Chieko Baisho


Chieko Baisho is a Japanese actress and singer.
In Japan, she is well known for her performance as Sakura in the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series from 1969 until 1995. In addition, she has acted in many films directed by Yōji Yamada since the 1960s. She won the award for best actress at the 5th Hochi Film Award for A Distant Cry from Spring.

Voice acting

She sometimes performs as a voice actress, such as "Sophie" in Howl's Moving Castle in 2004. Although different voice actresses usually played young and old Sophie in the foreign dubs of the film, Baisho performed both roles alone, as well as the movie's theme song.

Singing career

She has had a career as a singer since her debut with the song "Shitamachi no Taiyō" in 1962, for which she won the "newcomer award" of the Japan Record Award. Her 1965 single, "Sayonara wa dance atoni", a cha-cha ballad, later had its melody inspire the 1992 song "Moonlight Densetsu", the theme song for the first four series of Sailor Moon. A cover by Mariko Takahashi would later appear in another Ghibli film, Only Yesterday.

Personal

She is the older sister of Mitsuko Baisho, who is also an actress.
She is married to the Japanese composer.

Filmography

YearFilmRoleDirector
1965Kiri no HataYoji Yamada
1969-2019Otoko wa Tsurai yo seriesSakura SuwaYoji Yamada
1970Where Spring Comes LateTamiko KazamiYoji Yamada
1977The Yellow HandkerchiefMitsue ShimaYoji Yamada
1980A Distant Cry from SpringTamiko KazamiYoji Yamada
1981StationKiriko MichioYasuo Furuhata
1981Mobile Suit Gundam - Movie IKamaria Ray Ryōji Fujiwara
1981UnicoWest Wind Toshio Hirata, Osamu Tezuka
1986Final TakeYukiYoji Yamada
1988Hope and PainTamiko ShimaYoji Yamada
1997Jungle Emperor LeoLyre Yoshio Takeuchi
2004Howl's Moving CastleSophie Hayao Miyazaki
2004The Hidden BladeMrs. KatagiriYoji Yamada
2008'Adult HatsukoYoji Yamada
2010'MitsuJunji Sakamoto
2013Tokyo NewcomerKimie IgarashiQingmin Jiang
2013It All Began When I Met YouKotoko OshimaKatsuhide Motoki
2014The Little HouseYoji Yamada
2019Dad, Chibi is GoneShōtarō Kobayashi
2019Weathering with YouTomi Tachibana Makoto Shinkai
2020461 Days of Bento: A Promise Between Father and SonNatsuko SuzumotoAtsushi Kaneshige

Honour