Daisuke Katō

Daisuke Katō (加東 大介, Katō Daisuke, February 18, 1911 – July 31, 1975) was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 films, including Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (as the loyal comrade Shichiroji), Rashomon, Yojimbo (as the "wild pig" Inokichi), and Ikiru, and Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy and Chushingura.

Career

Born as Tokunosuke Katō to a theatrical family, his older brother was the actor Kunitarō Sawamura and his older sister the actress Sadako Sawamura. He joined the Zenshinza theatre troupe in 1933 and appeared in a number of stage and film productions under the stage name Enji Ichikawa, including Sadao Yamanaka's Humanity and Paper Balloons and Kenji Mizoguchi's The 47 Ronin. After spending the war in New Guinea, he returned to Japan and signed with the Daiei Film studio, appearing now under the name Daisuke Katō. Beyond appearing in many great postwar jidaigeki, he was also a regular in the Company President (Shachō) comedy series at Toho.

His book on his wartime experiences, Minami no shima ni yuki ga furu, published in 1961, was adapted into an NHK television drama and twice made into a film.