Hisaya Morishige

Hisaya Morishige
Born	May 4, 1913 Hirakata, Osaka, Japan
Died	Tokyo, Japan
Cause of death	Natural causes
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 (森繁久彌, Morishige Hisaya) (May 4, 1913 – November 10, 2009) was a Japanese actor and comedian. Born in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, 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 Manchuria. 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. 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 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
1955	Meoto zenzai	Ryukichi Koreyasu	Shirō Toyoda
1956	Romantic Daughters	Morishita	Toshio Sugie
1957	Snow Country	Imura	Shirō Toyoda
1958	The Tale of the White Serpent		Taiji Yabushita	Voice
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
1980	203 kochi	Itō Hirobumi	Toshio Masuda
1983	Shōsetsu Yoshida gakkō	Shigeru Yoshida	Shirō Moritani
1984	Sayonara Jupiter	Earth Federation President	Koji Hashimoto/Sakyo Komatsu
1994	47 Ronin	Chisaka Takafusa	Kon Ichikawa
1997	Princess Mononoke	Okkoto-nushi	Hayao Miyazaki	Voice
2001	Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves	Professor Torino	Tsutomu Shibayama	Voice
2004	Shinibana	Rokusaburō Aoki	Isshin Inudo

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
1975	Genroku Taiheiki	Tokugawa Mitsukuni	NHK	Taiga drama
1975-77	Edo o Kiru	Tokugawa Nariaki	TBS
1975	Ōoka Echizen	Dr. Yuzan Mikumo	TBS
1981	Sekigahara	Tokugawa Ieyasu	TBS

Dubbing

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

Songs

• Shiretoko Ryojō, a song about the Shiretoko Peninsula

Honours

• Medal with Purple Ribbon (1975)
• Person of Cultural Merit (1984)
• Order of the Precious Crown, 2nd Class, Peony (1987)
• Order of Culture (1991)
• People's Honour Award (2009)

External links

• Hisaya Morishige at the Internet Movie Database
• Hisaya Morishige at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)