Ichirō Nagai

If you grew up in Japan, you have heard Ichiro Nagai even if you never learned his name. He voiced Namihei Isono, the short-tempered father in Sazae-san, from 1969 until his death in 2014 - some forty-five years in the same chair, every Sunday evening. What gets me is how he arrived there: born in Ikeda, Osaka, educated at Kyoto University, credited as a television director as well as an actor. He could have stayed behind the camera. Instead he became the country's most familiar father, plus Sado in Space Battleship Yamato and the grave narration of Mobile Suit Gundam. His 2009 Seiyu Awards Merit Award reads less like a prize than an admission that he had become furniture in Japanese homes.

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Name (English)

Ichirō Nagai

Name (Japanese)

永井一郎

Reading

ながい いちろう

Born

May 10, 1931 – January 27, 2014

Origin

Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Weight

55 kg

Occupation

actor / seiyū / television director

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Goat

Blood type

A

Agency

青二プロダクション（最終所属）

University

Kyoto University

Awards & achievements

• 2009 Seiyu Awards Merit Award

Works summary

Appearances

824 (1956–2026)

By year

1956: 1, 1960: 3, 1963: 1, 1964: 2, 1967: 2, 1969: 3, 1971: 1, 1972: 3, 1973: 1, 1975: 1, 1976: 1, 1977: 2, 1978: 3, 1979: 3, 1980: 3, 1981: 3, 1982: 2, 1984: 1, 1985: 1, 1986: 5, 1987: 3, 1988: 5, 1989: 3, 1990: 2, 1991: 3, 1993: 1, 1994: 8, 1995: 2, 1996: 2, 1997: 2, 1998: 2, 1999: 2, 2000: 2, 2001: 6, 2002: 2, 2003: 3, 2004: 2, 2005: 2, 2006: 1, 2007: 4, 2008: 2, 2009: 7, 2010: 5, 2011: 4, 2012: 3, 2013: 3, 2014: 2, 2015: 1, 2016: 1, 2020: 1, 2022: 1, 2026: 1

Debut work

トランプの国

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://www.aoni.co.jp/search/nagai-ichiro.html
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichir%C5%8D%20Nagai
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B8%E4%BA%95%E4%B8%80%E9%83%8E
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2271226

Tags

• Osaka Prefecture
• actor
• seiyū
• television director

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.