Ken Takakura's appearance is very memorable. He has a face all year round and rarely smiles. But at the beginning of each movie, as long as Kenichi Takakura appears, he will feel very stable inside. His most famous film and television image is the prosecutor Du Qiu in "The Hunt", the trench coat, sunglasses, plate inches, and the collar of the trench coat must be raised high. I don't know why the collar stood up, but such a Tall Kura Ken has a special masculine man's taste. He later also acted in "The Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness", a movie in which he changed the image of the hero of the past and starred in an ordinary man who longed for happiness, still not much to say, but affectionate, eager for happiness, more likeable.
He was quite tall, one meter eight, which was very prominent in Japan at that time, with dark skin, a strong face, and another characteristic was not smiling. Duchu in "The Hunt", wearing a wide trench coat and black sunglasses, and Mayumi is on the run, silent and taciturn, with an extremely tough and decisive personality. Finally, when Maumi appeared in front of him on a white horse and said, "I am your accomplice," the black trench coat grinned in the wind. Then there is Sato Otomatsu in "Railroad Man". His daughter Yukiko died 17 years ago, and his wife died two years ago, but Sato missed out on duty, lonely and guilty, but this time he didn't say a word, "Do you know your name, explaining my life." He paid a huge price for sticking to it like a pine tree, but he only had one sentence: "I am a railroadman."
Ken Takakura is also a "railroad man", wearing a black trench coat, with a resolute face, one foot deep and one foot shallow, walking on the snow. But Zhang Yimou said that Takakura fitness has the virtue of "soldier". A soldier cannot fail to carry out his duties, and the task is heavy and the road is long. He carries a huge burden, a god in the eyes of the Japanese, in the clouds, but he treats people with great sincerity, not just out of courtesy, but to take out his heart, but not to be daunting, but to make you move in a subtle way. He's a good guy, but a good guy is hard to do.
Zhang Yimou once said such a passage in an interview. He said: "I've been making movies for more than twenty years, and any actor, today when his scene is finished, I will let him go back to rest first." This time I asked Ken Takakura to go back to the hotel first and tell him that we might have to take another shot. Ken Takakura didn't go, why didn't he go back? He said the director and the whole crew were working here and he couldn't go. I said let him come here and rest, there was water and chairs, he said he was afraid of disturbing me, he had been standing under the corner of the mountain, silently watching the workstation for three hours, until he finished shooting. ”
He has a sincere dedication, which is definitely not pretended, whether it is to friends, to his wife, or to his work.
Ken Takakura and his wife, Etoshi Tomoemi, met as an unknown actor. In fact, when he first graduated from college, Ken Takakura did not want to be an actor, he dreamed of becoming a foreign trade businessman so that he could travel the world. So after graduating from Meiji University, he decided to stay in Tokyo and work hard for his dream.
But the reality is bone-chilling, his dream of becoming a businessman has not yet been realized, he is used up and used up, and he lives on the street. Fortunately, one of his university teachers saw that Toei was recruiting warehouse managers and suggested that Ken Takakura come and apply.
But this interview changed Ken Takakura's life. While anxiously waiting for an interview, Ken Takakura was taken in by Mitsuo Makino, managing director of Toei Pictures, and wanted to find him to make a movie.
It turned out that the Edo-era martial arts drama of Toei Company at that time was thriving, but the stars who could interpret modern students were very scarce. And 1 meter 8 tall, well-proportioned, handsome Takakura Ken is the perfect male protagonist that Toei Company has been looking for. However, when Ken Takakura heard that he wanted to become an actor himself, he refused. As an actor, how is it possible!
In fact, the actors who look very bright and beautiful in our eyes now have a very low status in that era, and are even called Heyuan begging for food. Takakura Ken was reluctant in his heart, but for the sake of life, he could only continue to do it. It was also at this time that Ken Takakura met Emi Eritoshi.
Etoshi Tomoemi and Ken Takakura were less than 20 years old when they met, when Toei was preparing to make a new film, Andemi was invited to play the heroine because she had acted in a sketch drama before, and Ken Takakura, as a newcomer to Toei, also participated in the filming of this movie. So the two people met on the set.
Ken Takakura was thrilled to see Tomoemi. Because he had long heard of the daimy of Chi Hyemi, and even he was a fan of Chi HyeMi, he had listened to Chi Hyemi's famous song "Waltz of Tennessee" countless times.
Playing with idols, Ken Takakura seems very shy, and he does not even dare to look into The Eyes of Tomoemi when filming. However, with the change of time, he gradually had a different feeling for the cute girl in front of him, and at this time it was no longer a fan to see an idol, but a hazy feeling between men and women.
But Ken Takakura is a taciturn man who doesn't express his love. Directly confess and say to Chiemi that I like you, this kind of thing will not happen to Ken Takakura. But he also has his own careful thoughts. Knowing that Tomoemi likes imported cars, he borrowed an imported car and invited Tomoemi to play everywhere, to see the Torch Festival at Todaiji Temple in Nara Prefecture, to watch the Apollo Dance Festival in Tokushima Prefecture, and to go hunting at Matsumoto Castle on Alps Road in Nagano Prefecture. In the process of playing, the hearts of the two young people are getting closer and closer.
In addition to taking Tomoe out for fun, he is also a person who can create romance. Once, he flew in a small plane to find Tomoemi, carrying gifts for Chiemi and her friends, a variety of colorful socks, and souvenirs brought back from his hometown in Kyushu. Ken Takakura suddenly fell from the sky, which surprised Chi Emi and was also full of emotions, and she was moved.
In 1958, Eli Tomoemi announced her engagement to Ken Takakura and told her shocking news that she would quit the music scene after marriage. On February 16, 1959, the couple married. This day also happens to be Ken Takakura's 28th birthday. Chi Hye-mi's family borrowed a video camera to record this precious picture. Ken Takakura had an impatient smile on his face, and he was happy from the bottom of his heart.
In addition to the wishes in love, in his career, Ken Takakura seems to have opened his mind. In the film "Villain Man and Iron", directed by Shinji Fukasaku and written by Akira Kurosawa, Ken Takakura jumped into the cold sea in the cold winter, and if it were not for his own dedication to the actor's industry, Takakura Ken would not have had such courage.
And it was this jump that opened up Ken Takakura's brilliant star path.
At that time, Ken Takakura made a series of films ,Abashiri Fanwai(Abashiri Fanwai), which is the seat of a prison in Japan, and Fanqiu is a place without house numbers, which is generally an extralegal place. "Abashiri Fanwai" is very popular, one shot is nine, in addition to the "Showa Remnant" series and "Japanese Heroes" series and other Japanese gangster films.
At that time, Takakura Ken's appearance was very handsome, and the later image was very different, most of the countrymen should not have seen, a samurai suit, half naked an arm, tattooed with Tang lions, holding a broken umbrella, most of his image is like this, holding a samurai sword from the head to cut the tail, the martial arts are extremely high.
In fact, Takakura Ken does not like such a role, there is no soul, as if it is a puppet in the hands of the director, do not have to have their own ideas, just need to play handsome, the focus is too violent. But if the audience likes it, the film company is willing to shoot. So he is like a machine, dozens of movies throughout the year, the characters are the same, and the story content is not bad. Ken Takakura was tired and bored, but he still put up with it, and it was more than ten years after one shot.
There is a very stubborn part of his personality, so he is very tolerant, which has to do with his mother. His mother was very stubborn, even a little hard-hearted. Ken Takakura was very picky when he was a child, but as long as Ken Takakura said he didn't like anything, his mother must put something in his bowl.
Once the mother made fish for Takakura Ken, Takakura Ken did not eat a bite, as a result, the next ten days, the mother put the fish hot and hot, again and again served Takakura Ken's dinner table, mother and son are so consumed, no one will give in. It's just a small fragment of childhood. It is difficult to say who is more stubborn than the mother and son, but there is no doubt that this stubbornness of the mother has deeply affected Ken Takakura, and the more difficulties and setbacks he encounters, the more he must persist. But the same role has been played for more than ten years, Takakura Ken is tired, just like this, Takakura Ken is unwilling, he wants to break through and change.
Later, Ken Takakura finally made up his mind to bid farewell to Toei Corporation, which was 1976, when Ken Takakura was 45 years old. For an actor of this age, quitting Toei means never getting ahead again. However, for setbacks, Takakura Ken's dictionary did not have two words to retreat, only persistence.
Sure enough, he soon received an invitation from the famous director Yoji Yamada to shoot the movie "Happy Yellow Handkerchief". The inspiration for the film was yoji Yamada hearing an American folk song called "Yellow Ribbon Under the Oak Tree", just an idea, and he went to Find Ken Takakura. Yoji Yamada is famous for making comedy films, and is not right with Ken Takakura, who has always been a tough guy. But Ken Takakura listened to it and agreed without saying a word.
Everyone was not optimistic, but when the movie came out, everyone applauded. The movie is a great shot. The film is about a man who is released from prison and longs for happiness, and when he is about to leave, he sends a letter to his wife Hikari, telling him the news of his release from prison, agreeing that if she is still alone and still waiting for him, he will hang a yellow handkerchief on the flagpole in front of their house, and if there is no yellow handkerchief, he will leave forever. Unlike usual, this time he was no longer a hero, but an ordinary person.
The film was a huge success, and Ken Takakura won the best actor award at the Japanese Film Awards that year for his outstanding performance in "Happy Yellow Handkerchief", and the 45-year-old successfully transformed himself with this film.
But for Ken Takakura, the film is much more than that. He said in an interview: "I didn't change at all when I first acted on The Net, if there is a change, it is also the movie that makes me fit in? ”
In other words, the character in the movie has his own shadow. That is to say, they are all people who desire happiness. Yes, longing for happiness, at this time to achieve fame, the successful transformation of Ken Takakura is a bachelor, and he and his wife Jiang Lizhi Emi divorced.
It turned out that not long after the two got married, Jiang Lizhi Huimei became pregnant, and the couple was very surprised by the upcoming new life. However, the surprise of the two people did not last long, and a bad news came.
One day, Tomoemi felt unwell, and worried about the child in his wife's belly, Takakura just returned from the set and immediately took his wife to the hospital. The results of the examination came out, and the doctor told them that Zhi Huimei was suffering from pregnancy poisoning.
Pregnancy poisoning is a symptom that many expectant mothers have, generally speaking, there is no big problem, but Zhi Huimei is just the most serious category, which may be life-threatening. The doctor's words, though euphemistic, gave Mr. and Mrs. Takakura the only option they wanted to see, and that was miscarriage.
Not only that, the doctor also told them that with zhi Huimei's physique, the probability of suffering from this disease in the future is very high, and it is best not to have children again.
From surprise to loss, the two people who were still full of hope and full of hope for future happiness suddenly fell into a deep despair. The child, whom they had seen for the last time, was a girl, the crystallization of a love they could no longer have. And from the beginning of this incident, their love also seems to have lost its fulcrum, and the unspeakable estrangement in their hearts is slowly getting bigger and bigger.
The reason for the breakdown of their marriage is far more than this, due to the busyness of Takakura Ken's work, long-term filmmaking, Takakura Ken's life seems to be only on the set, he is getting busier and busier, and the time at home is getting less and less. The set is like a giant teleporter, and Ken Takakura mechanically repeats it on this machine every day, each time with a similar character, each time almost exactly the same story, which is a physical and mental torture for anyone.
But for Ken Takakura, this kind of torture, he is willing to eat, even in other words, this kind of work like poison has saved himself, because repetition can paralyze himself and make him forget the memories of the widow. He played the drunkard on the screen, the gambler, the rebel, and he really started to become more and more cold and silent like those characters.
He wants to forget the pain of losing his daughter, he wants to avoid it, and he doesn't dare to meet Ji Emi. He's a good guy, so he doesn't want to hurt his wife again. He didn't dare to complain, but when he saw Zhi Huimei, he would think of his lost daughter, so he simply avoided it. Zhi Huimei understands the thoughts in her husband's heart, she is also running away, every time she sees her husband, she has a lot of courage in her heart, but in this cold and lonely home, her pain is not told, so she made a decision to come back. Leave this home, then for both parties, can breathe a sigh of relief.
However, the leak of the house coincided with the overnight rain, and at 8:00 p.m. on January 28, 1970, Ken Takakura's home in Tagya, Tokyo, did not know what the cause of the fire, and Ken Takakura, who was resting at home, was fine, but in the sea of fire, nothing could be taken out of the house. All their memories, those happy, painful pasts, were reduced to ashes in the flames.
Chiemi, who came home after work, looked at the burned house in a daze, and the home that the two people had been running away from was reduced to ashes with the fire. The world is uncertain, escaping to the end, the home is really gone, and love has come to a crossroads.
At a press conference, Tomoemi unilaterally announced her divorce without consulting Ken Takakura. She was impulsive, so she quickly regretted it and immediately asked her friend to discuss with Ken Takakura to take back her life. Unexpectedly, however, Ken Takakura, who has always regarded Ji Huimei as a treasure, refused. Zhi Huimei smiled bitterly and had to give up.
In fact, divorce hit Takakura ken very the screen he can shed his blood for his beloved, born into death, but in real life he is overwhelmed and watching their marriage come to an end.
However, as Ken Takakura continues to become popular, Tomoemi's life is not good. The child is gone, the love is broken, and life still has to go on. However, after the divorce, Jiang Lizhi Huimei's career was not smooth. One of her songs says, I'm a woman, I want to live like a decent. This is exactly the psychology of Jiang Lizhi Huimei at that time, she must live like a decent person, and she cannot let others look down on her. However, she is destined to be disappointed, due to her withdrawal from the music scene for many years, her voice is gradually forgotten, her singing skills are not as good as before, no job, no income, she seems to be forgotten in the corner of the world, the only label on her body is Takakura Ken's ex-wife. She could only numb herself with alcohol and slowly disappeared into the dust.
On the morning of February 13, 1982, the stiff body of Tomoemi Etoshi was found in her apartment in Tokyo, and the cause of death was suffocation caused by alcoholism, and the only person who accompanied Tomomi was her dog, who was only 45 years old.
Three days later, the funeral was held at Tomoemi's mother's house on Feb. 16, Ken Takakura's birthday and their wedding anniversary.
In the video on the day of the funeral, no one saw Ken Takakura. In fact, Takakura Ken came, he was alone quietly, did not alarm anyone, holding a white chrysanthemum in his hand, sitting wordlessly in front of his wife's spiritual seat, the black and white photo in front of the stage was exactly the appearance of Tomoemi when they met.
Since then, Takakura Ken has never married.
In fact, many friends, including the media, believe that their marriage failed because of Ken Takakura, who has become as ruthless as in the movie. However, in Ken Takakura's later autobiography, it was mentioned that he knew that his rejection was too cold, but he was actually thinking of himself to bear the pain and did not want to hurt her again, so he let her be happy. In fact, they are still deeply in love with each other, and perhaps the lack of communication is the real reason for the breakdown of the marriage.
Takakura ken treats his friends very seriously, so he has many friends, among which I know Zhang Yimou and Chen Danqing. Let's start with Zhang Yimou. Zhang Yimou has always regarded Ken Takakura as his idol, and when he was young, he also learned Du Qiu, bought a trench coat, and put the collar up. Before the opening of the Olympic Games, Takakura Ken sent Zhang Yimou a knife, which was as expensive as a house in Beijing, and it took more than a year for Japan's top craftsmen to make it from forging knives. Then, a few days before the opening ceremony, Takakura quietly flew to Beijing alone and gave it to Zhang Yimou.
Takakura's friend has a kind of delicate and silent delicacy, he is good to you, he looks at you very seriously, but never says it. After returning to Tokyo, it snowed heavily in Tokyo, and Ken Takakura drove for five or six hours to the most famous temple in the area to pray for Zhang Yimou. The temple was cleared on the same day, and only for Zhang Yimou to do the dojo. He stood there alone, surrounded by blessed wind chimes, and when the wind blew, it rattled. All that remained was the sound of the monk chanting. Ken Takakura would not let him tell Zhang Yimou, and later the translator secretly told him. He wasn't there for Zhang Yimou to see.
The interaction with Chen Danqing is also the same. They met three times together, the first time was at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, with Zhang Yimou, the two talked for a while, and then on Ken Takakura's birthday, Chen Danqing drew a sketch for him, and the two became friends. Chen Danqing's daughter went to Japan to work, and Ken Takakura knew about it, and he welcomed her very warmly, and said that he would be her bodyguard in the future. Chen Danqing was touched after hearing about it, and his heart was also nagging, really a lonely old man.
He was truly lonely, childless. The Japanese considered him a god, so they built an altar to offer him up, but basically no one listened to what he wanted. Once Ken Takakura and Zhang Yimou were in the bar, many people saw him from a distance, and did not come to bother, but just bowed from a distance and left. His disciple was also, and every time Ken Takakura wanted to go abroad, he rushed to the airport early, also far away, bowed, and waited for the master to get on the plane before he went back.
Japanese people have a unique estrangement in making friends, that is, there is no deep friendship, afraid of disturbing the general, the gentleman's friendship is as light as water, do not disturb others, nor are they disturbed by others. Chen Danqing went to Ken Takakura's house for the second time, and the two chatted for an afternoon with Robert De Niro. Later, back at the hotel, the running hall said that someone was looking for him, and when he went out, he saw that It was Ken Takakura standing alone next to the car. Chen Danqing immediately greeted him, Takakura Ken suddenly took off the watch in his hand, tucked it into his hand, his eyes looked directly at him, and when Chen Danqing took the watch, he was loose all around, as if he had completed an extremely important task, like all Japanese men, he bowed his head and resigned. Later, Ken Takakura sent a greeting card to Chen Danqing every year, which read "Chen Danqing". There was also a leather coat, one brown, one blue-gray, all of which fit well.
In his later years, Ken Takakura lived in simplicity. But for Zhang Yimou, he made an exception and walked the red carpet of the Tokyo Film Festival, knowing that in the 60 years since the film, he has never walked on the red carpet. He treats his friends so sincerely, that is, he has a kind of gentleman's feelings. A soldier dies for a confidant. Silently dedicate to you, silently bear for you, and don't let you know.
This is especially true for his relatives, and he must take his mother's photo with him everywhere he goes, respectfully placing it in the most conspicuous place in the room. In Yunnan filming "A Thousand Miles and a Single Ride", Zhang Yimou received him and asked him what he asked, and he said if he could buy me a bouquet of flowers every day. This is really a simple request, not to mention yunnan that is full of words. Zhang Yimou thought that he just liked flowers, but later Zhang Yimou once entered his room and learned that the flowers were used in front of his mother's photo. This photo is on the writing desk, below the white flowers, the photo is not a formal portrait, it is his bare buttocks, and his brothers, sisters and sisters and mother are sitting by the river, very warm and cute. He did this everywhere he went, even to the South Pole.
Zhang Yimou played Kosho Tajima in "The Call of the Distant Mountains". Takeshi, who has lost his father since childhood, is afraid of thunder and runs to Tajima's room, where Tajima tells him that he was also a dead father when he was a child, encouraging him to be strong.
Tajima: What's wrong?
Takeshi: And Tomei went home.
Tajima: A person feels deserted? Good. Takeshi.
Takeshi: Huh?
Tajima: No dad is bitter enough.
Takeshi: Hmm.
Tajima: Uncle's father... He also died when his uncle was a child.
Takeshi: Sick and dead?
Tajima: No. I lost money on the business, I couldn't come up with the money to pay off the debt, so I was hanged under the bridge next to my home.
Takeshi: Oh.
Tajima: That year, my mother was not at home, so I lived with my father and brother and three people. When we heard that dad was dead, we pushed the car and went. Go there and hang your father under the bridge... Put it on the car, cover it with straw mats, and push the car back with my brother. The people in the village came out to see, and I felt bad... I really want to cry, my brother whispered, don't cry, don't make people laugh. Listen to this... I'm just... I endured it hard and swallowed all the tears.
Wu Zhi: Uncle really didn't cry?
Tajima: Hey. Didn't cry. There are too many things a man to endure. So, you can't cry when your mother is hospitalized. Get it?
Tajima: Okay, go to sleep.
Takeshi and Tajima are the two sides of Ken Takakura, when he was young, Takakura Ken stubbornly resisted his mother, because there were always people in the world who shielded him from the wind and rain, but when he grew up, he became a man, he tried his best to be a good person, he was polite to everyone, he was so sincere to everyone, but when he looked back, everything seemed to be in vain, wife, friends, career, gaining some always had to lose some. Because good people are difficult to do, you always have to fail so many people, so you are isolated, because you can't bear to hurt, so you simply treat everyone and everything equally.
Ken Takakura stood there, always giving a unique sense of loneliness, as if there was no such thing as this world, even in the camera, there was no crew around him. So he became different from most people, like Mt. Fuji, lonely and hidden with flames. But his inner feelings are so turbulent, as he himself said, what can touch people's hearts is never, money and power, this material thing, is a completely different thing, is decades of care for life and life, is a very real thing, is the kind of mutual understanding between people and people, even if I keep a distance from you, but my feelings for you, will not fade.
So, Mr. Ken Takakura, please sleep peacefully in the breeze.