For our second of three posts today, we have an absolute whopper. I had to bid like a nutcase to win this at auction.
I have saved searches for multiple Showa-era film magazines that I either think or know may be relevant to the fanblog. Recently I was perusing new hits for my Toho Films saved search, and I came across this issue. Of course I immediately noticed the lovely full-page photo of Hirata and his wife, Yoshiko Kuga, in the auction photos, but then I looked at the page opposite, and I thought...
...wait a minute...
As it turns out, yes, that is exactly what it was, and I want you to look at it immediately.
As it turns out, this is not just a profile or an interview (I wasn't quite sure what it was just from the auction photos) but a short autobiographical piece written by Hirata himself. Below are full scans and a full machine translation which has been edited for flow and clarity. Note that this is the only time I've ever heard him talk about his sister.
 |
| Film stills from The Big Boss, Story of Osaka Castle, and The Last Embrace. |
A Man Who Experienced Three Major Turning Points in His Life's Journey
"My older brother and his wife, my younger sister and her husband, and my wife and I are all involved in the entertainment industry. However, it wasn't always that way since birth. In my case, I was on a path to becoming a professional soldier, having attended the Army Cadet School and then the Military Academy."
-- Akihiko1
A Healthy, Music-Loving Child
I was born in Seoul, Korea, in what was then called Keijo during the time when Korea was known as Chosen. On December 16th, 1927, I was born as the second son of my father, who worked for a semi-governmental company, two years after my older brother, Yoshiki. My real name is Akihiko Onoda.
When I was five years old, my family moved to Tokyo. My father's job had changed. Our house in Tokyo was in Suginami Ward, which was still a suburb at that time. Therefore, when I reached school age, I entered Suginami Seventh Elementary School.
From birth, I was a healthy and well-behaved child who rarely cried, and that was my reputation during my childhood. However, my older brother was a mischievous and boisterous leader, and I was his sidekick. I had a habit of yearning for high places, and my brother and I climbed the chimney of a nearby public bathhouse. My brother gave up and started climbing down halfway, but I, ignoring the adults below who were watching anxiously with sweaty palms, finally reached the top, peered into the chimney hole, and came back down triumphantly.
Despite being like that, I had almost no interest in playing war games, which were the most popular games among boys. It was around the time I was in the fifth grade of elementary school that I was deeply moved by the story of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" in my Japanese language textbook (of course, from before the war), and I composed a song by writing the lyrics and music myself. I loved music so much, and aspired to be a composer. You might imagine that I played piano or violin at home, but in my family, following my parents who practiced nagauta and shamisen, I was learning the shamisen, something far removed from Western music!
The First Change of Course
in 1940, I entered Tokyo Prefectural Fourth Junior High School (now Tokyo Metropolitan Toyama High School), embracing the ordinary life course of junior high, high school, and university. The following year, before becoming a second-year student, I made a major change in my future path. My father wanted one of his two sons to become a soldier, and my older brother, who had taken the entrance exam for military school in his first and second years of junior high, failed the physical examination both times. In his place, I was to bravely forge ahead on the path to becoming an Imperial Army officer, from military school to officer academy.
In 1945, while I was a cadet at the officer academy, undergoing training in Karuizawa, the war ended that summer. As a budding professional soldier whose future path seemed completely blocked, I was deeply troubled for a while. Having made the first change of course in my life at my father's insistence, I was now forced to make a second change of direction due to the changing social circumstances. In October 1945, I was dressed in a navy blue uniform, a black cape, and wooden clogs–looking like a poor imitation of Kan'ichi from the Meiji era.2 I had transferred to the humanities department of the former First Higher School, the so-called "Ichiko".
This drastic change in environment, thanks to the rigorous training and self-discipline or perseverance instilled in me through military school and officer academy, and my physical fitness, didn't cause me much pain in keeping up with everyone else. Moreover, this life at Ichiko was quite meaningful in allowing me to make a Copernican revolution in my mindset, which had been cultivated through military education since my boyhood. Around this time, the works I read with youthful enthusiasm included The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, and various essays by Eijiro Kawai.
A University of Tokyo Faculty of Law Student
In 1947, I entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. As is well known, this is where the nation's brightest minds gather, and indeed, the students' dedication to their studies could be described as intense. However, I felt a considerable resistance to the fact that many of them were concentrating their efforts on studying in a way that would be most beneficial when transitioning from student life to social life - that is, studying to secure the best possible jobs in government offices or top-tier companies. I became reluctant to study in that way with everyone else.
At the May Festival, we performed Gide's The Thirteenth Tree, and I played the role of the handsome young viscount. The criticism was that I was "too handsome".
Among our drama club members was a student from the French literature department. Most people would know him as Hideo Sato, "Goro-chan" from the TV show Bus Street Ura.
It's certainly not the usual path for a former military cadet to be in the Faculty of Law at university and also be a member of drama club. However, we shouldn't forget that I composed songs and learned to play the shamisen during my elementary school years. I entered the military academy in place of my older brother, who at that time had become an assistant director at Shintoho.
Thus, the third turning point in my life was gradually being prepared. Of course, at that time, I had absolutely no intention of being a government official after graduating from university, but I was thinking of working for a private company. I never thought I would enter the film industry.
Three Years as a Salaryman
At one point, I was asked if I would like to work part-time [at Shintoho] because they were short-staffed. I helped out as an assistant director (though it was more like a third or fourth assistant, basically a gofer) on Nobuo Nakagawa's film Lynching at Shintoho. Kanjūrō Arashi and Ryō Ikebe were among the stars, and I recently remembered that my current wife, Yoshiko Kuga, was also in it.
(Since I wasn't interested in her at all at the time, I only recently remembered that because she was short, she was placed on top of an orange crate when they were filming close-ups, and I was crouching down holding it in place.)
After that, I helped out on another film, and when Shintoho officially started recruiting assistant directors, the person in charge even called me, assuming I would naturally apply, but I declined. The title of assistant director sounds good, but in reality, it's incredibly hard work, constantly running around and moving all day long. I thought I would never go into the film industry again. [In 1950], immediately after graduating from university, I joined Mitsubishi Corporation3 and became a first-year salaryman.
I was assigned to the import and sales of chemical products, and the French language I had been drilled in since military school (I had intended to become a military attaché at the French embassy if there hadn't been a war) proved very useful. I was a typical hardworking businessman, often working overtime until around 10 PM. This life continued for three years.
The Final Change of Course
It wasn't a typical, boring salaryman life from 9 to 5, but the fact that I didn't have any time for myself made me feel like I was being spoiled, and I eventually started to question my job. Around that time, my mother, who ran a ryokan in Seijo-cho near the film studio, became acquainted with Yoshiko Yamaguchi, and the idea of me becoming an actor came up after Yamaguchi took a liking to me (?)4. Rather than questioning my job, I was questioning my life, and despite the understanding words of persuasion from my company's department head, I turned a deaf ear and decided to become an actor. This was the third turning point in my life.
In January of [1953], I signed a contract with Toho and became an auditing student in the fourth class of New Faces, attending the film studio. My first film appearance was in The Last Embrace, directed by Masahiro Makino, starring Yoshiko Yamaguchi and Toshirō Mifune. I played one of the entourage of [Yoshiko] Yamaguchi, who played a bar madam, a role as the son of a wealthy family. Like most newcomers, I simply stood in front of the camera in a state of complete absorption. When I saw myself on the screen at the preview screening, I was utterly horrified...
However, the die was cast. No matter how many times I had changed direction before, this time, it was a change of direction based on my own will from the beginning. I couldn't easily turn back.
First, as a basic step in my acting training, I decided to live a more relaxed life and made an effort to enjoy myself like an actor. Until then, I had been quite a serious person, and I tended to limit my social circle. I made an effort to socialize with all kinds of people, drink alcohol, and avoid retreating into my shell. And I wanted to become a man who could get along with anyone. I also dated quite a few women. However, I don't think I was ever insincere. Even now, I believe they are all happy.
I started playing villainous roles around 1955, in No Response from Car 33, directed by Senkichi Taniguchi. Until then, I mostly played handsome leading roles5, and then, in 1959, in The Big Boss, directed by Kihachi Okamoto, I played a truly cold and ruthless villain, and I can't forget the considerable praise I received for it.
Addendum: The Happiness of Marriage
In 1961, my appearance in Story of Osaka Castle [Daredevil in the Castle] led to my marriage to Yoshiko Kuga. Until then, I didn't have an ideal image of a woman. Even if I had created one, I thought that a woman who matched that ideal wouldn't actually exist. But while I was dating her, for the first time, I felt the desire to get married. It's been two years since then, but it feels like we just got married the other day, and at the same time, it feels like it was a long time ago. That probably means we're happily married. I don't particularly want children right now.
My older brother married Utako Mitsuya (a former Shintoho actress) and became a television director after being a film director. My younger sister [changed her name to] Yoshiko Otowa, became a singer, and married an NHK producer. Before I knew it, we had become known as an entertainment family. Truly, you never know how life will change.
I've changed my life course significantly three times. Sometimes it was due to the will of others - or rather, society and the times - and sometimes it was due to my own will. Whether that was good or bad, I don't intend to question it now. However, even if you say it was due to the times or society, ultimately, it was something I decided and carried out myself, so there is no regret about it.
My current state of mind is that, even if the pace is slow, I intend to steadily and continuously walk the path I have chosen.
_______
Footnotes:
1 I don't know why he's only credited with his given name here.
2 This is a reference to the novel Golden Nightshade (Konjiki Yasha) by Kōyō Ozaki.
3 Tokyo Boeki at the time.
4 "(?)" is [sic] and is doing a whole lot of heavy lifting in this sentence.
5 He had one lead role in film in his entire career so I don't know what this is about.
