Chieko Higashiyama makes years of accommodating other people feel visible without much dialogue or display. Her Tomi in Tokyo Story is deeply moving, especially beside Chishū Ryū, with whom she makes a long marriage entirely believable.
Fi1m perspective
In Tokyo Story (1953), Chieko Higashiyama makes Tomi Hirayama’s willingness to accommodate others feel like a habit acquired over years. Beside Chishū Ryū’s Shukichi Hirayama, she suggests a marriage in which both people have learnt to make allowances. We were moved by how readily Tomi accommodates others, because Higashiyama makes that patience feel practised rather than saintly. She gives the couple’s visit weight without making its modest events seem larger than they are.
Her film career began in 1936 after extensive stage work, and continued until 1967. Often cast as mothers or older women, she brought an understated style to parts that might otherwise be reduced to their place in a family. In Early Summer (1951), she plays Shige Mamiya for Yasujirō Ozu; in The Idiot (1951), she is Satoko, Ayako’s mother. Her work beyond Ozu also includes Myokai, the old nun in Mizoguchi’s The Life of Oharu (1952).
What works particularly well in Tokyo Story is that neither actor needs to dominate their scenes for the couple to matter. Ryū makes Shukichi’s affection persuasive even when the children are difficult to forgive, and Higashiyama gives Tomi equal emotional weight. Ozu’s restrained approach suits her ability to do this with little dialogue or overt expression. We can register the hurt of ordinary neglect while still watching a family whose failings have not made them villains.
The caution is that this kind of acting needs attention, and Tokyo Story’s deliberate pace asks for some patience at first. Higashiyama does not supply a conspicuous performance to carry us through that adjustment; the pleasure is in gradually accepting Tomi as someone we know. That quietness should not be confused with a small contribution to the film, particularly in her partnership with Ryū. Start with Tokyo Story, and give its family time to become familiar.
Biography
Chieko Higashiyama was a Japanese stage and film actress. Born on 30 September 1890 in Chiba, she trained at the Tsukiji Shōgekijō after deciding to become an actress in 1925 at the age of 35. She appeared in many stage productions, notably as Madame Ranevskaya in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard.
Higashiyama appeared in more than 60 films between 1936 and 1967. She is known for her roles as Tomi Hirayama in Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953), Shige Mamiya in Early Summer (1951) and Satoko in The Idiot (1951). She received the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1956 and was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 1966. She died on 8 May 1980.
