Wakaba Irie

Acting

Wakaba Irie

Born

1943-05-12 (83)

Place of birth

Minato, Tokyo, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

58 titles

Wakaba Irie was born on May 12, 1943 in Shiba, Tokyo, Japan. She is an actress, known for Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô (1964), Miyamoto Musashi (1961) and Miyamoto Musashi: Ganryû-jima no kettô (1965).

Known for

Chizuko's Younger Sister poster
7.5

The Kitao family is coping with the loss of the eldest daughter, Chizuko, who was killed in a freak accident the year prior. When the other daughter Mika is suddenly in a dangerous situation, Chizuko returns as a ghost to save her; reunited with her sister, Mika begins spending time with Chizuko again.

Chizuko's Younger Sister

1991

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

Four Sisters poster
7.5

Four sisters with no consanguinity are living together since childhood. When facing misfortune and grievances in lives, they give support and encouragement to each other, even sacrifice oneself to help others.

Four Sisters

1985

Beijing Watermelon poster
7.0

Shunzo is a popular greengrocer in a town near Tokyo. His life, and the lives of his wife Michi, and their two children, undergoes a dramatic change when he encounters Li, a poor college student from China.

Beijing Watermelon

1989

Miyamoto Musashi poster
7.1

In this first episode, we are introduced to Takezo, what Musashi used to be before he became the man of legend. His beginning are not exactly auspicious. He sides with the Toyotomi at Sekigahara, and as a result finds himself on the losing side of the historic battle. He and his friend Matahachi manage to escape the slaughter although the latter is wounded in his leg. They stumble across the young Akemi who makes her living with her mother Oko by robbing corpses of their armor and anything else they can sell. Oko takes it into her head to seduce Matahachi, which she does first by skillfully sucking the gangrene from his blood, and then just by sucking.

Miyamoto Musashi

1961

Lonely Heart poster
7.2

Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real?

Lonely Heart

1985

Film credits

2000s · 6 titles

1990s · 13 titles

Chizuko's Younger Sister poster
7.5

The Kitao family is coping with the loss of the eldest daughter, Chizuko, who was killed in a freak accident the year prior. When the other daughter Mika is suddenly in a dangerous situation, Chizuko returns as a ghost to save her; reunited with her sister, Mika begins spending time with Chizuko again.

Chizuko's Younger Sister

1991

Turning Point poster
7.0

A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials.

Turning Point

1994

Goodbye for Tomorrow poster
10.0

People from all walks of life all receive mysterious messages from loved ones who were killed 3 months earlier in a shipwreck. They are instructed to go to a small island in the Inland Sea that evening.

Goodbye for Tomorrow

1995

The Rocking Horsemen poster
7.4

It is 1965. High-school student Takeyoshi Fujiwara hears "Pipeline" by the Ventures, and is mesmerized by their unique sound. With three friends, he forms a band called "The Rocking Horsemen." A warm and comic glimpse into high-school and small-town life in Japan in the 60's.

The Rocking Horsemen

1992

Sada poster
7.0

On 17 May 1936–during a period of war, economic depression, public unease and growing militarism, a time of unrest and confusion when public opinion was, at best, unpredictable–Sada Abe killed and emasculated her lover. Condemned by the law, Sada finds herself lionised by the press and hailed as a 'saint' of love. Because hers was a crime of passion, the purity of her motivation elevates her from criminal to heroine.

Sada

1998

One Summer's Day poster
10.0

Absent-minded fifth-grader Yuta is sent to spend the summer with his grandfather, whom Yuta's parents think is becoming senile and could benefit from Yuta's companionship. At first, Yuta thinks Gramps is a bit addled, too, but as he gets to know the old man better, he finds that his grandfather sees things quite differently from others.

One Summer's Day

1999

Haruka, Nostalgia poster
6.5

Ayase Shinsuke, a popular writer of a series of girl novels, visits Otaru, the town he grew up in. He meets a strange boy who calls himself by the author's real name.

Haruka, Nostalgia

1993

Love of Sawako poster
5.7

Sawako, working in a bank, tired of the usual everyday life, once she met the chef of French cuisine Yukio Goto and spent the night with him. Sawako pretends to be the daughter of an upscale hotel owner and has an affair with Yukio.

Love of Sawako

1990

A Touch of Fever poster
5.7

Tatsuru and Shinichiro’s relationship shifts from casual to complicated as love and emotions blur the lines between their work and personal lives.

A Touch of Fever

1993

Secret Liaisons poster
7.0

Movie adaptation of a novel by Rampo Edogawa.

Secret Liaisons

1995

A Desirable Marriage poster
7.0

A human drama on the state of marriage today, following the battle between a mother and daughter over her marriage and humorous depictions of the people around them. When Mieko's husband passes away, she hopes to arrange a good marriage for her daughter Non, but things don't go as planned when Non reveals there's already a love interest in her life.

A Desirable Marriage

1991

I Want to Hear the Wind's Song poster
10.0

A heartwarming, based-on-true-story of how a hearing-impaired couple, Masahiro and Namiko, knew each other, got married and began participating in the Triathlon. The story is told in flashbacks as Namiko awaits childbirth.

I Want to Hear the Wind's Song

1998

The Washing Machine poster
7.0

Kizaki, who moved to Tokyo from the Kansai region to become a manga artist, is assigned to work at a used electrical appliance store where he works part-time as a store keeper and repairman. One day, a woman comes to the store drenched from the rain. She is Setsuko, the only daughter of the store's president and a returnee. Since then, Setsuko often comes to the store. Kizaki becomes concerned about Setsuko, but Setsuko has something to do with Oshi, a senior who used to work at the store...

The Washing Machine

1999

1980s · 19 titles

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

Four Sisters poster
7.5

Four sisters with no consanguinity are living together since childhood. When facing misfortune and grievances in lives, they give support and encouragement to each other, even sacrifice oneself to help others.

Four Sisters

1985

Beijing Watermelon poster
7.0

Shunzo is a popular greengrocer in a town near Tokyo. His life, and the lives of his wife Michi, and their two children, undergoes a dramatic change when he encounters Li, a poor college student from China.

Beijing Watermelon

1989

Lonely Heart poster
7.2

Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real?

Lonely Heart

1985

His Motorbike, Her Island poster
7.7

Ko, a motorbike enthusiast from the city wandering the Japanese countryside, falls for the carefree local Miyo and teaches her how to ride. When Miyo proves herself a biker prodigy, Ko begins to fear she's destined to crash.

His Motorbike, Her Island

1986

The Discarnates poster
6.7

A recently divorced writer is reunited with the ghosts of his parents who died when he was a boy. However, every time he sees them he loses more life energy. Now, he must choose between starting a new life or staying forever in the past.

The Discarnates

1988

Legend of the Cat Monster poster
5.0

A legendary actress thought to be dead is discovered living in an isolated mansion. A screenwriter is tasked with writing her comeback film, which leads the two to live under the same roof.

Legend of the Cat Monster

1983

I Are You, You Am Me poster
6.4

9th-graders Kazuo and Kazumi take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they attempt to survive the pressures of junior high school life.

I Are You, You Am Me

1982

Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast poster
6.9

During the fervently nationalist months leading up to World War II, a rebellious teenager is transferred to a new primary school in a small Inland Sea town. He vies with the school’s reigning bully, who takes a romantic interest in his older stepsister. When they learn she’s going to be sold to a brothel to pay off her father’s debts, they form an uneasy alliance to free her.

Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast

1986

Shiro and Marilyn poster
7.0

Based on a true story. Shiro, a dog who lives in an inn on Akajima in Okinawa, swims to the opposite shore on Zamami to see his love, a dog named Marilyn. Shiro is portrayed by the real-life Shiro.

Shiro and Marilyn

1988

Tomorrow poster
8.0

On August 9, 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This film, based on a story by Mitsukaru Inoue, describes the daily life of people in Nagasaki the day before that fateful event. It presents the human drama of people's lives, and their feelings of joy and sadness. These include a newlywed couple, an expectant mother, and lovers who must say farewell because the boy is called to serve in the army. Each of these people, like others in the city, hoped to live with their dreams for ‘tomorrow’. But tomorrow never comes for them, as their lives are brought to an abrupt and unexpected end. Knowing how the story ends, in this case, doesn't detract from it at all; rather, it enhances the emotional impact, which is further heightened by the poignant musical score from Teizo Matsumura. 'Ashita' is the first film in Kazuo Kuroki's 'War Requiem Trilogy,' which also includes 'Utsukushii Natsu Kirishima' (2002) and 'Chichi to Kuraseba' (2004).

Tomorrow

1988

The Island Closest to Heaven poster
6.4

A Japanese teenager travels to New Caledonia in search of the fabled "island closest to heaven" that her late father had told her about.

The Island Closest to Heaven

1984

My Heart Belongs to Daddy poster
NR

A young woman moves in with her estranged father after her mother passes away.

My Heart Belongs to Daddy

1988

April Fish poster
4.8

A Francophile filmmaker in a creative rut tries to pass off a free-spirited young actress as his movie-star wife in order to fool a chief from the South Seas.

April Fish

1986

The Deserted City poster
7.1

After noticing in the news there was a fire in an old canal town, Eguchi recalls visiting there a decade ago as a university student.

The Deserted City

1984

Barefoot Gen Part 3: Battle of Hiroshima poster
NR

Second live action "Barefoot Gen" sequel.

Barefoot Gen Part 3: Battle of Hiroshima

1980

Ningyo Sashichi: The Cat’s Golden Claws of Death poster
NR

Sashichi is a dapper and handsome man. He is called a doll Sashichi because he is "a nice man like a doll." On top of that, he is a considerable young boss. This is a story in that Kanda solves the murder spree in Edo where a famous boss of Otamaga pond, Sashichi lives in.

Ningyo Sashichi: The Cat’s Golden Claws of Death

1984

Zokubutsu zukan poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Zokubutsu zukan

1982

No artwork available
NR

The son of wandering actors, also a budding actor, little Akira is forced to change school often and, after having attended thirty-two different institutes, he now has tried-and-true strategies to avoid bullies and not have problems with various schoolmates. Studying and continuing his theatrical activity, however, is not easy ...

Mattemashita tenkousei!

1985

1960s · 17 titles

Miyamoto Musashi poster
7.1

In this first episode, we are introduced to Takezo, what Musashi used to be before he became the man of legend. His beginning are not exactly auspicious. He sides with the Toyotomi at Sekigahara, and as a result finds himself on the losing side of the historic battle. He and his friend Matahachi manage to escape the slaughter although the latter is wounded in his leg. They stumble across the young Akemi who makes her living with her mother Oko by robbing corpses of their armor and anything else they can sell. Oko takes it into her head to seduce Matahachi, which she does first by skillfully sucking the gangrene from his blood, and then just by sucking.

Miyamoto Musashi

1961

Giant Rumble poster
6.0

In this gritty tale of gamblers battling in the samurai era, Okawa Hashizo gives perhaps his greatest performance as a gambler returning to his home town. Swearing allegiance to his fiancée’s father, a decent boss, he had taken to the road after a gang fight until things cooled down. While honing his sword skills in his travels, everything in the town had changed and he descended into a virtual hell of violence. Opponents were being slaughtered by a former samurai ‘Bodyguard’ played by Tanba Tetsuro at the height of his amazing career. While these two master swordsmen are fated to meet, before that can even happen they must survive one of the longest, bloodiest swordfights in movie history!

Giant Rumble

1964

Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple poster
7.1

In the fourth installment, Musashi's potentially greatest opponent Kojiro jumps in and out of the story at the oddest and most coincidental moments. As his great love Otsu has succumbed to madness. Musashi then sets off to beat the functionaries of a treacherous clan in an arranged duel. 73 against one. Boastful Kojiro watches, secure in the knowledge that only he is a worthy opponent.

Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple

1964

Miyamoto Musashi III: Birth of Two Sword Style poster
6.9

In the third installment of Yoshikawa's novel Musashi, things continue from the 2nd film at the end of battle, where Miyamoto continues on a mission of learning; with the introduction of his arch-rival Sasaki Kojiro; and lastly the large cast of characters rendezvouses for a fateful finale.

Miyamoto Musashi III: Birth of Two Sword Style

1963

Three Yakuza poster
7.8

A tale of three Yakuza gamblers who traveled Japan during the samurai era living by their wits and sword skills. Told in 3 separate vignettes, each part tells the story of a different drifter’s life. Part 1: A man is on the run after killing two Hasshu Officials to avenge his Boss. He must make a life or death decision as he is asked to protect a gang from attack. Part 2: A pair of gamblers chased out of a crooked game must fight not only their pursuers, but the ghosts of their pasts as well. Part 3: A wanderer who wants to live according to the Yakuza Code, but is not sure that he can do so when asked to save a town from an evil official.

Three Yakuza

1965

Cold Rice, Osan, Chan poster
7.0

Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.

Cold Rice, Osan, Chan

1965

Miyamoto Musashi: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights poster
7.3

The remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his epic quest to complete his skill in the Way.

Miyamoto Musashi: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights

1962

Sazen Tange and The Secret of the Urn poster
6.8

Loyal samurai Samanosuke is attacked, mutilated, and left for dead while carrying out a mission for his clan. He recovers but has lost an eye and an arm. Taking a new identity as Tange Sazen, he searches for a stolen urn which has hidden significance to his clan. But Tange Sazen has his own reasons for seeking the urn.

Sazen Tange and The Secret of the Urn

1966

Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro poster
7.2

The fifth and final installment with the build up of the epic battle between Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi. With all the familiar characters making appearances: Otsu (Musashi's great love), Akemi, Matahachi (his former fellow soldier), old lady Osugi (still doggedly trying to defeat Musashi), and even the return of Priest Takuan (the man responsible for his journey towards enlightenment). But most of all, the boastful, long-haired and long-sworded Sasaki Kojiro.

Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro

1965

Jakoman and Tetsu poster
7.5

In a village subsisting on its herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the inhabitants. One of them, the son of the head of one of the fish companies by the name of Tetsu, decides to overthrow Jakoman and his cohorts.

Jakoman and Tetsu

1964

Black Thief poster
7.5

Organized thieves battle against the Shogun’s ruthless ruling in attempt to get back their land.

Black Thief

1964

The Coin Thrower Zenigata poster
NR

The film tells about a young detective Zenigata Heiji who successfully solves a disgusting and unusual case involving the manufacture of counterfeit money.

The Coin Thrower Zenigata

1963

The Domain: The Naniwa Story poster
4.8

Second film of Makino's Nihon Kyokakuden series set in Osaka's harbor. The series also known as "The Domain" Each a stand alone film in it's own, none are connected other than starring the famous Ken Takakura as the main Character. This story begins with Ken Takakura's character coming to Osaka after his brother's death. Another exciting yakuza story with superb yakuza action!!

The Domain: The Naniwa Story

1965

The Third Contest poster
7.0

Mondonosuke, a young sword student, has a bad dream about his sensei being killed in a duel.Consequently, he quickly returns to his sensei's dojo in Edo, where he has not set foot in three years.

The Third Contest

1965

The Domain: White Blade poster
8.0

The Domain: White Blade

The Domain: White Blade

1967

The Lord's spy poster
7.0

Maeda Tsunanori, the lord of Kaga Domain, had two young princes - Katsumaru, the son of his legitimate wife, who died, and Yasunosuke, the son of his concubine. However, Katsumaru suddenly lost his mind and appealed to the shogunate to hand over the reins of the family Yasunosuke, but the request was rejected. Vassal Osawa Kuranojo suspects that this is the work of Ishikawa Torajiro, a swordsman from the Katsumaru group, and begins an investigation.

The Lord's spy

1964

Young Master Yakuza: Edoite Goblin poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Young Master Yakuza: Edoite Goblin

1963