Tanaka was born inShimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the youngest of nine children[2] of Kumekichi and Yasu Tanaka.[5] Her family werekimono merchants.[2] Although her family was originally wealthy, after her father Kumekichi died in 1912, the family began having financial troubles.[5] She learned playing thebiwa at an early age and moved toOsaka in 1920, where she joined the Biwa Girls' Operetta Troupe.[2][6] Tanaka's first credited film appearance was inGenroku Onna (lit. "A Woman of the Genroku era") in 1924, which also marked the start of her affiliation with theShochiku Studios. She lived with directorHiroshi Shimizu from 1927 to 1929 after appearing in a number of his films;[7] although they separated in 1929, she starred in some of his later films.[8] Tanaka remained unmarried for her entire life and had no children.[6]
She became a leading actress at an early age, appearing inYasujirō Ozu'sI Graduated, But... in 1929. The following year she played the lead inAiyoku no ki (Record of Love and Desire orDesire of Night),[9] and in 1931 she appeared in Japan's firstsound film,The Neighbor's Wife and Mine, directed byHeinosuke Gosho. Gosho also directed her in his adaptation of the famousYasunari Kawabata story,The Dancing Girl of Izu (1933). In the 1930s, Tanaka became so popular that the titles of many feature films used her name, as inKinuyo Monogatari ("The Kinuyo Story"),Joi Kinuyo Sensei ("Doctor Kinuyo") andKinuyo no Hatsukoi ("Kinuyo's First Love"). In 1938, she starred in Hiromasa Nomura'sAizen katsura withKen Uehara, who was the highest-grossing movie of the prewar period.[8] In 1940, she worked withKenji Mizoguchi for the first time, starring inNaniwa Onna ("A Woman of Osaka"), which is regarded as alost film. The following year, she appeared inOrnamental Hairpin, directed by Shimizu, which nowadays ranks, also thanks to Tanaka's performance, as one of the director's most mature achievements.[10][11] 1944 saw her first collaboration with directorKeisuke Kinoshita in the patriotic pieceArmy. The film became famous for its finale which, a subversion of its militarist message, showed a mother (Tanaka) desperately trying to catch a last glimpse of her son who is marching off to war.[10][11]
Starting in October 1949, Tanaka made a three-month trip to the United States as one of Japan's first post-war cultural envoys.[8] On her return, Tanaka displayed an inheritance of cultural mannerisms from America which many of her fans found distasteful.[12] She resigned from Shochiku and announced her intention of going freelance, which would give her more scope to choose which directors she wished to work with. She subsequently worked on films withMikio Naruse, Ozu, Kinoshita, Gosho and others. She had a close working relationship with director Kenji Mizoguchi, having parts in 15 of his films, including leading roles inThe Life of Oharu (1952),Ugetsu (1953) andSansho the Bailiff (1954). A recurrent topic of these films, both contemporary and historic dramas, was the fate of women mistreated by family, lovers and society.[11] Tanaka's and Mizoguchi's involvement was the subject of much speculation,[8][6] on which the actress commented in the 1975 documentaryKenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director that she and Mizoguchi were "married in front of the camera, but not behind it". Their working relationship ended when Mizoguchi countered a recommendation from theDirectors Guild of Japan for theNikkatsu studio to hire her as a director.[13]
Tanaka was the second Japanese woman who worked as a film director, afterTazuko Sakane. Despite Mizoguchi's objection against her application,[6] Tanaka was able to give her directing debut withLove Letter in 1953. Scripted by Kinoshita, it was entered as a contestant in theCannes Film Festival in 1954. She directed five more films between 1953 and 1962, focusing on the subject of femininity; while her films received less attention from contemporary commentators and Tanaka herself downplayed them, interest in them has been revived in recent years for their unique and pioneering portrayals of Japanese women.[14]The Moon Has Risen (Tsuki wa noborinu) in 1955 was scripted by Yasujirō Ozu,[15] andThe Wandering Princess (Ruten no onna) was scripted byNatto Wada and starredMachiko Kyō.[8] One of Tanaka's most acknowledged films,The Eternal Breasts,[11][16] follows the biography of the latetanka poetFumiko Nakajo (1922–1954). In addition to her directing jobs, Tanaka continued with her acting career, appearing in Kinoshita'sThe Ballad Of Narayama (1958), for which she received theKinema Junpo Award for Best Actress,[8] and inAkira Kurosawa'sRed Beard (1965). During the 1960s, she moved increasingly towards television. For her performance as an aged prostitute inKei Kumai's 1975Sandakan N° 8 she won theBest Actress Award at the25th Berlin International Film Festival.[17]
A museum in Tanaka's hometown is nicknamed the "Kinuyo Tanaka Cultural Museum" in her honor.
DirectorMasaki Kobayashi, to whom she was second cousin,[8] initiated an award bearing her name.[18] Since 1985, the Kinuyo Tanaka Award (田中絹代賞) for an actress' works and career is awarded at the annualMainichi Film Concours ceremony.
A 22-film retrospective of Tanaka's acting and directorial work, her first U.S. retrospective including U.S. premieres of her directorial efforts, was held from January 15-April 30, 1993 atJapan Society.[19]
A wave of renewed international interest in Tanaka's work started in 2012 with a symposium and retrospective at the University of Leeds.[20] In 2018, Irene Gonzalez-Lopez and Michael Smith published the first English-language collection on Tanaka's work and life,Tanaka Kinuyo: Nation, Stardom and Female Subjectivity.[21]In 2020, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival Lili Hinstin announced a major retrospective dedicated to Tanaka actress and director,[22] postponed in 2021 due to the Covid Pandemic situation and then cancelled after she left the festival.[23]
In 2021, all six of the films Tanaka directed were screened theatrically in digitally remastered versions at theCannes Film Festival and the Lyon Film Festival.[24] Three of these films were presented in 4K restorations at the 34thTokyo International Film Festival.[25]
^abcdGonzalez-Lopez, Irene (2017).Tanaka Kinuyo:Nation, Stardom and Female Subjectivity. Edinburgh University Press.ISBN978-1-4744-4463-7.
^Gonzalez-Lopez, Irene (2017).Tanaka Kinuyo:Nation, Stardom and Female Subjectivity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 52.ISBN978-1-4744-4463-7.
^abcdefgSharpe, Jasper (2011).Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema. Scarecrow Press. pp. 240–242.ISBN978-0-8108-7541-8.
^Nolletti Jr., Arthur (2008).The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: Laughter through Tears. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 291.ISBN978-0-253-34484-7.
^abJacoby, Alexander (2008).Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press.ISBN978-1-933330-53-2.
Media related toKinuyo Tanaka at Wikimedia Commons