Kamatari Fujiwara
| Kamatari Fujiwara | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
January 15, 1905 Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | December 21, 1985 (aged 80) Tokyo, Japan |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Other names | Keita Fujiwara |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1933–1984 |
| Spouse(s) | Unknown Village woman (m. 1922–1924) Sadako Sawamura (m. 1936–1946) |
Kamatari Fujiwara (藤原 釜足 Fujiwara Kamatari, January 15, 1905 - December 21, 1985) was a Japanese actor.
Fujiwara was born in Tokyo, on January 15, 1905, in Tokyo, Japan. Fujiwara's parents ran a printing business. The business did not go well, so at the age of 10, Fujiwara started working at a local confectionery store. By the age of 14 he had started selling timber for building and manufacturing in Shizuoka prefecture. A year later he returned to Tokyo to study as a pharmacist.
Fukiwara worked regularly and extensively with Akira Kurosawa, and was known for both being adept at comic acting, as well as being able to do serious roles
The Asakusa Opera Movement was started in 1916, and was part of the mass culture of the time. By the 1920s it had become very popular. Fujiwara, inspired by this, enrolled at the Takinogawa actor/martial arts school. After graduation, he approached actor Kuroki Kenzo to see if he would personally teach him acting. His first work was on stage as a chorist. Realising that he was short, not particularly attractive, and unlikely to have a main part on stage, he decided to diversify his skills for performance and started studying violin at Toyo music school.
Following the Great Kantō earthquake, the Asakusa Opera movement started losing popularity. As a result, Fujiwara worked at the movie theatre as a violinist, where his lesser height and unattractiveness were not an issue.
Perhaps, in spite of his looks, Fujiwara married and after one amorous night, she successfully fell pregnant. He and his wife had a son, however sadly for the couple, after the birth, his wife died.
At this time, an old friend, actor and comedian Kenichi Enomoto, asked him to join the Casino Follies. The Casino Follies were a huge complex of theatres, music halls, and movie houses that drew large amounts of people to the Asakusa district, previously the heart of old Edo. As part of the troupe, he was able to use physical comedy, utilising Karate breakfalls and blows he had learnt in his stage tuition in the Akasuar. In the late 1920s this was the era of the Ero Guru, a Japanese equivalent of the American flapper phenomenon. In 1933 he resigned from Casino Follies and became a movie actor.
His first movie was Ongaku Kigeki - Horoyui Jinsei (in English - Musical Comedy - Intoxicated life) made in 1933. It was a comedy about the joys of beer drinking. This was a Toho Film Company production and in fact most of his movies, for 40 years, were made with Toho.
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