Sumiko Fuji

Initially retiring in 1972 after getting married, she began appearing on TV in 1974 under her real name. She later returned to films in 1989 using the name Sumiko Fuji, and expanded her acting repertoire. She won the Blue Ribbon Award for best supporting actress in 1999 and 2006. She is married to the kabuki actor Onoe Kikugorō VII and is the mother of the actress Shinobu Terajima and the kabuki actor Onoe Kikugorō VIII.

• Name — Sumiko Fuji • Native Name — 富司 純子 • Birth Name — Junko Shundo • Born — 1 December 1945 • Birthplace — Gobō, Wakayama, Japan • Other Names — Junko Fuji • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1963–present • Spouse — Onoe Kikugorō VII

Fuji was born in Wakayama as the third child and younger daughter of future film producer Koji Shundo. Her family eventually moved to Osaka, where, as a big fan of Takarazuka Revue, Fuji started to attend a dancing, singing and acting school during junior high. At 17 her family moved to Kyoto, shortly after which her and her older sister Nobuko started to appear on the local TV show Hai Hai, Mahinadesu. After visiting Toei's Kyoto studio, Fuji attracted the attention of director Masahiro Makino, who invited her to appear in one of his films. Although Shundo initially opposed his daughter entering show business, wanting a "normal" life for her instead, he acquiesced figuring it would be better she work for Toei instead of their rivals. In 1963, Fuji made her film debut in Makino's Hashu Yukyoden: Otoko no Sakazuki, and went on to appear in 10 movies that year while making regular appearances on NHK and TV Asahi television dramas. Mark Schilling wrote that by the mid-1960s, Fuji was the leading actress for Toei, often playing the love interest for Kōji Tsuruta and Ken Takakura in Ninkyo eiga. But she reached her peak in popularity between 1968 and 1972, starring as a sword-wielding gambler in the Hibotan Bakuto series of films. In 1972, Fuji married a kabuki actor she met while making the NHK drama Minamoto no Yoshitsune. After making Makino's Kanto Hizakura Ikka, she retired from acting that same year. Schilling wrote that the popularity of Ninkyo eiga subsequently declined, and a search for a successor failed.

• Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1966) - Shizuka Gozen • Tobu ga Gotoku (1990) - Tenshōin • Hōjō Tokimune (2001) - Matsushita Zen-ni • Tenchijin (2009) - Kōdai-in Nene • Teppan (2010–2011) • A Day-Off of Ryoma Takeuchi (2020)