Ushio Akashi

Born in 1898 in a small town in Tottori Prefecture at the tail end of the Meiji era, Ushio Akashi is one of those figures who makes you step back and appreciate just how deep the roots of Japanese cinema and theater actually go. He left a landowning family in rural Tottori, entered Waseda University and quit within months to follow the stage, which says everything about his nerve. He lived through 88 years that took Japan from the Meiji era all the way through postwar reconstruction — the entire arc of modern Japanese entertainment, basically — and his record runs from 1920s sword-fighting leads at Toa Kinema to more than 300 films, ending with decades of supporting work in Toei period dramas. I like to imagine him as someone quietly serious about the craft, the kind of actor who just kept showing up, doing the work, and letting the work speak.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Ushio Akashi (1898–1986) was a Japanese actor born in Shikano, Tottori Prefecture. After Waseda Jitsugyo School he briefly entered Waseda University in 1917 but left to study acting under Sojin Kamiyama. Active during the formative decades of Japanese cinema and theater, he lived to the age of 88. He became a sword-fighting star at Toa Kinema from 1924, led his own touring troupe, and after the war played supporting roles in Toei period films and in Twenty-Four Eyes, appearing in more than 300 films.

Name (English)

Ushio Akashi

Name (Japanese)

明石潮

Reading

あかし うしお

Born

September 11, 1898 – November 26, 1986

Origin

Shikano, Tottori Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Actor

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Dog

University

Waseda University

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%98%8E%E7%9F%B3%E6%BD%AE
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11512534

Tags

• Tottori Prefecture
• Actor

Last updated

September 26, 2026

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.