(3 February 1943 – 1 January 2021) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Biography

He started acting at age 15 in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

, the capital of Japanese

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

. A specialist in film and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—'' Portrait of H ...

set in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, he most often played a

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master ...

, but in his hundreds of appearances he took nearly every role. His forte was '' kirareyaku'', the person who loses the sword fight. In addition, he appeared in modern dramas in roles such as

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

. The American film ''

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 epic period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Ken Watanabe in the ...

'' brought him before an international audience in the role of the Silent Samurai. Fukumoto played a lead role for the first time in the film Uzumasa Limelight.

Death

Fukumoto died on 1 January 2021, at his home in Kyoto, due to

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

. He was 77 years old.

Filmography

Film

* '' Ninpō-chushingura'' (1965) * ''

Battles Without Honor and Humanity , also known in the West as ''The Yakuza Papers'', is a Japanese yakuza film series produced by Toei Company. Inspired by a series of magazine articles by journalist Kōichi Iiboshi that are based on memoirs originally written by real-life yak ...

'' (1973) * '' Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima'' (1973) * '' Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War'' (1973) * '' Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics'' (1974) * '' Gambling Den Heist'' (1975) * '' New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head'' (1975) * '' New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Last Days'' (1976) * '' The Fall of Ako Castle'' (1978) * ''

Nihon no Fixer is a 1979 Japanese film directed by Yasuo Furuhata. Inspired by Lockheed bribery scandals. Modeling on Kakuei Tanaka and Yoshio Kodama, the film depicts the collusion between Japanese right-wing organizations and the political and business wo ...

'' (1979) * ''

Sanada Yukimura no Bōryaku is a 1979 Japanese film directed by Sadao Nakajima. The film deals Sanada Yukimura and Siege of Osaka. Cast *Hiroki Matsukata as Sanada Yukimura *Chiezō Kataoka as Sanada Masayuki *Tatsuo Umemiya as Sanada Nobuyuki *Teruhiko Aoi as Sanada Ten B ...

'' (1979) * '' Roaring Fire'' (1982) - Ikeda Hinoharu * '' Ninja Wars'' (1982) * '' Shogun's Shadow'' (1989) * '' New Battles Without Honor and Humanity'' (2000) * ''

'' (2003) * '' Chō Ninja Tai Inazuma!'' (2006) - Rōnin * '' Engine Sentai Go-onger: Boom Boom! Bang Bang! GekijōBang!!'' (2008) - Samurai * '' OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders'' (2011) - General Black * ''Uzumasa Limelight'' (2014, Leading actor) - Seiichi * '' 108: Revenge and Adventure of Goro Kaiba'' (2019) * '' BLACKFOX: Age of the Ninja'' (2019)

Television

* ''

The Yagyu Conspiracy is a Japanese television jidaigeki (period drama) that was broadcast from 1978 to 1979. It is adapted from the 1978 film ''Shogun's Samurai'' starring Sonny Chiba, who reprises his role in the series. Plot After the death of Tokugawa Hidetada, h ...

'' (1978) - Kitano * '' Juuken Sentai Gekiranger'' (33) - Head Samurai * ''

Seibu Keisatsu is a television drama series produced by and broadcast on TV Asahi. Plot The series portrays the Western Police Headquarters Criminal Investigation Division's Sergeant Keisuke Daimon, played by Tetsuya Watari and his subordinates, dubbed the ...

'' * ''

The Unfettered Shogun (Abarenbō Shōgun) was a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Tokugawa Yoshimune, Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa clan, Tokugawa ''shōgun''. The program s ...

V'' - Episode 26

Awards

* Japan Academy Prize Special Award from the Association (2004) *

Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

Best Actor Award (2014)

References

External links

*
Actor Makes a Living Getting Killed by Samurai
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fukumoto, Seizo 1943 births 2021 deaths Japanese male film actors Actors from Hyōgo Prefecture 20th-century Japanese male actors 21st-century Japanese male actors Japanese male television actors Deaths from lung cancer in Japan