Kinichi Hagimoto
| Kinichi Hagimoto | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 7, 1941 Tōkyō, Japan |
| Medium |
Owarai Television Stage |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Years active | 1964 – present |
| Genres | Owarai |
Kinichi Hagimoto (萩本 欽一 Hagimoto Kin'ichi, born May 7, 1941) is a Japanese comedian. He is active as a stage performer, emcee, and manager of the amateur Ibaraki Golden Golds (ibaraki goruden gōruzu) of the Japanese Baseball Association (nippon yakyuu renmei).
Born in the Taitō ward of Tōkyō, Japan, he graduated from Komagome High School, and now belongs to the Asai Kikaku talent agency.
He is called "Kin-chan" by fans and those within the entertainment industry. He is also known as "Hagimō", "Kin", etc. Amongst the many entertainers he has developed on his shows, who are known as the "Kinchan Family", he is known as "Taishō" ("The General").
In the 1970s and 80s, with acts like "nande sō naru no!" ("Why does that happen?!") and physical comedy such as his distinctive "Kinchan run" (based on Hachiro Azuma) he blossomed into a polished professional. Many of his famous lines like "dochira dake" and "banzaai nashi yo" are still heard today. Some comedic jargon such as "ukeru" (and "yaya uke", "baka uke", etc.) that have become common Japanese words are said to have originated from his variety show Kinchan No Don To Itte Miyō. He presented three successful variety programmes in the 1970s and 1980s, and by the mid-1980s was one of the most popular comedians on Japanese television.
Hagimoto aspired for a career as an entertainer as far back as junior high school times, when after graduation he approached the local Asakusa comedic legend Toshimitsu Ōmiya to ask for an apprenticeship, but was told to at least finish high school first.
After high school he was at last slated to enter Ōmiya's Asakusa Shochiku Engeijō comedic troupe through an introduction by the Tōyō Gekijō (Tōyō Kōgyō Keiei) troupe of the Asakusa Kōen Rokku red-light entertainment district. However, after being told by Ōmiya "you can always come to our place if it doesn't work out there" he stopped at the last minute and went to nearby Tōyō Gekijō instead.
He started out as an apprentice. At Tōyō Gekijō, he took direction from many veterans such as Shin-ichi Ike, Eiji Ishida, and Hachiro Azuma. He was taken under the wing of their master and head of the Asakusa scene, Senzaburo Fukami (the master of Beat Takeshi, who later scolded Hagimoto for trying to conceal his beginnings in the Asakusa burlesque scene after moving on to television).
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