A one-armed man in a kimono used to look on the Oda household dwelling annually, bowing silently with piercing eyes — a determine the younger Ken Takakura would later name “a lone wolf.”
Long earlier than he grew to become one in every of Japan’s most iconic movie stars, celebrated for his stoic and honorable tough-guy roles, he watched males like this with quiet consideration.
More than 11 years after Takakura’s dying, his youthful sister Toshiko Mori, now 90, recalled recollections like these as she spoke to Kyodo News whereas getting ready to go away her longtime dwelling in Nakama, Fukuoka Prefecture — the place Takakura is buried with their dad and mom — for Tokyo, the place she shall be cared for by household attributable to her age.
Takakura was the second of 4 siblings, 4 years older than Mori, the youngest. The household lived close to the Chikuho coalfield in Fukuoka Prefecture, a setting that formed a lot of their adolescence.
Their father, Toshiro Oda, held a senior place with the coal mine operator, and younger miners typically visited their dwelling. Mori remembered how open-minded and approachable her father was, all the time prepared to speak with the miners who stopped by.
But when time for supper arrived, he would ship them off with a “Come again,” decided to protect the household custom of sitting collectively for the night meal.
Among the many individuals who got here and went from their dwelling, the one-armed man stood out vividly in Mori’s reminiscence.
She recalled how, annually throughout the summer season Obon pageant and the New Year’s holidays, he would first ship a letter in neat brush calligraphy asserting his go to.
When he arrived, he wore a kimono and moved briskly regardless of having misplaced an arm, mentioned to have been severed by a yakuza gangster. When greeted, he merely bowed, his sharp gaze leaving an enduring impression.
Mori remembered asking her brother years later — as soon as he started starring in yakuza movies — whether or not he had discovered something from the person’s demeanor. Laughing, Takakura instructed her, “Ah, that’s not easy to pull off. He was the real deal.”
For Mori, it was clear that rising up round males like him helped form the authenticity that distinguished Takakura’s performances.
Although Takakura grew to become identified to audiences as a stoic, brooding presence, Mori remembered how light he could possibly be, particularly with their mom, Takano.
As an elementary faculty boy, he developed a lung illness after diving right into a pond, and Takano fearful deeply. Even in winter, she would grill eel for him open air over a charcoal hearth, attempting every thing she may to assist him get better.
After their mom died, Mori believes Takakura might have continued trying to find reminders of her compassion on the planet round him.
That tenderness surfaced throughout the filming of his 2012 film “Dearest” in Nagasaki Prefecture.
Takakura phoned Mori to explain ladies in a fishing village who introduced flowers and water to their household graves each morning. From the hilltop overlooking the ocean, they prayed for the security of husbands and sons heading out of port, and Mori remembered how completely happy he sounded as he instructed her concerning the scene.
On the tenth anniversary of Takakura’s Nov 10, 2014, dying, Mori acquired a Hirado-yaki porcelain merchandise from a Nagasaki potter.
Mori later discovered from the potter that Takakura had visited him throughout a filming break and had needed to purchase the piece “at any price.” Placed inside a picket field, the merchandise was a Buddha head, its white porcelain pores and skin bearing a delicate smile. “It looked exactly like our mother,” mentioned Mori.
Mori visited the Oda household grave on Oct 10 and whispered to her brother, “you should be happy now.”
She misses her hometown and her household, she mentioned, however lately Takakura appeared in a dream after an extended absence and instructed her, merely, “Good luck.”
© KYODO