Denjirō Ōkōchi - Overview

Denjirō Ōkōchi (5 February 1898 – 18 July 1962) was a Japanese film actor most famous for starring roles in jidaigeki directed by such masters as Akira Kurosawa, Daisuke Itō, Sadao Yamanaka, Teinosuke Kinugasa, Hiroshi Inagaki and Masahiro Makino. His real name was Masuo Ōbe. Training in Shinkokugeki under Shōjirō Sawada, Ōkōchi entered Nikkatsu in 1925 and soon came to fame in chanbara films playing characters such as Chūji Kunisada and Sazen Tange. At his peak, he was one of the top jidaigeki stars alongside Tsumasaburō Bandō and Chiezō Kataoka. During World War II, he also appeared in a number of war films. His house and garden in Arashiyama, Kyoto, called Ōkōchi Sansō, are still preserved and open to the public.

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