Hisaya Morishige

Hisaya Morishige (森繁久彌, Morishige Hisaya, May 4, 1913 – November 10, 2009) was a Japanese actor and comedian. Born in Hirakata, Osaka, he graduated from Kitano Middle School (now Kitano High School), and attended Waseda University. He began his career as a stage actor, then became an announcer for NHK, working in Manchukuo. He became famous in films first for comedy roles, appearing in series such as the "Company President" (Shacho) and "Station Front" (Ekimae) series, produced by Toho. He appeared in nearly 250 films, both contemporary and jidaigeki. He was also famous on stage playing Tevye in the Japanese version of Fiddler on the Roof.[1] He also appeared in television series and specials, and was the first guest on the television talk show Tetsuko's Room in 1975. He was long-time head of the Japan Actors Union. Among many honors, Morishige received the Order of Culture from the Emperor of Japan in 1991.

Hisaya Morishige
Born	May 4, 1913 Hirakata, Osaka, Japan
Died	November 10, 2009 (aged 96) Tokyo, Japan
Other names	Jiji, Jijiya, Zachō, Za, Morishige, Shige-san
Occupation	Actor, composer, lyricist, announcer
Years active	1936–2007
Spouse(s)	Masuko Morishige (m. ?–1989)
Children	Tatsuru Morishige (b. 1942) Izumi Morishige (1940–1999)

Hisaya Morishige died of natural causes at a hospital in Tokyo at 8:16 A.M. on November 10, 2009, at the age of 96.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1947	Joyū		Teinosuke Kinugasa
1955	Keisatsu Nikki	Policeman Yoshii	Seiji Hisamatsu	Lead role
	Meoto zenzai	Ryukichi Koreyasu	Shirō Toyoda	Lead role
1956	Romantic Daughters	Morishita	Toshio Sugie
1956–70	Company President series	The company president	Shūe Matsubayashi and others	Lead role
1957	Snow Country	Imura	Shirō Toyoda
1958	A Holiday in Tokyo		Kajirō Yamamoto
	The Tale of the White Serpent	All men characters (voice)	Taiji Yabushita
1958–69	Ekimae series	Tokunosuke Morita and others	Kozo Saeki and others	Lead role
1961	The End of Summer	Eiichirou Isomura	Yasujirō Ozu
1971	Tora-san's Shattered Romance	Senzō	Yoji Yamada
1972	Zatoichi at Large	Tōbei	Kazuo Mori
1978	The Incident	Tamizō Kiyokawa	Yoshitarō Nomura
1980	The Battle of Port Arthur	Itō Hirobumi	Toshio Masuda
1981	Imperial Navy	Naoki Hongō	Shūe Matsubayashi
1983	Shōsetsu Yoshida Gakkō	Shigeru Yoshida	Shirō Moritani	Lead role
1984	Sayonara Jupiter	Earth Federation President	Koji Hashimoto/Sakyo Komatsu
1990	Ruten no umi	Kumago Matsuzaka	Buichi Saitō	Lead role
1994	47 Ronin	Chisaka Takafusa	Kon Ichikawa
1997	Princess Mononoke	Okkoto-nushi (voice)	Hayao Miyazaki
2001	Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves	Professor Torino (voice)	Tsutomu Shibayama	Special appearance
2004	Shinibana	Rokusaburō Aoki	Isshin Inudo	Special appearance

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
1975	Genroku Taiheiki	Tokugawa Mitsukuni	NHK	Taiga drama
	Ōoka Echizen	Dr. Yuzan Mikumo	TBS
1975–77	Edo o Kiru	Tokugawa Nariaki	TBS	Special appearance
1981	Sekigahara	Tokugawa Ieyasu	TBS	Lead role, miniseries
1986	Byakkotai	Inoue Okazumi	NTV	Lead role

Dubbing

Year	Title	Role
1986	When the Wind Blows	Jim
1997	Hercules	Opening narrator

Songs

• Shiretoko Ryojō, a song about the Shiretoko Peninsula

Writings

• Morishige, Hisaya (March 2003). Morishige Jiden [Autobiography of Morishige] (in Japanese). Chuo Koron Shinsha. ISBN 978-4122041844.

Honours

• Medal with Purple Ribbon (1975)
• Person of Cultural Merit (1984)
• Order of the Precious Crown, 2nd Class, Peony (1987)
• Order of Culture (1991)
• Honorary citizen of Tokyo (1997)
• People's Honour Award (2009, Posthumous award)
• Junior Third Rank (2009, Posthumous award)

References

1. Gerow, Aaron (November 11, 2009). "Morishige Hisaya". Tangemania. Retrieved November 11, 2009.

External links

• Hisaya Morishige at IMDb
• Hisaya Morishige at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)