--- name: "Kyôko Kishida" canonical: "https://film.one/person/kyoko-kishida" fi1m_id: "kyoko-kishida" imdb_id: "nm0457219" tmdb_id: 94188 wikidata_id: "Q2025956" roles: ["Actor"] born: "29 April 1930" died: "17 December 2006" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 87 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-26T15:23:26.101408+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." --- # Kyôko Kishida ## Identity Kyôko Kishida - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/kyoko-kishida - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** kyoko-kishida - **IMDb ID:** nm0457219 - **TMDB ID:** 94188 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2025956 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Dko_Kishida, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2025956, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0457219/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/94188 Actor. Born 29 April 1930 in Suginami, Tokyo, Japan. Died 17 December 2006. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 29 April 1930, Suginami, Tokyo, Japan - **Died:** 17 December 2006 - **Active:** 1962–1964 - **Also known as:** Kyoko Kishida, Кёко Кисида, کیوکو کیشیدا - **Average Fi1m score:** 87, as actor, over 2 titles - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Dko_Kishida, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2025956, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0457219/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/94188 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*An Autumn Afternoon*](https://film.one/film/an-autumn-afternoon.md) (86) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Kyôko Kishida > Kyôko Kishida is known abroad for one part, the widow in the pit in *Woman in the Dunes*, and it deserves the attention. She plays a woman who has stopped arguing with her circumstances, and that is more unsettling than any struggle. The first time we see Kyôko Kishida properly in *Woman in the Dunes* (1964), she is asleep, and a film of sand so fine has settled on her that she looks like a statue nobody has dusted. It is a fair introduction. Hiroshi Teshigahara's film keeps an insect collector (Eiji Okada) at the bottom of a pit for most of its 147 minutes, and Kishida is the widow who lives there and shovels sand all night while men above haul it up in baskets. Okada does the talking. Kishida laughs at his plans without unkindness and talks about the sand the way farmers talk about weather, and the longer she does it the less certain we are that he is the sane one. We expected the film's horror to come from the pit. It came from her calm. She never raises her voice about the sand; she treats it as something you live with, like rain, and we found that acceptance more frightening than anything the villagers do from the rim. Okada is quick and vain and we found him tiresome for a while. Kishida is quieter and better, and she lets him be tiresome without competing, which is a generosity not every lead performer manages. She came to film from the stage. She joined the Bungakuza company in 1950 and made her name in the theatre in Yukio Mishima's 1960 production of *Salome*, the same year Kon Ichikawa gave her a first proper screen part in *Her Brother*. Supporting roles followed for Masaki Kobayashi in *The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer* (1961) and for Yasujirō Ozu, as Madame Kaoru in his last film, *An Autumn Afternoon* (1962). Then 1964 brought two leads at once: the pit for Teshigahara, and the bored housewife Sonoko in Yasuzō Masumura's *Manji*, an erotic melodrama about a relationship between two women of a kind Japanese cinema had rarely put on screen. The directors who kept her were the ones with a taste for the strange. Ichikawa cast her twelve times. Teshigahara used her again as the nurse in *The Face of Another* (1966), another Kōbō Abe script, and once more, after a long gap, in *Rikyu* (1989). Her later years went largely into television and voice work, including *Moomin*, and almost none of that has travelled, which is why for most readers here she remains one part in one film. Start with the pit. Most of what came after is harder to find, and that is our loss rather than her fault. ## Biography Kyōko Kishida (29 April 1930 – 17 December 2006) was a Japanese actress and voice actress. Born in Suginami, Tokyo, she was the daughter of playwright Kunio Kishida. She joined the Bungaku-za theatre company in 1950 and made her stage breakthrough in Yukio Mishima's production of Salome in 1960. Kishida's film roles include Madame Kaoru in Yasujirō Ozu's *An Autumn Afternoon* (1962) and the lead in Hiroshi Teshigahara's *Woman in the Dunes* (1964). Other credits encompass *The Face of Another* (1966), *Manji* (1964) and *The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer* (1961). She appeared in four NHK Taiga drama series and provided the voice of Moomin in the 1960s anime series, as well as narration for other animated works. She was married to actor Noboru Nakaya from 1954 until their divorce in 1978. Kishida continued working in film and television until shortly before her death from respiratory failure caused by a brain tumour. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, nytimes.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Woman in the Dunes* (1964), Fi1m 88, as The Woman — [page](https://film.one/film/woman-in-the-dunes.md) - *An Autumn Afternoon* (1962), Fi1m 86, as Madame Kaoru — [page](https://film.one/film/an-autumn-afternoon.md) ## Complete filmography (154) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Wool 100%* (2006), as Ume - *Under the Same Moon* (2005), as Azumaya - *Love Song* (2005), series, Actor - *Spring Snow* (2005), Actor - *The Book of the Dead* (2005), as Narrator (voice) - *Natsumeke no Shokutaku* (2005), series, Actor - *Higuchi Ichiyo Monogatari* (2004), Actor - *女の中の二つの顔* (2004), series, Actor - *Onna no naka no futatsu no kao* (2004), Actor - *Joi - Yu* (2004), series, Actor - *稲垣吾郎の金田一耕助シリーズ* (2004), series, as Kōkin Miyagawa - *Tracing Jake* (2004), Actor - *Bewitched In Tokyo* (2004), series, as Sakura - *Winter Days* (2003), Actor - *Animal Doctor* (2003), series, Actor - *Lone Wolf and Cub* (2002), series, as Narrator - *AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo* (2002), series, Actor - *HR* (2002), series, as Yagita's mother - *Princess Tutu* (2002), series, as Narrator (voice) - *The Private Detective Mike* (2002), series, Actor - *Vengeance for Sale* (2002), as Otome - *Nurseman* (2002), series, Actor - *Legendary Crocodile, Jake and His Fellows* (2001), Actor - *Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji* (2001), Actor - *オヤジ探偵* (2001), series, Actor - *Chloe* (2001), as Cleaning Lady - *Dora-heita* (2000), as Lady of the Sister Wind - *Shinsengumi* (2000), Actor - *Maikosan wa Meitantei!* (1999), series, Actor - *Good News* (1999), series, Actor - *Tokugawa Yoshinobu* (1998), series, as Matsushima - *Forbidden Fruit* (1997), series, as Mizukoshi Ayako - *To Love* (1997), as Taeko Kano - *Love Song of the Old Capital* (1997), Actor - *The 8-Tomb Village* (1996), as Kotake Tajimi / Koume Tajimi - *Haunted School 2* (1996), as School Master - *Edo Murasaki Limited Express* (1995), Actor - *Fusa* (1995), Actor - *Gokenin Zankuro* (1995), series, as Zankurô's mother - *Dark Hunter* (1994), as Ohama - *Karin* (1993), series, as 小森晶乃 - *Kagi-shi* (1993), series, Actor - *Zodiac Killers* (1991), as Old geisha Miyako (cameo) - *Noh Mask Murders* (1991), as Natsu Mizukami - *Heaven and Earth* (1990), as Maid-In-Waiting - *Briar-Rose or the Sleeping Beauty* (1990), as Narration (voice) - *道連れ* (1990), series, Actor - *Tales of the Bizarre* (1990), series, Actor - *Rikyu* (1989), as Wife - *Crane* (1988), as Kichibi - *Princess from the Moon* (1987), as Kōgō or Empress - *Tokyo Bordello* (1987), as Narrator - *Sure Death 4* (1987), as Benten - *Let's Gotokuji* (1987), Actor - *A Tale of Young Elopement* (1987), as Nobuko Kitashiro - *Actress* (1987), as Kuginukiya - *The Sea and Poison* (1986), as Ohba, Head Nurse - *The Hall of the Crying Deer* (1986), Actor - *Fujiko Fujio's Dream Camera* (1986), Actor - *Spring Bell* (1985), as Fusako Ishimoto - *Shoujo ni Nani ga Okotta ka* (1985), Actor - *Shoujo ni Nani ga Okotta ka* (1985), series, as Kie Azuma - *Shoujo ni nani ga okotta ka* (1985), series, Actor - *Seito shokun!* (1984), Actor - *Romansu* (1984), series, as 真之助の母・香木艶子 - *Detective Story* (1983), as Kimie Hasenuma - *Lullaby of Death* (1982), as Mayumi - *Japanese Criminal Records: Kurume Chapter* (1982), Actor - *Flame of Father and Son* (1981), Actor - *Rennyo and His Mother* (1981), Actor - *The Shogun's Vault I* (1981), Actor - *The S.S. Happiness Sets Sail* (1980), Actor - *Zoku zoku jiken* (1980), series, Actor - *Toward the Terra* (1980), as Grandmother (voice) - *A-Un* (1980), series, Actor - *The Inferno* (1979), as Shima Ikegata - *The 47 Ronins of Ako* (1979), series, as Ôishi Riku - *Unico: Black Cloud and White Feathers* (1979), Actor - *Nichiren* (1979), Actor - *Thumbelina* (1978), as Narrator / Gekoo (voice) - *Japanese Godfather: Ambition* (1977), as Naoko Anekoji - *Sugata Sanshiro* (1977), as Omon - *Utamaro's World* (1977), as Ochika - *Curse of the Dog God* (1977), as Kimiyo Tarumi - *The Inugami Family* (1976), as Koto Teacher - *Akai Unmei* (1976), series, Actor - *World Famous Fairy Tale Series* (1975), as Narrator (voice) - *Wounded Angels* (1974), series, as Ayabe Takako - *Prophecies of Nostradamus* (1974), as Narrator (Voice of the Prophecy) - *Onna: Sono Ai no Series* (1973), series, Actor - *Journey Into Solitude* (1972), as Mama, the girl's mother - *Sapporo Winter Olympics* (1972), as Narrator (voice) - *New Moomin* (1972), series, as Moomin (voice) - *Men and War II: Land of Love and Sorrow* (1971), as Sanko Otori - *A Woman Called En* (1971), Actor - *Haru no Sakamichi* (1971), series, as Yodo-dono - *Men and War I: Prelude to Destiny* (1970), as Sanko Otori - *Vixen* (1969), as Akie - *Moomin* (1969), series, as Moomin (voice) - *A Thousand and One Nights* (1969), as Miriam / Jaris (voice) - *Where did Sharaku go?* (1968), as Oharu Tsutaya - *The Time of Reckoning* (1968), as Chizuko Mochizuki - *The Shogun and His Mistresses* (1967), as Urao - *Who Is Gomez?* (1967), as Sonoko - *ゴメスの名はゴメス* (1967), series, Actor - *Mothers* (1967), as (voice) - *The Face of Another* (1966), as Nurse - *Warm Current* (1966), as Mikie Shima - *Conquest* (1965), as Kaoyo - *The Man Who Killed Six Women* (1965), Actor - *The School of Flesh* (1965), Actor - *Love* (1964), Actor - *Manji* (1964), as Sonoko Kakiuchi - *Homicide* (1964), as Fumiko Ando - *Brand of Evil* (1964), as Takazawa Mitsue - *Comedy: Cheerful Widow* (1964), Actor - *Hello, Baby* (1964), as Ms Okiyama - *Love and Greed* (1964), as Yoko Saijyo - *Woman in the Dunes* (1964), as The Woman — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/woman-in-the-dunes.md) - *Misandry* (1964), Actor - *Akō Rōshi* (1964), series, as Aguri - *Miren* (1963), as Yuki Kosugi - *Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai* (1963), as Lady Hagi - *Five Ronins* (1963), Actor - *At the Side of the Bridge 3* (1963), Actor - *Ninja, A Band of Assassins* (1962), as Inone - *An Autumn Afternoon* (1962), as Madame Kaoru — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/an-autumn-afternoon.md) - *Being Two Isn't Easy* (1962), as Chiyo's Friend - *A Flame at the Pier* (1962), as Reiko - *Human Zoo* (1962), Actor - *The Broken Commandment* (1962), as Inoko's wife - *Love at the Fogged Harbor* (1962), Actor - *Night Mist Makes Women Cry* (1962), as Yoshiko Hoshino - *The Diplomat's Mansion* (1961), as Ranko - *Challenge to Live* (1961), Actor - *Ten Women in Black* (1961), as Sayoko Goto - *The Harbor Lights* (1961), Actor - *The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer* (1961), as Ryûko - *Get 'em All* (1960), as Sally - *Her Brother* (1960), as Mrs. Tanuma - *Towering Waves* (1960), Actor - *The Twilight Story* (1960), Actor - *Just Barely* (1960), Actor - *Pilgrimage at Night* (1959), as Woman from Brothel - *Temptation on Glamour Island* (1959), as Sumiko Tsuboi - *The Days of Evil Women* (1958), Actor - *Blackmail* (1958), Actor - *Yurakucho 0 Street* (1958), as Nagasaki Detective - *The Lowest Man* (1958), as Sakie - *Yaneura no Onna-tachi* (1956), Actor - *The Bride Carries On* (1956), Actor - *Hanayome no tameiki* (1956), Actor - *An Inlet of Muddy Water* (1953), Actor - *Crystal House*, series, Actor ## Gallery - ![(Left) Kazuko Imai is a Japanese actress and voice actress. (Right) Kyoko Kishida Janpanese actress and voice actress. (1961)](https://film.one/media/person/3908257/gallery-bb5eec23a148.jpg) (Left) Kazuko Imai is a Japanese actress and voice actress. (Right) Kyoko Kishida Janpanese actress and voice actress. (1961) — 株式会社新潮社 (Shinchosha Publishing Co, Ltd.), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Kyoko_Kishida_1961-3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Kyôko Kishida](https://film.one/media/person/3908257/gallery-d2b4b02260db.jpg) Kyôko Kishida — 婦人生活社, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Fujin-Seikatsu-1954-September-1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![『砂の女』 (1964)](https://film.one/media/person/3908257/gallery-dbfcf14c32a3.jpg) 『砂の女』 (1964) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Eiga-Hyoron-1965-March-3.jpg/1280px-Eiga-Hyoron-1965-March-3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![『卍』（1964年）](https://film.one/media/person/3908257/gallery-aff5261450e4.jpg) 『卍』（1964年） — 国際情報社, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Manji-film-1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![『他人の顔』（1966年）](https://film.one/media/person/3908257/gallery-22bbef21a99e.jpg) 『他人の顔』（1966年） — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/The-Face-of-Another-1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) ## Awards ### Other awards — 3 won - Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Supporting Actress 1997: Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Supporting Actress (won) - Medal with Purple Ribbon 1994: Medal with Purple Ribbon (won) - Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Supporting Actress 1963: Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Supporting Actress (won), for *The Outcast* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © 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/kyoko-kishida