Japanese actress Kyoko Kishida dead at 76

Posted:
Dec 20, 2006

Character actress Kyoko Kishida, known for her anime voiceovers and her supporting roles in Japanese live-action films, died at 76, a theatrical group that she belonged to said Wednesday.

Kishida died Sunday at a Tokyo hospital from respiratory failure caused by a brain tumor.

Starting in the 1960s, Kishida became popular among the public when she voiced the title role in the Tokyo Movie Shinsha anime series Moomin, based on Finnish writer Tove Jansson's children's stories.

Her career in animation started as a cast member of the 1961 Mushi Productions movie Senya Ichiya Monogatari(One Thousand and One Arabian Nights). She was Yasui in 2003's compilation feature film Fuyunohi (Winter Days) and the narrator of last year's Shisha no Sho (The Book of the Dead).

Other animated movies included Are wa dare? (1976), Risu no panashi (1978), Terra e(Toward the Terra; 1980), Rennyo to sono haha (1981). Ibara hime matawa Nemuri hime (1990; she was also a writer for this film) and Shinsengumi (2000).

She voiced Nareshon in the 2002-03 TV series Princess Tutu, which aired on NHK.

Born on April 29, 1930 in Suginami, Tokyo, she was a member of a literary family. She was the second daughter of playwright and novelist Kunio Kishida, the younger sister of poet and writer Eriko Kishida, and the cousin of actor Shin Kishida.

The 5'1½" Kishida was a founding member of the theater group Engeki Shudan En, formed in 1975. Her live-action roles, often showing a mysterious side, ranged from the comical to the deadly serious.

In 1962, she received the supporting actress prize at the Mainichi Film Awards for Sanma no aji, as well as Hakai and Shinobi no mono. She won the Blue Ribbon Award for best supporting actress in 1963 for her roles in Hakai and Sanma no aji.

She gained critical acclaim in Japan and abroad when she starred in Hiroshi Teshigahara's 1964 movie adaptation of Kobo Abe's novel Suna no Onna (Woman in the Dunes). The film portrayed the complex relationship between a man and woman living in isolated sand dunes. In a larger sense, it examined man's alienation in the modern world.

In 1997, Kishida again won the Blue Ribbon Award's supporting actress prize for her roles in such movies as Yatsuhaka Mura.

Kishida appeared in such live-action NHK historical dramas as Takeda Shingen (1988) and Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1998).

She was married to Noboru Nakaya from 1954 until their divorce in 1978. They had one child.

Her relatives have already carried out funeral services.