Yoshio Inaba

Yoshio Inaba is one of those actors who might not ring a bell by name, but the moment you picture Seven Samurai — that lean, coiled figure playing Gorobei, the warrior who laughs at danger right up until he joins the cause — you realize you've known him all along. Born in Narita, Chiba in 1920, he came up through the Haiyuza Theatre Company, and that stage discipline shows: even in the chaos of Kurosawa's battle scenes he's never mugging, never wasting a move. He kept working across four decades, turning up in Throne of Blood, Harakiri, and more, always the kind of reliable presence that holds a scene together without demanding the spotlight. That's a rare gift, and honestly an underrated one.

Yoshio Inaba (July 15, 1920 – April 20, 1998) was a Japanese actor born in Narita, Chiba Prefecture. He attended Nihon University. Details of his active career period and specific works are not publicly documented in available records.

Name (English)

Yoshio Inaba

Name (Japanese)

稲葉義男

Reading

いなば よしお

Born

July 15, 1920 – April 20, 1998

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Monkey (申)

Origin

Narita, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Actor

University

Nihon University

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A8%B2%E8%91%89%E7%BE%A9%E7%94%B7

Tags

• Born in Chiba 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.