Chikage Awashima - The Flower of the Popular School that Blossomed in the Burned-Out Area (Late 1940s - 1960s)

Chikage Awashima - The Flower of the Popular School that Blossomed in the Burned-Out Area (Late 1940s - 1960s)

Chikage Awashima joined Shochiku shortly after the end of World War II after performing in the Takarazuka Revue. In the immediate postwar period, Japan was trying to recover from the devastation of the war, and movies were a source of emotional support for the common people. She appeared in "Tenya Wanya" (1949), in which she portrayed a vivacious and cheerful woman, and the audience saw in her the hope of a new life. Her familiarity with the common people, combined with the dignity she had cultivated on the stage, made her an indispensable presence on the silver screen in the postwar era.

The 1950s was the golden age of Japanese cinema, and Awashima rode the wave of the golden age of Japanese cinema, producing a succession of representative works. In "Zenya and Hisaya" (1955), she played a prostitute in Osaka and portrayed the joys and sorrows of the common people together with Hisaya Morishige. In "Nigorie" (1953), he blended into the world of Kyoka Izumi's original story and delicately expressed the sorrows of women. In the "Ekimae Series" (1953), he brought to the forefront the laughter and lifestyle of the common people, making him a familiar presence in the lives of the audience. These performances established an image of the actress as more than just a comedic presence, but as an actress with both human warmth and pathos.

Compared to her contemporaries, Setsuko Hara was internationally acclaimed as a symbol of purity and idealized beauty, while Hideko Takamine became a national star with both intelligence and common sense in films such as "Twenty-Four Eyes. In contrast, Awashima embodied a more life-size "woman next door" for audiences and was directly related to the postwar lifestyle. Her face was commonplace, yet had a lively expression, attracting people with a sense of familiarity rather than glamor.

Thus, Chikage Awashima shined as a heroine of the common people who gave hope and sympathy to audiences against the backdrop of the transition from postwar reconstruction to rapid economic growth. Her footprints will be remembered in Japanese film history as "the flower of the common people who bloomed in the ruins of a burnt-out city.