Yoshiko Kuga
Acting · Visual Effects
Born January 21, 1931, Ushigome, Japon
Yoshiko Kuga (久我 美子, Kuga Yoshiko, 21 January 1931 – 9 June 2024) was a Japanese actress. Kuga was born in Tokyo, Japan. In 1946, while still attending Gakushuin Junior High School, she became an actress for Toho studios. In 1947, she made her debut as one of the lead actresses in the omnibus movie Four Love Stories (四つの恋の物語, Yottsu no Koi no Monogatari). In the 1950s, she started working independently and starred in many productions of the Shochiku studios under the direction of Keisuke Kinoshita. Other important directors include Kenji Mizoguchi (The Woman in the Rumor), Yasujirō Ozu (Equinox Flower), and Tadashi Imai (An Inlet of Muddy Water). Since the 1970s, she appeared mainly on television and on stage. Kuga was married to actor Akihiko Hirata from 1961 until his death in 1984. She died from aspiration pneumonia on 9 June 2024, at the age of 93.
Filmography
- Heroic Age — Mechanical Designer
- 2000As the River Flows — Yuki Shiokawa
- 1997The Girl Who Leapt Through Time — Michie Yoshiyama
- 1997Tokyo Fair Weather
- 1994119
- 1993Sky Cannot Be This Blue — Fumi Kobayshi
- 1992Okoge — Women's clothing store manager
- 1991Nowhere Man — Lady who walks
- 1989Four Days of Snow and Blood — Suzuko Watanabe
- 1989Godzilla vs. Biollante — Prime Minister's Wife
- 1988Goryokaku
- 長七郎江戸日記スペシャル 千姫有情 母ありき
- Inochi — Takahara Chie
- Miyako no kaze — 竹田静
- The Roads Men Travel — Tatsuo's mother
- Katsu Kaishu — Onobu (Kaishu's mother)
- Pieces of Autumn
- 1969Samurai Banners
- 1969Through Days and Months — Matsuko's Mother
- Tabiji — 室伏はる子（伊東はる子）
- 1965Ane to imôto — Yoshie Matsumoto
- 1964To Your Majesty, The Emperor 2 — Yaeno Kurumiya
- 1964Whirlwind — Kikusato
- 1962Ballad of a Workman — Chiyo
- 1962Mother Country
- 1962Umineko ga tonde
- 1961Daredevil in the Castle — Kobue
- 1961Haitoku no mesu — Nobuko Sato
- 1961Hijō no otoko
- 1961Moonlight in the Rain
- 1961Zero Focus — Teiko Uhara
- 1960Cruel Story of Youth — Yuki
- 1960Spring Dreams — Kazuko Yasugi
- 1959Good Morning — Setsuko Arita
- 1959The Snow Flurry — Sakura
- 1959Thus Another Day — Yasuko Satô
- 1958Beyond the Seasonal Wind
- 1958Equinox Flower — Fumiko Mikami
- 1958The Eternal Rainbow — Chie
- 1958Woman Unveiled
- 1958Yagyu Secret Scrolls: Ninjitsu - Part II — Yuhime
- 1957A Case of Honor
- 1957Elegy of the North — Reiko Hyodo
- 1957Yagyu Secret Scrolls — Yuhime
- 1957Yellow Crow — Yasuko Ashihara
- 1956Farewell to Dream — Yôichi's older sister, Toyoko
- 1956The Rose on His Arm — Keiko Hase
- 1956Women in Prison — Senko Minami, prisoner
- 1955Beautiful Days — Sakurako
- 1955Bride in the Kitchen
- 1955If Indeed One Loves — Yumiko (segment 3)
- 1955Mune yori mune ni — Harue Kawazoe
- 1955Taira Clan Saga — Tokiko
- 1955Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree — Reiko
- 1955Tomorrow's Happiness — Tomiko
- 1954A Billionaire — Sute Kagami
- 1954Autumn Interlude — Setsuko Fushimi
- 1954Brotherly Love
- 1954Shinzōyaburi no oka
- 1954Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky — Hiroko, Ryoichi's wife
- 1954The Garden of Women — Akiko Hayashino
- 1954The Pleasures of Vice — Yasuyo Uematsu
- 1954The Woman in the Rumor — Yukiko Mabuchi
- 1953An Inlet of Muddy Water
- 1953Brother and Sister — San
- 1953Love Letter — Michiko Kubota
- 1953Reunion
- 1953To the Ends of the Earth
- 1953Yōsei wa hana no nioi gasuru
- 1952Byakuran kōran
- 1952Eternal Song of Nagasaki
- 1952Gunrō no machi — 宇和島見奈子
- 1952The Paths of Two Maidens
- 1952This Way, That Way
- 1951Dorei no machi
- 1951Enoshima Elegy
- 1951Honoo no hada
- 1951Kyūjō hiroba
- 1951The Bitch — Yukiko
- 1951The Idiot — Ayako
- 1950Escape Between Midnight and Dawn
- 1950Golden Beast — Kozue Takenaka
- 1950Guntō nanban-sen
- 1950Portrait of Madame Yuki — Hamako Abe
- 1950The Angry Street
- 1950Till We Meet Again — Keiko Ono
- 1950Tsuki no shussen — 荻原静江
- 1949Akireta musumetachi
- 1949Delinquent Girl
- 1949Hakuchō wa kanashikarazuya
- 1949Jakoman and Tetsu — Girl at church
- 1949Rinchi — Kuwako
- 1948Drunken Angel — Schoolgirl
- 1948My Love on the Other Side of the Mountain — Shizu
- 1947Four Love Stories
- 1947Spring Awakens — Kumiko Hirobe