Yoshiko Kuga

Acting

Yoshiko Kuga

Born — Died

1931-01-21 — 2024-06-09

Place of birth

Ushigome, Japon

Known for

Acting

Credits

67 titles

Yoshiko Kuga (久我 美子, Kuga Yoshiko, 21 January 1931 – 9 June 2024) was a Japanese actress. Kuga was born in Tokyo, Japan. In 1946, while still attending Gakushuin Junior High School, she became an actress for Toho studios. In 1947, she made her debut as one of the lead actresses in the omnibus movie Four Love Stories (四つの恋の物語, Yottsu no Koi no Monogatari). In the 1950s, she started working independently and starred in many productions of the Shochiku studios under the direction of Keisuke Kinoshita. Other important directors include Kenji Mizoguchi (The Woman in the Rumor), Yasujirō Ozu (Equinox Flower), and Tadashi Imai (An Inlet of Muddy Water). Since the 1970s, she appeared mainly on tele…

Known for

Tabiji poster
9.0

The 7th NHK Asadora. Starring Tadashi Yokouchi in a narrative about an employee of the national railroad living through 50 years of modern history with his wife.

Tabiji

1967

Miyako no kaze poster
NR

The 37th NHK Asadora. A woman from Kyoto moves to Nara and runs a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) and then enters the fashion industry.

Miyako no kaze

1986

Katsu Kaishu poster
NR

Katsu Kaishū deals with end of the Edo period. Based on Kan Shimozawa's novels "Katsu Kaishū "

Katsu Kaishu

1974

Godzilla vs. Biollante poster
7.4

After the previous Godzilla attack, a miniature arms race ensues to collect his cells. Concerned over Godzilla's possible return, the Japanese government uses the cells to create a new bio-weapon, ANEB (Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria). They seeks the aid of geneticist Genshiro Shiragami, who's experiments result in a new mutation.

Godzilla vs. Biollante

1989

Inochi poster
NR

The drama begins in August 1945, three days after the end of the Pacific war. A freight train completely jam-packed with passengers heads for Aomori from devastated Tokyo. On the train is Takahara Miki and her sister Sachi. Miki and Sachi are the daughters of a wealthy landlord living in a village in the Tsugaru area in Aomori prefecture, but they have been living in Tokyo since before the war to attend school. After seeing her village does not have a doctor, Miki is determined to become a rural doctor.

Inochi

1986

Drunken Angel poster
7.6

In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.

Drunken Angel

1948

Film credits

1990s · 5 titles

1980s · 3 titles

Godzilla vs. Biollante poster
7.4

After the previous Godzilla attack, a miniature arms race ensues to collect his cells. Concerned over Godzilla's possible return, the Japanese government uses the cells to create a new bio-weapon, ANEB (Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria). They seeks the aid of geneticist Genshiro Shiragami, who's experiments result in a new mutation.

Godzilla vs. Biollante

1989

Four Days of Snow and Blood poster
7.3

Based on the "2.26 Incident", an attempted coup d'état in Japan 1936, launched by radical ultra-nationalist parts of the military. Several leading politicians were killed and the center of Tokyo was briefly held by the insurgents before the coup was suppressed.

Four Days of Snow and Blood

1989

Goryokaku poster
NR

After the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, there was a series of battles fought while the former supporters of the Tokugawa shogunate retreated to the north where they actually started a sovereign nation that was recognized by more than one European country. Survivors of the Shinsengumi were among the followers of Enomoto Takeaki who took them to the northernmost island of Ezo where they fought their final battle at the star shaped fort, Goryokaku. The Japanese Civil Wars fought in the name of the emperor signaled the complete end of the feudal system and Japan’s entry into the modern world as those brave samurai tried to halt progress and learned that the age of modern warfare and weaponry had passed them by. Swords were no match for rifles and cannons, nor was any man a match for the power of the imperial flag. Japanese loyalty to the emperor has long defined the nation and culture despite the changing times.

Goryokaku

1988

1960s · 7 titles

Cruel Story of Youth poster
6.6

A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitchhiking to rob middle-class men.

Cruel Story of Youth

1960

Samurai Banners poster
7.4

Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces Takeda to kill the lord of neighboring Suwa and take his wife as a concubine. He then convinces the widow, Princess Yu, to accept this arrangement and to bear Takeda a son. He pledges them his life. He then spends years using treachery, poetic sensibility, military and political strategy to expand Takeda's realm, advance the claim of Yu's son as the heir, and prepare for an ultimate battle with the forces of Echigo. Has Kansuke overreached? Are his dreams, blinded by love, too big?

Samurai Banners

1969

To Your Majesty, The Emperor 2 poster
NR

Based on Muneta Hiroshi's military novel. The main character, Yamaguchi Zensuke, is a military dog soldier. He joins the army and winds up sent overseas to China as a part of the military dog unit. He's ridiculed by others due to his inability to advance.

To Your Majesty, The Emperor 2

1964

Spring Dreams poster
6.0

When a wealthy, selfish family decides to take care of an elderly hobo who collapsed near their home, they are beset by visits from his numerous friends.

Spring Dreams

1960

Daredevil in the Castle poster
7.5

During the raging war between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans, the swordsman Mohei (whose family has been completely decimated) is recruited by Toyotomi to overcome the seat of power, Osaka Castle. Mohei's daredevil skills will be put to severe tests.

Daredevil in the Castle

1961

Whirlwind poster
6.6

Set at the end of the Siege of Osaka this film follows the exploits of several members of the defeated Toyotomi clan as they cope with the post battle chaos and the persecution of the Shogun's army. Five samurai decide on different fates when it becomes clear that their side is being destroyed. One wants to attack the enemy head on in a final honorable death. Another decides to commit hari-kiri but wants to find a glorious view to do it. His close friend, the "coward", just wants to run and give up the life of a samurai. The final two set their own castle on fire to garner favors from the enemy and therefore avert their own death during the massacre of all defeated soldiers as

Whirlwind

1964

Zero Focus poster
6.3

One week into newlywed Teiko Uhara's marriage, her husband, Kenichi, leaves on a short business trip and never returns. Teiko travels across Japan to search for him, and along the way discovers some surprising facts about her husband's past. With only a pair of old photographs among his belongings to go off of, Teiko tries to figure out what has happened to him.

Zero Focus

1961

1950s · 39 titles

Good Morning poster
7.7

Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.

Good Morning

1959

Equinox Flower poster
7.4

Wataru's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares her love for a coworker and is adamant to live her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.

Equinox Flower

1958

The Idiot poster
7.0

A gentle, war-shattered ex-soldier, Kinji Kameda, arrives in wintry Hokkaidō and is pulled into a volatile tangle of love and pity between the disgraced Taeko Nasu, the proud Ayako, and his possessive friend Akama. Kameda’s saintly compassion exposes everyone’s wounds, steering the quartet toward jealousy, violence, and inexorable tragedy. Adapted from Dostoevsky’s novel.

The Idiot

1951

Dorei no machi poster
NR

Yosuke 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

Portrait of Madame Yuki poster
6.8

A young woman takes up her new job as the servant of a noblewoman and soon discovers that underneath her facade of luxury lies great unhappiness.

Portrait of Madame Yuki

1950

Brother and Sister poster
6.3

The eldest daughter of a rural family Mon returns home from Tokyo pregnant after an affair with a college student Kobata, which causes a scandal that will threaten the marriage prospects of the younger sister San, in her cash-strapped family. The ill-tempered eldest brother Inokichi decides to take on the role of disciplinarian, with harrowing results.

Brother and Sister

1953

The Eternal Rainbow poster
7.2

Two men at an ironworks encounter roadblocks: the first does not have the grades to get a job, while the other finds himself falling for a co-worker.

The Eternal Rainbow

1958

An Inlet of Muddy Water poster
6.2

A Japanese woman writes down three stories she has witnessed or heard of in her diary, each about the difficult situation a young woman finds herself in.

An Inlet of Muddy Water

1953

To the Ends of the Earth poster
NR

In 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

Taira Clan Saga poster
6.8

Japan, 1137. The Taira family, a samurai clan, becomes involved in the disputes between Emperor Toba and the monks of Mount Hiei.

Taira Clan Saga

1955

Love Letter poster
6.9

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

Till We Meet Again poster
6.7

Saburo and Keiko fall in love with each other but the tide of war separates them.

Till We Meet Again

1950

Shinzōyaburi no oka poster
NR

A moving story depicting the spirit of a young marathon runner who set a new world record in Boston, encouraged by the love of his family, a young woman’s prayers, and warm friendship.

Shinzōyaburi no oka

1954

If Indeed One Loves poster
10.0

The film consists of three short stories. Tomiko, the heroine of the first story, "The Flower Girl" (dir. Kozaburo Yoshimura), is a little girl who bears the unbearable burden of caring for her family. Tomiko's father has been unable to find work for a long time, and her older sister is terminally ill—it is unlikely that she will ever recover. To feed her family, Tomiko runs around the city from morning until late at night selling flowers... The second novella (dir. Tadashi Imai) also depicts the lives of the poor. An unfamiliar girl brings young Kavano a letter from his mother. It turns out that the girl's name is Kuniko, she is very hardworking, but her family is dying of hunger. Therefore, her mother decided to send Kuniko to her son so that he would marry her. The short story is called "The Unexpected Bride." The third short story, which gave the film its title, is particularly interesting: "When You Love" (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto). It shows the family of a young peace activist.

If Indeed One Loves

1955

No artwork available
NR

Eiji Izutsu, a young architectural engineer, suddenly came into a massive inheritance on the condition that he marry a woman named Chigusa Takemura, who owned a jade ring. If he failed to fulfill this condition, the inheritance would go to Chigusa instead.

Byakuran kōran

1952

The Angry Street poster
6.7

University students Sudo and Mori make money by picking up rich girls in dance clubs and conning them into giving them cash. Mori is the brains of the operation, and Sudo is the suave dancer who picks up the girls. Sudo becomes gradually involved with three different girls and is drawn into the gangster milieu, which he seems unable to resist even though he is responsible for his mother, grandmother, and sister Masako. In this world of bad boys and girls, Masako is the pillar of strength and moral virtue who finally enables Mori to straighten out.

The Angry Street

1950

The Woman in the Rumor poster
7.3

After living a traumatic experience in Tokyo, Yukiko returns to Kyoto, where Hatsuko, her mother, runs a brothel, which upsets Yukiko very much.

The Woman in the Rumor

1954

Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky poster
6.8

A Tokyo family running a liquor store overcome impotence and dysfunction as they induce an understanding through each other of how to deal with their individual problems.

Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky

1954

The Bitch poster
8.0

The fall of an accountant enthralled by the sexual charms of a cabaret dancer.

The Bitch

1951

Yōsei wa hana no nioi gasuru poster
NR

A romance between a female student and a young professor, where friendship, temptation, and jealousy intertwine.

Yōsei wa hana no nioi gasuru

1953

Eternal Song of Nagasaki poster
NR

A 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

Yagyu Secret Scrolls poster
6.5

In the Tokugawa Era, the clan of Lord Yagyu has hidden away three scrolls containing clan secrets which, if revealed, would cause revolution and disaster for the clan. The information is divided among the three scrolls, all of which must be possessed for the secrets to be understood. When Princess Yuhime steals the scrolls, Tasaburo, a samurai with magical powers, and his brother Senshiro are sent to retrieve them.

Yagyu Secret Scrolls

1957

Yellow Crow poster
6.7

Ichiro Yoshida, the father of the boy Kiyoshi, who has been repatriated from China, returns home after a ten-year separation. The father, who has been estranged from his son for many years, pays no attention to the boy, often punishes him unfairly, and gives all his tenderness to his little daughter, who was born after his return. The boy sees all the injustice of his father and, offended, leaves home. The father realized that he was wrong, that he was guilty before his son. The mother finds the boy and brings him home. The father and the son become friends from that day on.

Yellow Crow

1957

Brotherly Love poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Brotherly Love

1954

Gunrō no machi poster
NR

There are male and female students working part-time jobs in the city center while facing the harsh realities of society as they struggle to pay for tuition and living expenses, and there are those who prey on these students. The Sugita-gumi, which was supposed to have been disbanded under the Ordinance on the Regulation of Organizations, established the “Student Part-Time Workers’ Association” and began ensnaring innocent students in its clutches. Eguchi of the student newspaper editorial board and his fellow staff members begin an investigation to expose the Sugita-gumi’s misdeeds.

Gunrō no machi

1952

Tsuki no shussen poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tsuki no shussen

1950

Enoshima Elegy poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Enoshima Elegy

1951

Autumn Interlude poster
NR

A young woman (Kuga), recuperating at a sanitarium in Karuizawa, falls in love with a young student (Ishihama) but returns to Tokyo to be with her father (Yamamura).

Autumn Interlude

1954

Elegy of the North poster
6.1

​Reiko, a young woman with a physical disability, begins a clandestine affair with the married architect Katsuragi, but also becomes dangerously obsessed with his unfaithful wife, Akiko.

Elegy of the North

1957

The Garden of Women poster
6.6

A student at a woman's university takes a controversial action against the school's old-fashioned doctrines.

The Garden of Women

1954

Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree

1955

The Snow Flurry poster
6.9

After surviving the double suicide pact she made with her lover, a woman gives birth to their child.

The Snow Flurry

1959

A Billionaire poster
6.8

An ethical, young tax collector new to his area encounters increasingly absurd individuals and groups coping with their post-war woes.

A Billionaire

1954

Kyūjō hiroba poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Kyūjō hiroba

1951

Beautiful Days poster
6.9

A romantic drama depicting the lives of two generations of a family who run a Tokyo florist shop.

Beautiful Days

1955

Escape Between Midnight and Dawn poster
NR

A yakuza man who dreads being released from prison, yet the day of his release arrives. Awaiting him are a woman’s burning gaze and the muzzle of a gangster’s gun…

Escape Between Midnight and Dawn

1950

Mune yori mune ni poster
10.0

Japanese drama

Mune yori mune ni

1955

The Pleasures of Vice poster
NR

Film directed by Yasuki Chiba, based on the novel of the same name by Tatsuzou Ishikawa.

The Pleasures of Vice

1954

Guntō nanban-sen poster
8.0

1950 Japanese movie

Guntō nanban-sen

1950

1940s · 5 titles

Series credits

Tabiji poster
9.0

The 7th NHK Asadora. Starring Tadashi Yokouchi in a narrative about an employee of the national railroad living through 50 years of modern history with his wife.

Tabiji

1967

Miyako no kaze poster
NR

The 37th NHK Asadora. A woman from Kyoto moves to Nara and runs a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) and then enters the fashion industry.

Miyako no kaze

1986

Katsu Kaishu poster
NR

Katsu Kaishū deals with end of the Edo period. Based on Kan Shimozawa's novels "Katsu Kaishū "

Katsu Kaishu

1974

Inochi poster
NR

The drama begins in August 1945, three days after the end of the Pacific war. A freight train completely jam-packed with passengers heads for Aomori from devastated Tokyo. On the train is Takahara Miki and her sister Sachi. Miki and Sachi are the daughters of a wealthy landlord living in a village in the Tsugaru area in Aomori prefecture, but they have been living in Tokyo since before the war to attend school. After seeing her village does not have a doctor, Miki is determined to become a rural doctor.

Inochi

1986

The Roads Men Travel poster
8.2

The series depicts the employees of a security company from different generations and backgrounds facing many difficult questions. It features a guard who survived a suicide mission during the war and his conflicts, rebellion, empathy and reconciliation with the younger generation born after the war.

The Roads Men Travel

1976

Pieces of Autumn poster
NR

University student Minoru Niijima is a timid young man who gives up on his girlfriend's older brother after being threatened by him. Minoru's father, Seiichi, is a tired office worker nearing retirement, and his mother, Reiko, is an ordinary housewife who is considerate of her husband and believes her children are well-behaved. Minoru's older brother, Shigeru, works as a bed salesman. He is a nuisance to Minoru, as he is rough and always brags about his work. Minoru's younger sister, Yoko, is a second-year high school student, but to Minoru, she still has the childishness of a middle school student. One day, Minoru is persuaded by his university friend, Karaki, to commit a sexual assault on a train. Unfortunately, the girl he chooses is a female student from a delinquent group, and he ends up being beaten up by the delinquent group. However, the new member of the group who appears before Minoru is his younger sister Yoko.

Pieces of Autumn

1973

長七郎江戸日記スペシャル 千姫有情 母ありき poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

長七郎江戸日記スペシャル 千姫有情 母ありき

1988