---
name: "Chieko Naniwa"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/chieko-naniwa"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "19 November 1907"
died: "22 December 1973"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T12:43:56.558221+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Chieko Naniwa

Actor. Born 19 November 1907 in Tondabayashi, Osaka, Japan. Died 22 December 1973.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 19 November 1907, Tondabayashi, Osaka, Japan
- **Died:** 22 December 1973
- **Also known as:** Тиэко Нанива, چیکو نانیوا

## Biography

Chieko Naniwa (born Kikuno Nanko, 19 November 1907 – 22 December 1973) was a Japanese actress. Born in Tondabayashi, Osaka, to poultry farmers, she began working at a bento shop aged eight and later as a waitress in Kyoto before joining a theatre troupe at eighteen. She appeared in films from the mid-1920s and performed on stage with the Shochiku Shin-Kigeki company until 1951.

She is known for roles including Okimi in Kenji Mizoguchi’s *A Geisha* (1953), Ubatake in *Sansho the Bailiff* (1954), the Forest Spirit in Akira Kurosawa’s *Throne of Blood* (1957) and Hatsu Sasaki in Yasujirō Ozu’s *Equinox Flower* (1958). Other credits include *Chikamatsu Monogatari* (1954), *Twenty-Four Eyes* (1954) and *The End of Summer* (1961). She won a Blue Ribbon Award for *A Geisha*, later worked in radio and ran an inn in Kyoto’s Arashiyama district.

Naniwa died of gastrointestinal bleeding in Tokyo. She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fourth Class.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Sansho the Bailiff* (1954), Fi1m 92, as Ubatake — [page](https://film.one/film/sansho-the-bailiff.md)

## Also known for

- *Throne of Blood* (1957), Old Ghost Woman
- *Equinox Flower* (1958), Hatsu Sasaki
- *Chikamatsu Monogatari* (1954), Okô
- *The End of Summer* (1961), Sasaki Tsune
- *Twenty-Four Eyes* (1954), Meshiya no Kamisan
- *A Geisha* (1953), Okimi
- *The Woman in the Rumor* (1954), Osaki

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/chieko-naniwa