若山富三郎

Who is this?

Tomisaburō Wakayama (若山 富三郎, Wakayama Tomisaburō; September 1, 1929 – April 2, 1992), born Masaru Okumura (奥村 勝), was a Japanese actor best known for playing Ogami Ittō, the scowling ronin warrior in the six Lone Wolf and Cub samurai films. Biography Wakayama (his stage name) was born on September 1, 1929. Born in Chiba, he was brought to the Okumura family's ancestral home in Fukagawa, Tokyo at around two years of age, where he was raised. His father was Minoru Okumura (奥村 実), a noted kabuki performer and nagauta singer who went by the stage name Katsutōji Kineya (杵屋 勝東治), and the family as a whole were kabuki performers. He and his younger brother, Shintaro Katsu, followed their father in the theater. Wakayama tired of this; at the age of 13, he began to study judo, eventually achieving the rank of 4th dan black belt in the art. In 1952, as part of the Azuma Kabuki troupe, Wakayama toured the United States of America for nine months. He gave up theater performance completely after his two-year term with the troupe was over. Wakayama taught judo until Toho recruited him as a new martial arts star in their jidaigeki movies, originally using the stage name "Jō Kenzaburō".

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