Koji Hashimoto

Kji Hashimoto known professionally as Kji Yakusho is a renowned Japanese actor and film director. He was born in Isahaya Nagasaki as the youngest of five brothers. After graduation from Nagasaki Prefectural High School of Technology in 1974 he worked at the Chiyoda municipal ward office or kuyakusho in Tokyo from which he later took his stage name. In the spring of 1978 he auditioned for Tatsuya Nakadais Mumeijuku Studio for Unknown Performers acting studio and was one of four chosen out of 800 applicants. In 1983 he landed the role of Oda Nobunaga in the yearlong NHK drama Tokugawa Ieyasu and was catapulted to fame. He also appeared in a TV version of Miyamoto Musashi from 1984 to 1985. For several years he played Kuji Shinnosuke or Sengoku one of the title characters in the jidaigeki Sambiki ga Kiru. He played a major character in Juzo Itamis 1986 Tampopo. In 1988 he was given a special award for work in cinema by the Japanese Minister of Education Science Sports and Culture and continued to appear in films and in a number of TV shows through the 90s. In 1996 and 1997 Yakusho enjoyed several major successes. The Eel directed by Shohei Imamura in which he played the eelloving lead won the Palme dOr at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times called his performance unerring.3 A Lost Paradise about a double suicide was second only to Princess Mononoke at the Japanese box office. He is especially known for his starring roles in Shall We Dance? 1996 13 Assassins 2010 The Third Murder 2017 The Blood of Wolves 2018 Under the Open Sky 2020 and The Days 2023. He is best known internationally for his role in Shhei Imamuras The Eel 1997 Rob Marshalls Memoirs of a Geisha 2005 and Alejandro Gonzlez Irritus Babel 2006. In 2023 he won the award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival. In the same year he was selected as the filmmaker in focus at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.