This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Masako Natsume" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Masako Natsume
夏目 雅子
Masako Natsume on the cover of a 1997 calendar
Born	Masako Odate (1957-11-17)November 17, 1957 Hiroo,Shibuya, Japan
Died	September 11, 1985(1985-09-11) (aged 27) Keio University Hospital,Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Resting place	Hōfu, Yamaguchi
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1976–1985
Height	1.64 m (5 ft4+1⁄2 in)
Spouse	Shizuka Ijūin(1984–1985)
Awards	Best actress, 8thHochi Film Award (1983)

Masako Natsume (夏目 雅子,Natsume Masako, November 17, 1957 – September 11, 1985) was a Japanese actress fromTokyo. Widely popular in Japan, she gained worldwide recognition for her portrayal ofTripitaka in the TV seriesMonkey, which is now considered a cult classic.

Masako was born Masako Odate atJapanese Red Cross Medical Center in Hiroo, Shibuya, Tokyo, the only daughter of Sue and Kazu Odate. Raised inNaka-ku, Yokohama, while in junior college in 1976 she auditioned for the lead role inNihon TV's dramaAi ga miemasu ka ("Can you see love?"). Chosen from 4,000 applicants, she dropped out of school to pursue an acting career, playing the part under her real name Masako Odate. Masako's mother initially objected to her choice of career and requested that she not use the Odate family name if she gained further work. In 1977, she changed her name to Natsume.

In 1977, she was chosen to representKanebo Cosmetics ^[jp], achieving great popularity after appearing topless as the "Kooky Face" girl in an ad for sunscreen. This popularity led to her recording a song later that year called "Oh! Cookie Face." Many bit parts and a few leads in movies followed, but she continued in television.

In 1978-79, she played the male part of Tripitaka (Sanzō-hōshi, Japanese translation ofSanzang-fashi) in the 1970s Japanese TV programSaiyūki, which proved popular in many English-speaking countries in the 1980s, when dubbed by theBBC and titledMonkey. Masako won the part as she had matched contemporary descriptions of Sanzō-hōshi's appearance more closely than male actors who auditioned.

Specialising as well-bred but shy heroines in her movies, she was regularly criticized by the public and media for her poor acting. However, this changed in 1982 after appearing as an ambitious and immoral woman in the TV dramaShousha and as the daughter of ayakuza leader in the movieOnimasa. One of her lines from this movie, "Don't you look down on me!" (なめたらいかんぜよ,nametara ikan ze yo, literally "if you look down [on me], it would be regrettable"), became a very popularcatchphrase in Japan.^[1]

She won the award for best actress at the 8thHochi Film Award forThe Catch andTime and Tide.^[2]

In 1984, she married Japanese author Tadaki Nishiyama, known under the pen nameShizuka Ijūin. But after only a year, she died from acuteleukemiaat the age of 27 in 1985, and is buried inHōfu, Yamaguchi under the married name Masako Nishiyama.

In 1997,Canon produced a television commercial for a copy machine, featuring her photocopied images, which offered 100 free compilations of the images in a book. Canon received 230,000 applications. Masako Natsume picture books andcalendars are still popular in Japan today.

In 2007,TBS broadcast a documentary on Masako's life entitledHimawari – Natsume Masako 27-nen no shōgai to haha no ai ("Sunflower: Masako Natsume, a 27-year life and a mother's love") based on the bookFutari no Masako written by her mother, Sue Odate. Yagi Yūki played the part of the young Masako andNakama Yukie portrayed her as an adult.

Both of Masako's brothers, Kazuo andToshiaki Odate are professional golfers. Toshiaki won the 1993Woodone Open and the 2001JCB Classic. Masako's sister-in-law,Yoshiko Odate, an actress and former member of the popular 1970s pop groupCandies died on April 21, 2011, ofbreast cancer.^[4] Her niece is an actress in the all-female theater companyTakarazuka Revue under the stage name Yuno Kazama.

Mawaru-Penguindrum, a 2011 Japaneseanime series produced byBrain's Base has a character named Masako Natsume.

• Biography of Natsume
• Burial monument(in Japanese)
• The Sunflower Foundation, a cancer organization dedicated to Natsume(in Japanese)

• 1957 births
• 1985 deaths
• Actresses from Tokyo
• Japanese female idols
• Deaths from leukemia in Japan
• People from Naka, Yokohama
• People from Shibuya
• 20th-century Japanese actresses

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from February 2013
• All articles needing additional references
• Articles with hCards
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja)