Kojiro Hongo

**Kojiro Hongo**  (本郷功次郎,   *Hongō Kōjirō*?) was a Japanese film and television actor. He was perhaps most well-known for his roles in Daiei's tokusatsu and kaiju films in the 1960's, particularly the Gamera films. His acting career lasted from 1959 to 2004, at which point he suffered a stroke and was forced to retire. Despite this, he recovered from the stroke and continued to live a healthy life until he passed away of heart failure on February 14, 2013, at the age of 74.

## Life

Born in Omotecho, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture (currently Omotecho, Kita-ku, Okayama City )  as the second son of a hardware store. Belongs to the judo club at university . I always carry a photo of Hongo with my aunt wearing a black belt, and it happens to be noticed by Hideo Matsuyama, a director of Daiei who was a friend of my uncle . Daiei was looking for a judo star to follow Susumu Fujita and Kenji Sugawara , so Matsuyama borrowed the photo from his aunt and showed it to President Masaichi Nagata, who said, "Take me right away." Hongo jokingly laughs at that time as "abducted." Daiei and Matsuyama at the head office director , Kon Ichikawa has been interviewed, there was no also going to become an actor without knowing Ichikawa, " Japan movie but refused clear is boring because you do not watch" is convinced "me to do absolutely", In the end, he said, "If it's a judo movie, it can't be helped." Admitted to Daiei acting Institute, as the 12th Daiei New Face 1958 he joined, " Kodokan to yang climb " ( 1959 movie debut as a quasi-protagonist next to Kenji Sugawara in). Another role of judoka is Sonny Chiba.Starring movie " Karate fool one generation " ( 1977 and plays in), in the Sakuchu professional wrestler of Eddie Sullivan and Goro Tsurumi showed off the judo technique to the opponent.

In the shooting at Mt. Wakakusa in "The sun rises in the Kodokan", many mats were laid on the ground for the scene of walking around. When I saw this, I asked, "What is it used for?" And said, "I'm thrown here," so I answered, "I don't need that because the bottom is Saturday." Katsuhiko Tasaka, the director who heard this, was delighted and shot a one-shot scene where he could continue to throw seven consecutive shots from Sugawara. Until then, all judo films were dubbed , and there were no examples of actors being actually thrown. Nagata was delighted to see this and ordered, "Make this man a star!" Hongo himself said, "I was asked to become a star, but I haven't made any efforts myself. Instead of admiring an actor myself, I decided to sell it as a star. I didn't want to be different, "he said.

In addition to Nagata's voice, Daiei at that time had a shortage of young male stars, and after that, he made a series of movie appearances and was sold as a young star who can handle both historical and contemporary dramas. In 1961, he was selected to star in Japan's first 70mm film " Buddha ". Raizo Ichikawa, a senior of the same Daiei film, was loved like a younger brother, and even when he first joined the company with a low salary, he even made him stay. He often co-starred and learned the behavior of historical drama. When the lead role was decided while he was still in his early career and he was worried about what to do, Kon Ichikawa advised him to "remember the script first" and Shintaro Katsu said "you don't have to remember the script. He was confused by the advice that was the exact opposite of "entering." "During the Daiei era, I was so busy that I couldn't help but sleep in the dressing room with the staff when shooting came in, and when I was done, I went to the next shooting site with my feet." Looking back.

He was strongly literary film-oriented, and was not accepted when he was notified by the company that he would star in " Gamera vs. Barugon " (1966), and he stayed in the hotel for days hiding in the clouds. "The other actors ran away to scatter the spider cubs," he said, laughing, "I was the only one caught." When I called the head office from a hotel in Osaka to cheat with a false illness, "I'm seriously ill," the production manager and section chief of the head office came to visit me. In a hurry, Hongo called a doctor he knew, called a nurse, had him inject nutritional supplements, put on a futon, and played a serious play. After seeing this, the section chief called at the bedside, "Akihenwa, Hongo's illness is real." Is said to "wait until healed" and is finally persuaded to appear. Then, " Daimajin Ikaru ", " Gamera vs. Gyaos ", " Gamera vs. Viras ", and "Children's Movie" continued to appear, and it was said that he had a lot of resentment, but in Heisei, " Gamera " Appeared in " Big Monster Aerial Battle " (1995). He said he was happy when he heard that "Hongo-san, who was playing Gamera at that time, came to me," and said that he remembered himself and was deeply moved. Before this, I didn't put the title of "Gamera movie" in my profile, but people I meet always say "I don't have " Gamera "or" Daimajin ", so I decided to put it in after that. did. "I never thought it would remain in the times like this, because it's now a fortune," he said.

After playing an active part as the leading star of Daiei until 1969, he expanded his activities to movies and TV dramas of other companies . Inspector Tachibana of " Tokusou Saizensen " made regular appearances for nine years and became one of his masterpieces. He also played Amari Torayasu in the big river drama " Takeda Shingen " .

In 2004, he collapsed due to a sudden cerebral infarction and became unconscious, but he continued rehabilitation and miraculously recovered. However, after that, he retired from the front stage and was virtually retired. 2013 February 14 , heart failure died for. 74 years old.

## Selected filmography

* *The Demon of Mount Oe* (1960) as Sakata no Kintoki
* *Kujira Gami* (1962) as Shaki
* *Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts* (1969) as Hyakasuro

## References

This is a list of references for **Kojiro Hongo**. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 本郷功次郎. on Wikipedia (in Japanese)
2. ↑ The Demon of Mount Oe (1960) | Wikizilla, the kaiju encyclopedia.