
Acting
Hisako Takihana
Born — Died
1906-03-04 — 1985-02-12
Place of birth
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
61 titles
Known for
NRStarring Yōko Minamida as a woman who supported her family during and after World War II. All episodes are missing from the NHK archives, though a brief clip does survive as part of a contemporary news segment documenting the drama's production.
Niji
1970
7.3The story contrasts the life of two doctors, former classmates and now both assistant professors at Naniwa University Hospital in Osaka. The brilliant and ambitious surgeon Goro Zaizen stops at nothing to rise to a position of eminence and authority, while the friendly Shuji Satomi busies himself with his patients and research.
The Great White Tower
1966
7.6In post-WWII Osaka, a middle-aged woman is forced to examine her dreary life and marriage when her husband's young and flirtatious cousin arrives for a brief stay to escape an arranged marriage.
Repast
1951
No synopsis available yet.
Zoku tenshi mo otoshi goro
1956
NRTwo college girls who work part-time as shrine maidens swap their names with private investigators conducting a marriage background check, throwing their boyfriends into total chaos.
Tenshi mo otoshi goro
1956
NRNo synopsis available yet.
The Moon Over the Ruined Castle
1954
Film credits
1970s · 2 titles
6.5The relationship between Tetsuro, a university student from a disgraced, burdened family, and Shino, a waitress supporting her impoverished relatives. The couple decides to marry despite the significant emotional and social hardships each faces, viewing their love as a means to overcome the shame and despair inherited from their pasts.
The Long Darkness
1972
NRSet in Tsukuda Island, Tokyo, this drama SP depicts a misunderstanding between an old man with old-fashioned spirit and a young tenant.
Summer Days Across the River
1973
1960s · 8 titles
7.3The story contrasts the life of two doctors, former classmates and now both assistant professors at Naniwa University Hospital in Osaka. The brilliant and ambitious surgeon Goro Zaizen stops at nothing to rise to a position of eminence and authority, while the friendly Shuji Satomi busies himself with his patients and research.
The Great White Tower
1966
6.4The first story concerns an attractive young woman who works in a Tokyo nightclub. Her plan for a solid financial future has a double whammy. In the second story, a beautiful young woman is employed by an unscrupulous real estate agent to convince male clients to invest in worthless property. The last story is about a widowed geisha who has no real financial worries and who falls in love with a forger.
A Woman's Testament
1960
5.6Fascinated with women from an early age, Yonosuke had his first sexual encounter at the age of seven. From that day on, he recklessly and forwardly pursues women, feeding his fascination and experience. As Yonosuke's salacious behavior brings much cause for shame to the family, his father eventually breaks relations with him. Expelled from the family, 19-year-old Yonosuke embarks on a pilgrimage of lust, traveling far and wide to acquaint himself with women of all walks.
A Lustful Man
1961
6.5Shikiko Oba is nimble with her fingers and teaches dressmaking and designing. Among her pupils are Rinko, Katsumi and Tomie. Ginshiro, who is as shrewd as the shrewdest of the older generation of dyed-in-the-wool Osaka businessmen, steps into picture and Shikiko soon feels that he is indispensable to her. But the advent of a man in their midst breaks up the harmony that has existed among the four women, as gradually he forces himself on them with promises of love.
A Design for Dying
1961
8.0A girl marries her elderly employer but in reality is in love with his son.
The Beloved Image
1960
7.2One of Japan's most popular stories is the tale of Kutsukake Tokijiro, a traveling gambler who finds that he must take care of the wife and child of a yakuza he had been forced by the code of the gamblers to fight man to man. In a brilliant performance from super-star Ichikawa Raizo, with strong support from two of the greats from Toho, Shimura Takashi (7 Samurai) and Aratama Michiyo (Sword of Doom) the heartfelt story reaches new heights. Tokijiro, having learned the true nature of the boss to whom he was obligated for having spent a night and eaten at the gang's headquarters takes up arms against them in a running battle fought across the back roads of the entire nation. Another powerful rendition of this superb story, it is not to be missed!
The Gambler's Code
1961
NRIn Meiji era Japan a sixth grade boy is smart, likable and confident and owing to his academic success liked by his teacher. Things are not going well at home, however, where his father does not work leaving the mother to toil . With the boy's family having no money he cannot progress his education and has to drop out of school. A neighbour, who is a bookstore owner, offers the family money to allow the boy to continue his schooling, but the father is too proud to accept and rebuffs the offer forcing the boy to work.
The Wayside Pebble
1960
NRDepicts four cheerful, young former college students with promising futures who die tragic deaths as pilots in the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps.
Ah Special Attack Corps
1960
1950s · 43 titles
7.6In post-WWII Osaka, a middle-aged woman is forced to examine her dreary life and marriage when her husband's young and flirtatious cousin arrives for a brief stay to escape an arranged marriage.
Repast
1951
No synopsis available yet.
Zoku tenshi mo otoshi goro
1956
NRTwo college girls who work part-time as shrine maidens swap their names with private investigators conducting a marriage background check, throwing their boyfriends into total chaos.
Tenshi mo otoshi goro
1956
NRNo synopsis available yet.
The Moon Over the Ruined Castle
1954
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Kuchibue o fuku wataridori
1958
NRYosuke Machida of the Daito Shinpo hears from a boy named Toshi-bo, whom he found on the street, that Toshi-bo’s older sister, Toyo, was deceived by a man named Taichi Tachikawa and sold into prostitution in a red-light district. He then set foot in this district for the first time and met Michiko Kawabe, a female reporter known by the nickname “Yoshie.” After hearing various details about the situation from her, he learned that Toyo was at “Kotogawa.”
Dorei no machi
1951
7.1Yuko is sent to the coastal regions to be raised away from the rest of her sophisticated family where she finds out from her ill grandmother that she is not who she thought she was.
The Blue Sky Maiden
1957
7.2After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.
Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple
1955
NRTwo men clash over the beautiful star of a motorcycle show.
Driving Like Mad
1955
NRA man and a woman whose love is forbidden due to a feud between their parents resolve to die together and head to the island of Sado.
Atarashiki ten
1954
NRIn this downbeat, emotionally gripping drama, a lone guardian of some small huts on one of the northernmost, small islands off Japan remembers his once happier past and the events that destroyed everyone he held dear.
To the Ends of the Earth
1953
No synopsis available yet.
Gendai shojo
1953
NRA couple in love are separated between the city and the countryside and face misunderstandings due to slander from those around them, but are ultimately reunited at the apple orchard in their hometown.
Ringo murakara
1956
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Bara no kōdōkan
1956
NRJudo movie.
Zoku ginga no miyako
1957
NRIn 1945, in a Shanghai filled with a palpable sense of unease as the war was still raging, Atsuko Kijima and Ryuji Kudo fell in love and exchanged promises of marriage. Ryuji was deployed shortly thereafter, and after the war ended, he was taken to Siberia as a prisoner of war. Atsuko, who had returned to Tokyo, clung to the promise she had made with Ryuji—that if he were safe, he would “come to the garden of St. Nicholas Cathedral at noon on Christmas Day.” Relying on that promise, she went to St. Nicholas Cathedral at noon on Christmas Day in both 1946 and 1947, but Ryuji never appeared.
Tokyo Elegy
1951
NRThe film centers a compassionate teacher (Setsuko Hara) who teaches at a Tokyo grade school where students curse and gamble. The school has a pond on-premises that she's in charge of and cares for. The pond holds a number of carp, but someone is snatching them. The teacher forms a special bond with a child who lives in abject poverty.
Shirayuki sensei to kodomo tachi
1950
6.9A married couple looking for an apartment move in with the husband's co-worker, a widower. The husband becomes jealous of the widower and his wife.
Husband and Wife
1953
NRA mystery story set on a haunted island: a student is murdered, followed by the suicide of his lover.
Dokuja-tō kidan: Joōbachi
1952
NRNo synopsis available yet.
New Enoshima Elegy
1953
NRBaseball movie about Eiji Sawamura.
The Immortal Pitcher
1955
7.0No synopsis available yet.
A Certain Woman
1954
6.0Genji, the illegitimate offspring of a Japanese potentate, goes by the philosophy of "love 'em and leave 'em" as a matter of course. Only when his heart is broken by Awaji does Genji realizes how much pain he himself has caused.
The Tale of Genji
1951
NRWith his mother’s wishes and a young woman’s prayers in his heart, a spirited young man fights to uphold the honor of college judo.
Daigaku no kotengu
1952
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Saijoke no kyoen
1951
8.0Kyoko is the third daughter of the Nonomiya family, a very ordinary family. Momoko, the eldest daughter, is married to Ichiro, the president of Mihara Shoji, and Riko, the second daughter, is married to Jiro, the managing director, and they plot to marry Kyoko to Saburo, the third son of the Mihara family. Kyoko is angry at the marriage talk that is being pushed forward without her permission, and declares that she "definitely won't get married," but before she knows it, she begins to become aware of the other person...
The Most Valuable Wife
1959
NRA Japanese soldier who died in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Hawaii entrusted Henry Gray with an unfinished score and promised to complete it.
Eternal Song of Nagasaki
1952
7.0The story of two sisters in post-war Japan. One is a geisha and the other works for the tourist board.
Clothes of Deception
1951
9.0Once an average and seemingly ordinary Tokyo girl, she suddenly finds herself as a TV star owing to her discovery by a casting company, which noticed photographs that her cousin had sent. When another actress falls ill she is given the role instead. Her first film is a success propelling the young actress to popularity, her own fans, money and a house. While everything looks dandy from the outside not all is well within the family however.
Kin no tamago: Golden Girl
1952
7.3The story of Kiyoko, a young woman who has successfully managed to make a break with her dysfunctional family who have been trying to arrange a marriage for her with a disagreeable man whom she has rejected.
Lightning
1952
7.0Atsuko is an office secretary who is also her family's primary source of income and caretaker in postwar Japan.
A Ripple in a Morning
1952
NRThe southern tip of Shikoku. This village, surrounded by a bay, where, according to legend, the former warriors of the Heike clan settled, is famous for its bullfights. Today there is also a bull market in the village, and there are extremely many people here. The black bull "Great Tengu", which Gonzo from Misaki offered, cost 50,000, but was forcibly taken away by a Bakuro soldier, who possessed extraordinary strength and physique, for less than half the price. However, the violent soldier was in love with Tsunayo, the hostess of the inn and the organizer of the bullfight. One day, a young man from the city, an Ihara police officer, arrives in the village. And soon the real problems will begin…
Outlaw island
1956
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Phoenix
1950
6.3Based on the novel by Junichiro Tanizaki. Story of the beautiful blind daughter of a wealthy businessman who falls in love with a servant.
The Story of Shunkin
1954
NRMelodrama by Kiyoshi Saeki
When We Came Back
1950
6.0A poor peasant, after years of scraping, becomes a rich and powerful Osaka merchant. Mizoguchi Kenji's final project; he died before completing it and directing duties turned over to Yoshimura Kozaburo.
An Osaka Story
1957
8.5Based on the famous novel by Junichiro Tanizaki, this is a story of the four sisters of the ancient and reputable Makioka family of Osaka.
The Makioka Sisters
1959
7.4Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech — (essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”) — that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Takashi Shimura.
The Eleventh Hour
1957
9.0No synopsis available yet.
Oka wa hanazakari
1952
NRA youth lyrical story of pure love of a girl who grew up in the Kyoto Gion quarter, with a geisha mother and sisters Maiko and a college student.
Forbidden Lips
1958
8.0Directed by Senkichi Taniguchi
Who Will Judge Me?
1951
8.0Yutaro Kodan, born under a cloud because his aristocrat father died opposing the shogunate, stumbles onto a treasure map. Lusting after the treasure, Lord Sumi Tadamasa convinces trusting Princess Tsu that the gold will help to avenge her lost clan.
Yutaro's Secret Story
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Love River
1958
1940s · 5 titles
No synopsis available yet.
Mother and Child Grass
1942
NRRomantic thriller film.
Sanmenkyō no kyōfu
1948
No synopsis available yet.
Hanayome no shōtai
1947
The sincere clown act performed by a master thief who infiltrates a remote island.
The Fugitive
1947
NRKeiko, Kirie, and Toshi, a trio of close friends, go their separate ways after graduation, vowing to hold a “New Wives’ Meeting” once they are all married.
New Wives’ Meeting
1949
1930s · 2 titles
10.0One of Uchida’s early sound films, Unending Advance is based on a curious story by Yasujiro Ozu, in which an examination of the quotidian problems of a middle-aged salaryman and his family segues into an idyllic dream of an implausible future. The surviving print, although incomplete, offers an essential glimpse into Uchida’s prewar period, when he was associated more with realist dramas than with the period films that dominated his work after the war.
Unending Advance
1937
6.3Tomotaka Tasaka's A Pebble by the Wayside (Robo no Ishi), made in 1938 and taken from a Yuzo Yamamoto novel, takes place around 1902, was about a young boy brought up entirely by his mother since his drunken father is never home. An intelligent teacher wants to send him to middle school, but instead the father apprentices him to a clothing store to which he is in debt. The mother dies and the boy is forced to quit work when his father insults the store owner. Later the boy goes to Tokyo, but only to continue his hardships. First he is forced to do a maid's job at a boarding house and later is used by an old woman to steal at funerals. Finally he is rescued by the teacher, whom he meets in Tokyo.
A Pebble by the Wayside
1938
