Uraji Yamakawa
山川 浦 路
Yamakawa in 1919
Born
Uraji Yamakawa / 山川 浦 路

(1885-11-15)15 November 1885
Japan
Died30 November 1947(1947-11-30) (aged 62)
Other namesUra Mita
OccupationActress
SpouseSōjin Kamiyama
Children1

Uraji Yamakawa (山川 浦路, Yamakawa Uraji, 15 November 1885 – 30 November 1947) was a Japanese actress, also credited as Ura Mita.

Career

A poster from a 1916 production of Macbeth in Tokyo, featuring Uraji Yamakawa as Lady Macbeth

In 1912, she and her actor husband were co-founders of the Modern Theatre Society (Kindaigeki Kyokai) in Tokyo, formed to bring new Western works to Japanese audiences.[1][2] In 1914, Yamakawa was considered one of "the foremost interpreters of roles in Western translations" among Japanese actresses.[3][4] Among her notable roles were Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler,[5] Gretchen in Goethe's Faust,[3] and Lady Macbeth, in which role she gave "a most remarkably untraditional sleep-walking scene".[6] The Modern Theatre Society ended in 1919, when the founders moved to the United States.[1][7]

She had small roles in two films during her time in America: The Devil Dancer (1927, now lost; a silent film directed by Fred Niblo) and Wu Li Chang (1930, a Spanish-language production).[8]

Personal life

Uraji Yamakawa was married to fellow Japanese actor Sōjin Kamiyama; they lived in California while Sōjin was appearing in American films.[9] After they separated, Yamakawa took bit parts, sold makeup, and cared for her adult son, Edward, who had tuberculosis. During this period, she was friends with novelist Toshiko Tamura.[10] However, during World War II she was relocated along with other Japanese-Americans, while her son was not sent together because of his illness (his subsequent fate is unknown). Yamakawa died in 1947, aged 62 years.

References

  1. 1 2 Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories (Penguin 2006): note 32. ISBN 9781101503096
  2. ↑ "Japanese Take up the Task of Westernizing Eastern Stage" Philadelphia Inquirer (June 29, 1913): 14. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  3. 1 2 Z. Kincaid, "Leading Actresses of Japan" The Theatre (July 1914): 31.
  4. ↑ Isma Dooly, "A Japanese Woman will Star in Drama" Atlanta Constitution (May 19, 1912): c11. via ProQuest
  5. ↑ Henrik Ibsen repertoire database, National Library of Norway.
  6. ↑ Eloise Roorbach, "Macbeth Acted in Japan" Theatre Magazine (October 1916): 290.
  7. ↑ "Japanese See Magda Presented in their Tongue" Honolulu Advertiser (March 21, 1919): 6. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  8. ↑ The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1 (University of California Press 1997): 184. ISBN 9780520209695
  9. ↑ "Eminent Actors from Far Japan Now in U. S." Evening News (July 23, 1919): 3. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  10. ↑ Anne E. Sokolsky, From New Woman Writer to Socialist: The Life and Selected Writings of Tamura Toshiko from 1936–1938 (BRILL 2015): 20-21. ISBN 9789004291072
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