Samurai Actors From Back in the Day

The other day I watched 13 Assassins.  I really  liked it.  I watched it twice.

Here's a YouTube trailer.

Matsukata Hiroki was in it, and it totally blew my mind.  I remembered watching samurai movies when I was a kid, and he was in a lot of um.  He looked exactly the same in 13 Assassins as he did back then. And he fought the same . . . he looked great . . . not like an old man.   I was confused at first . . . and then I was just amazed.

I checked him out online.  He was born in 1942 and started acting when he was 17 years old.  Here is how he looked back then. He looks the same, yah!  I got to wondering if some of my other favorite actors were still alive.

 

Okawa Hashizo (1929 - 1984)

Nakamura Kinnosuke (1932 - 1997)

Otomo Ryutaro (1912 - 1985)

Ichikawa Utaemon (1907 - 1999)

Tsukigata Ryunosuke (1902 - 1970)

All of the above actors were in a 1961 movie called Ako Roshi, a star-studded adaption of the 47 Ronin story.  I would love to see it.