Screen Standing on the Edge of Light: Between Purity and Modernity (1953-1968) by Izumi Ashikawa

Screen Standing on the Edge of Light: Between Purity and Modernity (1953-1968) by Izumi Ashikawa

Izumi Ashikawa was born in Tokyo in 1935, and made her debut in 1953 when she caught the eye of Yuzo Kawashima. She later moved to Nikkatsu, where she left a strong mark in a short period of time. His soft transparency, restrained facial expressions, and occasional boldness were all "new and clear" to contemporary audiences. Her soft transparency, restrained expression, and occasional boldness gave contemporary audiences a sense of "new purity," and she eventually became one of the faces of Nikkatsu's golden age. In her personal life, she married actor Tatsuya Fuji and left the silver screen in 1968. This history is typical of a star who grew up in the studio system of the time and stepped down at the top.

His best-known film was Tomotaka Tasaka's "Nanny" (1956), his first collaboration with Yujiro Ishihara. In her first collaboration with Yujiro Ishihara, she played a college girl who is shaken by a family secret with a fresh touch, and established her position as an indispensable partner in Yujiro's later works. The story depicted the cracks in the family and society from her point of view, and became a new milestone in postwar melodrama.

Ashikawa also shines in Yuzo Kawashima's masterpieces. In "Bakumatsu Taiyouden" (1957), she was part of the splendid cast and showed agile reactions and a fresh presence, raising the temperature of the screen to a higher level amidst a group of people running through the Edo atmosphere. In "Suzaki Paradise: The Red Light" (1956), his gaze on a corner of the entertainment district leaves a human warmth in the space between desolation and humor. In the latter, he plays a small role as a clerk at a soba noodle shop, but he perfectly matches the pacing of Kawashima's direction and changes the breath of the scene.

In the coming-of-age tale "Hikari no Aruzaka Sakaido" (1958), based on an original story by Yojiro Ishizaka, she played the role of sisters who insert a family dynamic into the melodrama woven by Yujiro Ishihara and Mie Kitahara. As Nikkatsu's publicity materials indicate, Ashikawa, as Kumiko, the younger sister of the Tashiro family, placed the brightness and shadows of the city in the location scenery of Ginza and along the Tama River. This was an era of high economic growth, when youth culture was quickly coming to the forefront. Her sophistication was a specimen of that very landscape and a life-size admiration of the audience.

Compared to her contemporaries, Ruriko Asaoka's "urban strength," Yoko Minamida's "mature glamour," and Sayuri Yoshinaga's "enduring purity," who would later rise to prominence, Izumi Ashikawa's "neatness with a touch of sway" seems to respond to their needs. Rather than witty dialogue, the play focuses on a moment of silence or a look back. Through this soft lens, we can see the new image of women that postwar films were searching for. The fact that she was also called the "Japanese Audrey Hepburn" is a testament to her acceptance at the time.

The basic information on her career, major filmography, spouses, and years of activity is arranged in an encyclopedic style, and the English edition also provides a concise summary of her career from her debut in 1953 to her retirement in 1968. In the midst of the postwar studio-produced youth films and genre dramas, Izumi Ashikawa was a "modest but strong light" that shone in every corner of the screen. That light is still being seen today in restored screenings and retrospective features.