No artwork available
NR

During the Warring States period, immediately after Hideyoshi Hashiba defeated Mitsuhide Akechi at the Battle of Yamazaki, in the village of Ogurisu in Yamashiro Province, which was located near the battlefield, a group of children were scavenging for swords, and among them was the rogue Chōbei. Since Mitsuhide’s body was missing, Hideyoshi offered a bounty for his head while simultaneously confiscating horses and rice from the villagers.

Chobei the Rogue

1949

Eight Views of Samurai poster
6.0

Bright samurai movie innovatively adapted from a classic story. A traveling masterless samurai is asked by a daughter of an established samurai family to pretend they are a married couple, and gets involved in the troubles of the samurai clan.

Eight Views of Samurai

1958

Jiruba no Tetsu poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Jiruba no Tetsu

1950

Bored Hatamoto: Idle Vassal Tribute poster
5.5

Master swordsman and loyal 'Hatamoto' (direct vassal to the Shogun), Saotome Mondonosuke, is sent to investigate an intrigue centering on the Date Clan. The 300th film in the long and illustrious career of Ichikawa Utaemon, one of the most popular Japanese film stars of the period; it brought out an all-star cast as well.

Bored Hatamoto: Idle Vassal Tribute

1958

Kojiki Taishô poster
10.0

Gotō Matabei is the most able and fierce samurai of the Kuroda clan. However, he gradually dislikes the ruthless personality of Kuroda Nagamasa and leaves the clan. Seven years later, he joins Toyotomi Hideyori's army. Filmed in 1945 and released in 1952.

Kojiki Taishô

1952

Lord of Red Banner poster
NR

A young lord lives against the will of his father Lord Tokugawa.

Lord of Red Banner

1960

Bored Hatamoto: The Imposter poster
NR

Around the Genroku era, there was a man named Saotome Shusui-no-Suke, nephew to the senior councilor Matsudaira Sakon Shogen. He was commonly known as the Bored Samurai of the Hatamoto rank. Just as he was engulfed in boredom, Tokugawa Jo-Kaibo, claiming to be the Shogun's illegitimate child, made a grand entrance into Edo. At the behest of Sakon Shogen, Shusui-no-Suke was tasked to investigate Jo-Kaibo's background and had his young page Kyoya disguise as a woman to infiltrate Jo-Kaibo's gun mansion.

Bored Hatamoto: The Imposter

1952

Drunken Sword poster
6.0

Tetsunosuke, an eccentric doctor and an owner of a fencing school, takes aim against corrupt authorities.

Drunken Sword

1962

Runway to Hell poster
7.0

When Kaneko Ichinosuke aims to avenge his father who was wrongly accused of embezzlement, the samurai Kochiyama Soshun agrees to assist.

Runway to Hell

1960

Chûshingura - Zempen: Akahokyô no maki poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Chûshingura - Zempen: Akahokyô no maki

1932

No artwork available
6.2

1716, Yoshimune becomes the 8th Shogun as high Shogunate officials are attacked. While the government tries to keep these incidents under wraps, they must take any means possible to get to the bottom of this mystery and find out who is behind them.

Samurai Hawk

1961

G-men of Japan 2: Bloody Duel at Shipwreck Cape poster
NR

The second part of an action-packed action movie about the struggle between smugglers, the Japanese Coast Guard and G-men. Having caught a suspicious radio signal, the coast Guard discovers that a smuggling transaction is taking place and goes to the place. It was supposed to be a big catch, but they lose sight of the smugglers by finding and rescuing a woman drowning in the sea. The rescued woman says she jumped into the sea while escaping from a slaver's boat... A luxury version featuring the two main stars of the Toei company – Chiezo Kataoka and Utaemon Ichikawa.

G-men of Japan 2: Bloody Duel at Shipwreck Cape

1950

Queen of the Treasure Island poster
7.0

At a tavern in Shimoda, Ronin Tadakazu Yamakawa saved a samurai girl named Mino from the clutches of the Benten family. When Mino's father, Kyohei Tsuchihashi, is murdered by unknown assailants, Tadakazu is summoned to Akane-ya, the landlord of this area. He promises to ensure the safety of Mino for three days, during which the Benten family must not harm her...

Queen of the Treasure Island

1960

Thousand Spears of Kikuchi: Sydney Special Attack Unit poster
NR

A historical drama spanning three generations, centered on the Sydney Special Attack Unit. Recommended by the Ministry of Education.

Thousand Spears of Kikuchi: Sydney Special Attack Unit

1944

No artwork available
6.5

This is the story of Gonpachi, a ronin who falls in love with the daughter of a man he had killed many years before.

Drenched Swallow Gonpachi

1958