
Kinya Kitaoji
Biography
Early life:
He was born in Kyoto, son of jidaigeki film star Ichikawa Utaemon, and graduated from Waseda University School of Letters, Arts and Sciences Ⅱ in Tokyo.
Acting career:
Kin'ya made his debut with his father in the 1956 Toei film Oyakodaka in the role of Katsu Kaishū. He is a contemporary of, and was taken to be a rival of, Hiroki Matsukata, who was also the son of a famous actor (Jūshirō Konoe). In 1964, Kin'ya made his first appearance on stage in Cyrano de Bergerac.
The 1960s and 1970s saw him in many contemporary roles. He appeared in Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima and Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode as well as Karei naru Ichizoku. The title role in the 1975 film Takehisa Yumeji was his.
On television, Kitaōji portrayed Miyamoto Musashi in the Nippon Television show of the same name. A major historical role was Sakamoto Ryōma in the year-long prime-time NHK Taiga drama Ryōma ga Yuku (1968). He landed the title role in the long-running cop show Zenigata Heiji, set in the Edo period. In the 1985 twelve-hour New Year special Fūun Yagyū Bugeichō, he played Yagyū Jūbei, and in the following year's special, he portrayed both Tokugawa Yoshimune and Yagyū Shinrokurō. The role of another shogun fell to him in the following new year as TV Tokyo tapped him to play Tokugawa Iemitsu. Kin'ya returned to NHK for the 1987 Taiga drama Dokuganryū Masamune as Date Terumune, father of title character Date Masamune.
Another role he took had been created by his father. Saotome Mondonosuke was the title character in the series Gozonji! Hatamoto Taikutsu Otoko. It ran from 1988 to 1994 on TV Asahi. His father, Ichikawa Utaemon, had appeared in numerous films as Mondonosuke.
Kin'ya reprised the part of Miyamoto Musashi in the 1990 New Year's special. Toshirō Mifune had portrayed Musashi in the earlier film, also based on the Eiji Yoshikawa story, that had won an Academy Award. He returned to the New Year's special in 1996, again as the famous swordsman, in Tokugawa Kengōden Sore kara no Musashi.
His first portrayal of Ōishi Kuranosuke was in the 1996 Chūshingura. He took up the role again in 2004 for the NHK Saigo no Chūshingura and in 2007, in the New Year special Chūshingura Yōzei-in no Inbō. Other historical roles from the Sengoku period include Azai Nagamasa, Saitō Dōsan, and Yamamoto Kansuke. In addition to historical parts, he appeared in fictional series. His portrayal of Ogami Ittō in the Lone Wolf and Cub ( Kozure 2) Which was a series for Asahi TV in Japan is representative of these appearances.
In 2008, Kitaōji revisited the role of Katsu Kaishū in the Taiga drama Atsuhime. He had portrayed Katsu in his 1956 debut.
He won the award for best actor at the 10th Hochi Film Award for Fire Festival and Haru no kane. Kitaōji played one of the lead roles in Hideo Nakata's psychological thriller film The Incite Mill.
In recent times, Kitaōji voices the Hokkaido-inu character of "Father" in SoftBank Mobile's White Family advertising campaign.
Acting (110 movies)

Shadow Over Fuji
1957

Keepers of Order
1962

Kingdom of Youth
1958

The Incite Mill
2010

Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor
1969

Abandoned
1981

Admiral Borneo: Betting at the Equator
1969

The Peking Man
1997

がん消滅の罠~完全寛解の謎~
2018

Spring Bell
1985

Fire Festival
1985

Assassin's Target: Iemitsu
1995

Bored Hatamoto: The Kaga Conspiracy
1993

Genjuro's Deadly Sword: The Return of Shinigami
2009

Mount Hakkoda
1977

Asura
2012

Sakura Housara
2014

淋しい狩人
2013

Yoka chigo zakura Make no wakamusha
1962

A Woman Called En
1971

Rise, Fair Sun
1973

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode
1974

Dohten
1991

THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY
2023

The Second Is a Christian
1985

Genkuro Yoshitsune
1962

River of Forever
1967

Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Conqueror of Japan
1992

Winter's Flower
1978

Monument to Holy Service
1978

Eternal First Love
2010

Future War 198X
1982

Bored Hatamoto: Idle Vassal Tribute
1958

さすらい署長風間昭平スペシャル 塩屋岬いわき殺人事件
2022

Chushingura〜Sono Otoko, Oishi Kuranosuke
2010

Seicho Matsumoto's Black Gospel
2014

Takehisa Yumeji monogatari: koi suru
1975

Will to Conquer
1970

Sakurada Gate Incident
2010

Shag
1978

Glowing Autumn
1978

Gambling Den Heist
1975

The Alaska Story
1977

Sushi King Goes to New York
2008

Zero
1984

Wolves, Pigs & Men
1964

Akumyo: Notorious Dragon
1974

The Last Revenge
2011

Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu
1965

Legal High SP
2013

Kukai
1984

Another 47 Ronins: Genroku Taiheiki
1995

A Revengeful Raid
1962

Dynamite Don-Don
1978

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Complete Saga
1980

Men and War III: The Final Chapter
1973

Law in Ghost Island
1961

The Mansion of Intrigue
1957

Lord Mito: Struggle of Suke and Kaku
1961

One Piece Film: GOLD
2016

Lake of Illusions
1982

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima
1973

Sayonara Debussy - Pianist Tantei Misaki Yosuke
2016

Father of the Kamikaze
1974

The Acrobats of Death
1959

I Don't Want to Kidnap Anyone Anymore
2012

Yakuza Ladies Revisited 2
1993

Whistling Drifter
1961

Fine Man
1961

The Blossom and the Sword
1973

The Orphan Brother
1961

Shimane Prison Riot
1975

Love and Separation in Sri Lanka
1976

Whistleblower
2019

The Story of a Man Among Men
1984

Love on the Rainbow
1965

Case 17
2016

One Day at Summer's End
1968

Castle of Sand
2019

The Navy
1963

The Highest Honour
1982

Bored Hatamoto: Island of No Return
1960

Tokaido Fullhouse
1963

The Confidence Man JP – Episode of the Princess –
2020

Virtue in Spades
1956

Knightly Advice
1962

Sensei
1989

Bloody Battle at Dawn
1959

Avenging Father
1956

Shadow Conspirator
1982

The Corporation
1976

Date Masamune: The One-Eyed Dragon
1993

Bored Hatamoto: Letter of Death
1993

53 Stages of Action
1963

Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack
1975

Bored Hatamoto: The Daimonji Conspiracy
1959

Yume-Chiyo
1985

Monster Strike The Movie: To The Place of Beginnings
2016

Toyama Shōgawa kai satsujin jiken
2024

Detective Heiji
1990
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