Shima Iwashita

Shima Iwashita (Japanese: 岩下志麻, Hepburn: Iwashita Shima, born 3 January 1941) is a Japanese stage and film actress who has appeared in films of Yasujirō Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi and most frequently of Masahiro Shinoda, her husband.^[1][2][3] She is best known for starring in the Yakuza Wives series of yakuza films between 1986 and 1998.^[4][5] In 2000, Iwashita ranked tenth on Kinema Junpo's readers' poll of the top female movie stars of the 20th century.^[6] In 2025, she was ranked fourth in a poll conducted by Sankei Shimbun on the top actresses of the Shōwa era.^[7]

Shima Iwashita
Iwashita in the April 1965 edition of Eiga Jōhō
Born	(1941-01-03) 3 January 1941 (age 84) Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1958–present
Spouse	Masahiro Shinoda ​ ​ (m. 1967; died 2025)​

Biography

Iwashita was born in Tokyo, Japan, as the eldest daughter of Kiyoshi Nonomura and Miyoko Yamagishi, both stage actors.^[1] In 1958, while still attending high school, she made her first television appearance in the NHK series Basu Tōri Ura.^[1] The following year, she entered the literature department of Seijo University,^[1] which she left without a degree.^[2] She joined the Shochiku film studio the same year (1960) and gave her debut in Keisuke Kinoshita's The River Fuefuki, but due to the film's long production time, it was her next film, Masahiro Shinoda's Dry Lake, which was released first.^[1] In 1961, she received the Blue Ribbon Newcomer Award.^[1]

Iwashita subsequently appeared in Yasujirō Ozu's last film, An Autumn Afternoon, Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri (both 1962), Noboru Nakamura's Twin Sisters of Kyoto (1963), in which she played a dual role, and many films by her husband Masahiro Shinoda like Assassination (1964) and Double Suicide (1969), in which she again played a dual role.^[1] Also in 1969, she appeared on stage in the role of Desdemona in Othello.^[1]

Iwashita is best known for starring in the Yakuza Wives series of female-led yakuza films, which are based on a book of interviews with the wives and girlfriends of real gangsters.^[4][5] Beginning with the first installment in 1986, she appeared in eight of the ten theatrical films, ending with 1998's Yakuza Wives: Decision.^[5]

In addition to her film work, she kept appearing on television and on stage,^[1][2] receiving numerous awards like the Blue Ribbon Award, the Kinema Junpo Award and the Mainichi Award for Best Actress.^[1]

Filmography (selected)

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes	Ref.
1960	Dry Lake			[8]
	The River Fuefuki	Ume
	Late Autumn	woman at reception desk
1961	Enraptured
1962	Harakiri	Miho Tsugumo
	An Autumn Afternoon	Michiko Hirayama
1963	Twin Sisters of Kyoto	Chieko / Naeko	Lead role
	A Legend or Was It?	Koeko Sonobe	Lead role
1964	Assassination	Oren
1965	Sword of the Beast	Taka
1966	The Kii River
1967	Portrait of Chieko	Chieko Takamura	Lead role
1969	Double Suicide	Koharu / Osan
	Red Lion	Tomi
1971	Silence	Kiku
1974	Himiko	Himiko	Lead role
1977	Ballad of Orin	Orin	Lead role
1978	The Demon	Oume	Lead role
	Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron	Chiyo
1982	Suspicion	Ritsuko Sahara	Lead role
	Onimasa	Uta Kiryuin
1984	MacArthur's Children	Tome
	Fireflies in the North	Yu Nakamura
1986	Gonza the Spearman	Osai
	Yakuza Wives	Tamaki Awazu	Lead role
1990	Childhood Days	Shizue Kazama
1993	Kozure Ōkami: Sono Chiisaki Te ni	Oharu
1995	Sharaku	Troupe Leader
1997	Moonlight Serenade	Fuji
1999	Owls' Castle	Kita no Mandokoro
2003	Spy Sorge	Mrs. Konoe		[9]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1979	Kusa Moeru	Hōjō Masako	Lead role; Taiga drama	[10]
1987	Dokuganryū Masamune	Yoshihime	Taiga drama	[11]
2000	Aoi	Ogō	Taiga drama	[12]

Awards and honours (selected)

• 1961: Blue Ribbon Newcomer Award^[1]
• 1969–70: Mainichi Film Award and Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actress for Double Suicide^[13]
• 1977–78: Blue Ribbon Award, Mainichi Film Award and Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actress in Ballad of Orin^[14][15]
• 1988: Kinuyo Tanaka Award (1988)^[16]
• 2004: Medal with Purple Ribbon
• 2012: Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette^[17]