Ryūtarō Tatsumi

Ryūtarō Tatsumi is the kind of actor whose name alone makes you sit up a little straighter. Born in Hyogo in 1905 — Meiji Japan, for context, before radio, before talkies, before basically everything — he lived all the way to 1989, which means he personally witnessed Japan transform from a feudal empire into a modern industrial nation and came out the other side still working, still performing. That's not a career, that's a geological formation. His world was the shimpa and shin-kabuki stage, and when Japan finally gave him the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon in 1969, it felt less like recognition and more like the country quietly admitting it had been watching something extraordinary all along. We don't have a lot of personal details on file, but honestly? That tracks. Guys like this didn't do interviews about their favorite foods. They just showed up, learned their lines, and made the audience feel something. Quietly incredible.

Ryūtarō Tatsumi (April 20, 1905 – July 29, 1989) was a Japanese actor born in Hyogo Prefecture. Active across an era that spanned the final years of the Meiji period through the late Showa era, he dedicated his career to the performing arts. In 1969, he was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon (Shijuhosho), a state decoration recognizing distinguished contributions to culture and the arts.

Name (English)

Ryūtarō Tatsumi

Name (Japanese)

辰巳柳太郎

Reading

たつみ りゅうたろう

Born

April 20, 1905 – July 29, 1989

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Snake (Mi)

Origin

Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Actor

Awards & achievements

• 1969 — Medal with Purple Ribbon (Shijuhosho)

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%BE%B0%E5%B7%B3%E6%9F%B3%E5%A4%AA%E9%83%8E

Tags

• From Hyogo Prefecture
• Actor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.