Yoko Umemura

Yôko Umemura
Yôko Umemura
梅村蓉子
	Umemura in 1935
Born	Suzuki Hanako; October 21, 1903; Tokyo, Japan
Died	March 8, 1944 (aged 40); Tanba province, Japan
Occupation	Actress

Yôko Umemura (梅村蓉子; October 21, 1903 – March 8, 1944), born Suzuki Hanako, was a Japanese film actress who appeared in over a hundred films from 1922 to 1944. She is especially associated with the work of directors Yasujiro Shimazu and Kenji Mizoguchi.

Early life and education

Umemura was born in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. She began her stage career as a child.

Career

Umemura was a film star in Japan, compared to Norma Talmadge in the 1920s.^[1]^[2] She made the transition to sound pictures and co-starred as a geisha in Kenji Mizoguchi's drama Sisters of the Gion (1936),^[3] and in Mizoguchi's The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939).^[4] Other directors she worked with included Tomotaka Tasaka, Mansaku Itami,^[5] Minoru Murata, Daisuke Ito, Yutaka Abe, and Yasujiro Shimazu. In 1931 she was said to be Japan's highest salaried film actress.^[6]

Yoko Umemura and director Tazuko Sakane, in the 1930s

Selected filmography

Umemura appeared in over a hundred films between 1922 and 1944.^[7]

Minoya no musume (1924)
Kyôrakûsha (1924)
Kaichô-on (1924)
Daichi wa hohoemu (1925)
Akai yûhi ni teresarete (1925)
Kaminingyô no haru no sasayaki (1926)^[3]
Ashi ni sawatta onna (1926)
Kujaku no hikari (1926)
Five Women Around Him (1927)
Shinpa Ôoka seidan (1928)
Nihonbashi (1929)
Aa mujô (1929)
Tôjin Okichi (1930)
Shanghai (1932)
Oyuki the Virgin (1935)
Ojô Okichi (1935)
Poppy (1935)
Osaka Elegy (1936)^[8]
Capricious Young Man (1936)
Akanishi Kakita (1936)^[5]
Sisters of the Gion (1936)^[4]^[8]
Yoshida Palace (1937)
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)^[4]
Osaka Woman (1940)
The Life of an Actor (1941)
Ômura Masujirô (1942)
Yamasandô (1942)
Kaigun (1943)
Kikuchi sembon-yari (1944)

Personal life

Umemura died in 1944, at the age of 40, when her appendix burst at a film location in Tanba Province.

References

↑ "Japanese Film Stars". The Toronto Star. 1927-05-04. p. 21. Retrieved 2025-11-10 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ "'Norma Talmadge of Nippon'". San Francisco Chronicle. 1927-05-15. p. 10. Retrieved 2025-11-10 – via Newspapers.com.
1 2 Le Fanu, Mark (2019-07-25). Mizoguchi and Japan. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 75, 152. ISBN 978-1-83871-717-9.
1 2 3 "Movies". The Los Angeles Times. 1990-02-18. p. 320. Retrieved 2025-11-10 – via Newspapers.com.
1 2 "Akanishi Kakita (Kakita Akanishi aka The Letter). 1936. Directed by Mansaku Itami". The Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
↑ "Jap Movie Stars' Pay Low". The Evening Telegram. 1931-08-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-11-10 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (2018-06-05). The Japanese Film: Art and Industry - Expanded Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-691-18746-4.
1 2 Vicari, Justin (2016-06-05). Japanese Film and the Floating Mind: Cinematic Contemplations of Being. McFarland. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-4766-2496-9.

External links

Yoko Umemura at IMDb

[1] "Japanese Film Stars". The Toronto Star. 1927-05-04. p. 21. Retrieved 2025-11-10 – via Newspapers.com.

[2] "'Norma Talmadge of Nippon'". San Francisco Chronicle. 1927-05-15. p. 10. Retrieved 2025-11-10 – via Newspapers.com.

[:0-3] 1 2 Le Fanu, Mark (2019-07-25). Mizoguchi and Japan. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 75, 152. ISBN 978-1-83871-717-9.

[:1-4] 1 2 3 "Movies". The Los Angeles Times. 1990-02-18. p. 320. Retrieved 2025-11-10 – via Newspapers.com.

[:3-5] 1 2 "Akanishi Kakita (Kakita Akanishi aka The Letter). 1936. Directed by Mansaku Itami". The Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2025-11-10.

[6] "Jap Movie Stars' Pay Low". The Evening Telegram. 1931-08-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-11-10 – via Newspapers.com.

[7] Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (2018-06-05). The Japanese Film: Art and Industry - Expanded Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-691-18746-4.

[:2-8] 1 2 Vicari, Justin (2016-06-05). Japanese Film and the Floating Mind: Cinematic Contemplations of Being. McFarland. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-4766-2496-9.

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