# Tatsuya Nakadai

Tatsuya Nakadai (仲代 達矢, Nakadai Tatsuya, born Motohisa Nakadai; December 13, 1932) is a Japanese film actor.
He was featured in 11 films directed by Masaki Kobayashi, including The Human Condition trilogy, wherein he starred as the lead character Kaji, plus Harakiri, Samurai Rebellion and Kwaidan.
Nakadai worked with some of Japan's best-known filmmakers—starring or co-starring in five films directed by Akira Kurosawa, as well as being cast in significant films directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara (The Face of Another), Mikio Naruse (When a Woman Ascends the Stairs), Kihachi Okamoto (Kill! and The Sword of Doom), Hideo Gosha (Goyokin), Shirō Toyoda (Portrait of Hell) and Kon Ichikawa (Enjō and Odd Obsession).

## Biography

Nakadai grew up in a very poor family and was unable to afford a university education, prompting him to take up acting. He picked up a liking of Broadway musicals, and travelled once a year to New York City to watch them. Nakadai was working as a shop clerk in Tokyo before a chance encounter with director Masaki Kobayashi led to him being cast in the film The Thick Walled Room. The following year, he made a brief and uncredited cameo in Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai where he is seen for a few seconds as a samurai walking through town. Nakadai's role in Seven Samurai was technically his debut as The Thick-Walled Room's release was delayed for three years due to controversial subject matter. His major breakthrough as an actor came when he was given the part of Jo, a young yakuza in Black River, another film directed by Kobayashi. Nakadai continued to work with Kobayashi into the 1960s and won his first Blue Ribbon Award for his role in Harakiri (his personal favorite among his own films) as the aging rōnin Hanshiro Tsugumo.
Nakadai appeared in two more Kurosawa films from the 1980s. In Kagemusha Nakadai plays both the titular thief turned body-double and the famous daimyō Takeda Shingen whom the thief is tasked with impersonating. This dual role helped him win his second Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor. In Ran Nakadai plays another daimyo, Hidetora Ichimonji (loosely based on King Lear from Shakespeare's play King Lear and inspired by the historical daimyo Mōri Motonari).
He taught and trained promising young actors including Kōji Yakusho, Mayumi Wakamura, Tōru Masuoka, Azusa Watanabe, Kenichi Takitō and others.
In 2015, he received the Order of Culture.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1953 | The Thick-Walled Room | Prisoner | Masaki Kobayashi | Released 1956; uncredited |
| 1954 | Seven Samurai | Samurai Wandering Through Town | Akira Kurosawa | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Hi no tori | Keiichi Naganuma | Umetsugu Inoue | |
| 1956 | Hadashi no Seishun | Yūji Wada | Senkichi Taniguchi | |
| 1956 | Sazae-san | Norisuke Namino | Nobuo Aoyagi | |
| 1956 | Oshidori no Ma | Andō | Keigo Kimura | |
| 1957 | Black River | Joe | Masaki Kobayashi | |
| 1957 | Oban | Shin-don | Yasuki Chiba | |
| 1957 | Untamed | Kimura | Mikio Naruse | |
| 1957 | Hikage no Musume | Motohashi | Shūe Matsubayashi | |
| 1957 | Zoku Oban: Fuun hen | Shin-don | Yasuki Chiba | |
| 1957 | A Dangerous Hero (Kiken na eiyu) | Imamura | Hideo Suzuki | |
| 1957 | Zokuzoku Oban: Dotou hen | Shin-don | Yasuki Chiba | |
| 1957 | Sazae's Youth (Sazae-san no seishun) | Norisuke Namino | Nobuo Aoyagi | |
| 1958 | A Boy and Three Mothers | Kensaku | Seiji Hisamatsu | |
| 1958 | All About Marriage (Kekkon no subete) | Akira Nakayama | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 1958 | Go and Get It (Buttsuke honban) | Hara | Kozo Saeki | |
| 1958 | Enjō | Togari | Kon Ichikawa | |
| 1958 | Naked Sun | Jirō Maeda | Miyoji Ieki | |
| 1959 | The Human Condition: No Greater Love | Kaji | Masaki Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 1959 | Odd Obsession | Kimura | Kon Ichikawa | |
| 1959 | The Human Condition: Road to Eternity | Kaji | Masaki Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 1959 | Yaju shisubeshi | Kunihiko Date | Eizo Sugawa | Lead role |
| 1959 | Three Dolls in Ginza (Ginza no onéchan) | Kyōsuke Tamura | Toshio Sugie | |
| 1959 | An'ya Kōro | Kaname | Shirō Toyoda | |
| 1960 | When a Woman Ascends the Stairs | Kenichi Komatsu | Mikio Naruse | |
| 1960 | Daughters, Wives, and a Mother (Musume tsuma haha) | Shingo Kuroki | Mikio Naruse | |
| 1960 | The Blue Beast (Aoi yaju) | Yasuhiko Kuroki | Hiromichi Horikawa | |
| 1960 | Get 'em All ("Minagoroshi no uta" yori kenju-yo saraba!) | Tsubota | Eizō Sugawa | |
| 1961 | As a Wife, As a Woman (Tsuma to shite onna to shite) | Minami | Mikio Naruse | |
| 1961 | Yojimbo | Unosuke | Akira Kurosawa | |
| 1961 | The Human Condition: A Soldier's Prayer | Kaji | Masaki Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 1961 | Kumo ga chigieru toki | James Kimura | Heinosuke Gosho | |
| 1961 | Immortal Love | Heibei | Keisuke Kinoshita | |
| 1962 | Sanjuro | Muroto Hanbei | Akira Kurosawa | |
| 1962 | Love Under the Crucifix (Oginsama) | Takayama Ukon | Kinuyo Tanaka | Lead role |
| 1962 | The Inheritance (Karami-ai) | Kikuo Furukawa | Masaki Kobayashi | |
| 1962 | Harakiri | Tsugumo Hanshirō | Masaki Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 1962 | Madame Aki | Uojirō Tatsumi | Shirō Toyoda | |
| 1963 | High and Low | Chief Detective Tokura | Akira Kurosawa | |
| 1963 | Pressure of Guilt (Shiro to kuro) | Ichirō Hamano | Hiromichi Horikawa | Lead role |
| 1963 | Legacy of the 500,000 | Mitsuru Gunji | Toshiro Mifune | |
| 1963 | Miren | Ryōta Kinoshita | Yasuki Chiba | |
| 1963 | A Woman's Life (Onna no rekishi) | Takashi Akimoto | Mikio Naruse | |
| 1964 | Arijigoku sakusen | Ishiki | Takashi Tsuboshima | Lead role |
| 1964 | Kwaidan | Minokichi | Masaki Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 1965 | Saigo no shinpan | Jirō | Hiromichi Horikawa | Lead role |
| 1965 | Fort Graveyard (Chi to suna) | Sakuma | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 1965 | Illusion of Blood | Iemon | Shirō Toyoda | Lead role |
| 1966 | Cash Calls Hell (Gohiki no shinshi) | Oida | Hideo Gosha | Lead role |
| 1966 | The Sword of Doom | Ryunosuke Tsukue | Kihachi Okamoto | Lead role |
| 1966 | The Face of Another | Mr. Okuyama | Hiroshi Teshigahara | Lead role |
| 1966 | The Daphne (Jinchoge) | Professor Kanahira | Yasuki Chiba | |
| 1967 | The Age of Assassins (Satsujin kyo jidai) | Shinji Kikyo | Kihachi Okamoto | Lead role |
| 1967 | Kojiro | Miyamoto Musashi | Hiroshi Inagaki | |
| 1967 | Samurai Rebellion | Asano Tatewaki | Masaki Kobayashi | |
| 1967 | Japan's Longest Day | Narrator | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 1968 | Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die! | James Elfego | Tonino Cervi | |
| 1968 | Kill! | Genta | Kihachi Okamoto | Lead role |
| 1968 | Admiral Yamamoto | Narrator | Seiji Maruyama | |
| 1968 | The Human Bullet | Narrator | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 1969 | Goyokin | Magobei | Hideo Gosha | Lead role |
| 1969 | Eiko's 5000 Kilograms (Eiko e no 5,000 kiro) | Takeuchi | Koreyoshi Kurahara | |
| 1969 | Battle of the Japan Sea | Akashi Motojiro | Seiji Maruyama | |
| 1969 | Hitokiri | Takechi Hanpeita | Hideo Gosha | |
| 1969 | Blood End (Tengu-to) | Sentarō | Satsuo Yamamoto | Lead role |
| 1969 | Portrait of Hell | Yoshihide | Shirō Toyoda | Lead role |
| 1970 | Duel at Ezo (Ezo yakata no ketto) | Daizennokami Honjo | Kengo Furusawa | |
| 1970 | Bakumatsu | Nakaoka Shintarō | Daisuke Itō | |
| 1970 | The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan | Kataoka Naojirō | Masahiro Shinoda | |
| 1970 | Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival | Ronin | Kenji Misumi | |
| 1970 | Will to Conquer (Tenka no abarembo) | Yoshida Tōyō | Seiji Maruyama | |
| 1971 | Inn of Evil (Inochi boni furo) | Sadashichi | Masaki Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 1971 | Battle of Okinawa | Colonel Hiromichi Yahara | Kihachi Okamoto | Lead role |
| 1971 | The Wolves (Shussho Iwai) | Seji Iwahashi | Hideo Gosha | Lead role |
| 1973 | Osho | Sekine | Hiromichi Horikawa | |
| 1973 | The Human Revolution | Nichiren | Toshio Masuda | |
| 1973 | Rise, Fair Sun | Sakuzo | Kei Kumai | Lead role |
| 1974 | Karei-naru Ichizoku | Teppei Manpyō | Satsuo Yamamoto | Lead role |
| 1975 | The Gate of Youth (Seishun no mon) | Jūzō Ibuki | Kirio Urayama | |
| 1975 | Tokkan | Hijikata Toshizō | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 1975 | I Am a Cat (Wagahai wa neko de aru) | Kushami Chin'no | Kon Ichikawa | Lead role |
| 1975 | Kinkanshoku | Yasuo Hoshino | Satsuo Yamamoto | Lead role |
| 1976 | Banka | Setsuo Katsuragi | Yoshisuke Kawasaki | |
| 1976 | Zoku ningen kakumei | Nichiren | Toshio Masuda | |
| 1976 | Fumō Chitai | Tadashi Iki | Satsuo Yamamoto | Lead role |
| 1977 | Sugata Sanshiro | Shōgorō Yano | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 1978 | Blue Christmas | Minami | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 1978 | Queen Bee (Jo-oh-bachi) | Ginzo Daidoji | Kon Ichikawa | |
| 1978 | Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron | Kumokiri Nizaemon | Hideo Gosha | Lead role |
| 1978 | Hi no Tori (Hi no tori) | Ninigi | Kon Ichikawa | |
| 1979 | Hunter in the Dark (Yami no karyudo) | Gomyo Kiyoemon | Hideo Gosha | Lead role |
| 1980 | Kagemusha | Takeda Shingen / Kagemusha | Akira Kurosawa | Lead role |
| 1980 | The Battle of Port Arthur (also known as 203 kochi) | General Nogi Maresuke | Toshio Masuda | Lead role |
| 1981 | Willful Murder | Yashiro | Kei Kumai | Lead role |
| 1982 | Onimasa | Masagoro Kiryuin | Hideo Gosha | Lead role |
| 1984 | Fireflies in the North | Takeshi Tsukigata | Hideo Gosha | Lead role |
| 1985 | Ran | Lord Hidetora Ichimonji | Akira Kurosawa | Lead role |
| 1985 | The Empty Table (Shokutaku no nai ie) | Nobuyuki Kidoji | Masaki Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 1986 | Atami satsujin jiken | Denbei Nikaido | Kazuo Takahashi | Lead role |
| 1986 | Michi | Seiji Tajima | Koreyoshi Kurahara | Lead role |
| 1987 | Hachiko Monogatari | Hidejiro Ueno | Seijirō Kōyama | Lead role |
| 1988 | Return from the River Kwai | Major Harada | Andrew V. McLaglen | |
| 1988 | Oracion (Yushun) | Heihachiro Wagu | Shigemichi Sugita | |
| 1989 | Four Days of Snow and Blood (Ni-ni-roku) | Hajime Sugiyama | Hideo Gosha | |
| 1991 | Heat Wave (Kagero) | Tsunejiro Murai | Hideo Gosha | |
| 1991 | Florence My Love | Sakazaki | Seiji Izumi | |
| 1992 | The Wicked City | Daishu (Yuen Tai Chung) | Mak Tai-Kit | |
| 1992 | Basara – The Princess Goh (Goh-hime) | Furuta Oribe | Hiroshi Teshigahara | |
| 1992 | Tōki Rakujitsu | Sakae Kobayashi | Seijirō Kōyama | |
| 1993 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict | Yagyu Retsudo | Akira Inoue | |
| 1993 | Summer of the Moonlight Sonata (Gekko no natsu) | Kazama (postwar) | Seijirō Kōyama | |
| 1995 | East Meets West | Katsu Rintarō | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 1996 | Miyazawa Kenji sono ai | Seijirō Miyazawa | Seijirō Kōyama | |
| 1999 | After the Rain | Tsuji Gettan | Takashi Koizumi | |
| 1999 | Spellbound | Hideaki Sasaki | Masato Harada | |
| 2001 | Vengeance for Sale (Sukedachi-ya Sukeroku) | Umetaro Katakura | Kihachi Okamoto | |
| 2002 | To Dance With the White Dog (Shiroi inu to Waltz wo) | Eisuke Nakamoto | Takashi Tsukinoki | Lead role |
| 2002 | Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS | Konosuke Matsushita | Kiyoshi Sasabe | |
| 2003 | Like Asura | Kotaro Takezawa | Yoshimitsu Morita | |
| 2005 | Yamato | Katsumi Kamio (75 years old) | Junya Sato | |
| 2006 | The Inugamis | Sahei Inugami | Kon Ichikawa | |
| 2009 | Listen to My Heart | Kyozo Hayami | Shinichi Mishiro | |
| 2010 | Haru's Journey | Tadao Nakai | Masahiro Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 2010 | Zatoichi: The Last | Tendo | Junji Sakamoto | |
| 2012 | Until The Break Of Dawn | Sadayuki Akiyama | Yūichirō Hirakawa | |
| 2013 | Human Trust | Nobuhiko Sasakura | Junji Sakamoto | |
| 2015 | Yuzuriha no koro | Kenichiro Miya | Mineko Okamoto | |
| 2017 | Lear on the Shore | Chōkitsu Kuwabatake | Masahiro Kobayashi | Lead role |
| 2018 | The Negotiator: Behind The Reversion of Okinawa | Narrator | Tsuyoshi Yanagawa | |
| 2022 | The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai | Makino Tadayuki | Takashi Koizumi | |

### Animated film

| Year | Title | Role | Director |
| 1973 | Kanashimi no Belladonna | The Devil | Eiichi Yamamoto |
| 1983 | Final Yamato | Narrator | Tomoharu Katsumata / Yoshinobu Nishizaki / Takeshi Shirado / Toshio Masuda |
| 2013 | The Tale of Princess Kaguya | Sumiyaki no Roujini | Isao Takahata |
| 2014 | Giovanni's Island | Junpei Senō (Old) | Mizuho Nishikubo |

### Theater

| Year | Title | Role | Director |
| 1964 | Hamlet | Hamlet | Koreya Senda |
| 1968 | Yotsuya Kaidan | Tamiya Iemon | Eitaro Ozawa |
| 1971 | Othello | Othello | Koreya Senda |
| 1974 | Richard III | Richard | Toshikiyo Masumi |
| 1975 | The Lower Depths | Satine | Toshikiyo Masumi |
| 1978 | Oedipus Rex | Oedipus | Tomoe Ryu (Yasuko Miyazaki) |
| 1982 | Macbeth | Macbeth | Tomoe Ryu (Yasuko Miyazaki) |
| 1990 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | Tomoe Ryu (Yasuko Miyazaki) |
| 2000 | Death of a Salesman | William "Willy" Loman | Kiyoto Hayashi |
| 2001 | The Merry Wives of Windsor | John Falstaff | Kiyoto Hayashi |
| 2005 | Driving Miss Daisy | Hoke | Ikumi Tanno |
| 2008 | Don Quixote | Miguel de Cervantes | Ikumi Tanno |
| 2010 | John Gabriel Borkman | John Gabriel Borkman | Tamiya Kuriyama |
| 2013 | Bluebeard's Castle | The Bard | Michiyoshi Inoue |
| 2014 | Barrymore | John Barrymore | Ikumi Tanno |
| 2014 | Romeo and Juliet | Father Lawrence | Ikumi Tanno |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1971 | Shin Heike Monogatari | Taira no Kiyomori | Lead role, Taiga drama |
| 1977 | Castle of Sand | Eitaro Imanishi | Lead role |
| 1990 | 13 Assassins (Jusan-nin no Shikaku) | Shimada Shinzaemon | Lead role |
| 1995 | Daichi no Ko | Kōji Matsumoto | Lead role |
| 1996 | Hideyoshi | Sen no Rikyū | Taiga drama |
| 2004 | Socrates in Love | Kentarō Matsumoto | Special appearance |
| 2007 | Fūrin Kazan | Takeda Nobutora | Taiga drama |
| 2014 | Zainin no Uso | Kenzō Haneda | |
| 2015 | Haretsu | Kuraki | |
| 2015 | Hatashiai | Sanosuke | Lead role, TV movie |
| 2016 | Kyoaku wa Nemurasenai | Yōhei Tachibana | |
| 2016 | Cold Case | | |
| 2017 | Henkan Kōshōnin | Narrator | TV movie |
| 2020 | The Return | Unokichi | Lead role, TV movie |

## Honours

* Chevalier De L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1992)
* Medal with Purple Ribbon (1996)
* Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2003)
* Person of Cultural Merit (2007)
* Asahi Prize (2013)
* Kawakita Award (2013)
* Toshiro Mifune Award (2015)
* Order of Culture (2015)
* Honorary citizen of Tokyo (2024)