Harumi Hanayagi

Harumi Hanayagi (花柳 はるみ, Hanayagi Harumi, 24 February 1896 – 11 October 1962) was a pioneering Japanese film and stage actress.

Harumi Hanayagi
花柳はるみ
Hanayagi in Maid of the Deep Mountains (1918)
Born	(1896-02-24)February 24, 1896 Kashima District, Ibaraki, Japan
Died	October 11, 1962(1962-10-11) (aged 66)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1915–1928

Career

In 1915, Hanayagi became a student at the Geijutsuza, the modern theater troupe led by Hōgetsu Shimamura and Sumako Matsui, and made her stage debut.^[1] She moved to the Tōjisha troupe in 1917 and appeared with them in a series of films directed by Norimasa Kaeriyama for Tenkatsu, starting with The Glow of Life (released 1919).^[1] In an era where female roles on screen were played by male actors (onnagata), Hanayagi was considered "the first billed appearance of a female performer" in Japanese cinema,^[2] even though actresses such as Nakamura Kasen had appeared in earlier films or in rensageki, a combination of film and live stage performance.^[3][4] After appearing in more films, she focused her career on the stage after 1920, eventually appearing in the Tsukiji Little Theater as well as the proletarian theater of Tomoyoshi Murayama.^[1] She retired in 1928 after getting married.^[1]

Selected filmography

• The Glow of Life (1919)
• The Maid of the Deep Mountains (1919)