Yukiyo Juju - Actress who colored the Showa and Heisei eras with her motherly and compassionate nature (1942-)

Yukiyo Juju - Actress who colored the Showa and Heisei eras with her motherly and compassionate nature (1942-)

Sachiyo Juju was born on November 23, 1942 in Shibuya, Tokyo. After modeling in high school, she began her career as an actress by appearing in NHK dramas, and in the 1960s, she appeared in Shochiku films, exuding an air of neatness and serenity. In her early years, she was noted for her beauty and grace, but she gained recognition for her roles in which she was not merely a star, but had a strong core.

In films, she appeared in the "War and Humanity" series (1970s, directed by Satsuo Yamamoto). In a profound story that questioned the responsibility of war and the nature of human beings, she played a woman with a complicated destiny, solidifying her status as a leading actress.

However, it was in TV dramas that her true value was widely recognized: in 1975, she co-starred with Momoe Yamaguchi in "Akai Giwaku (Red Suspicion)," in which she passionately played a mother with a daughter suffering from leukemia, and the way she tearfully watched over her daughter became a social phenomenon. Thereafter, she became a representative of the role of a mother in the Akai series, including "Akai Fate" and "Akai Shock," and strongly moved the hearts of viewers. She also played the role of Hoshunin, the mother of Date Masamune, in the 1987 NHK historical drama "Dokuganryu Masamune," and supported the success of the production, which recorded an average viewer rating of 39.7%. She expanded her range of roles by taking on the challenge of historical dramas in subsequent productions such as "Kasuga Boku" (1989).

He also worked energetically on stage, honing his expressive abilities in Shakespearean and contemporary plays. His activities were also diverse, including narration and essay writing, and his calm and intelligent manner became an appealing feature of his work.

While her contemporaries Yoko Yamamoto and Shima Iwashita embodied the image of an urban and intellectual woman, Juju excelled in maternal and humanistic roles and became a presence in many families. In the film industry, along with Sayuri Yoshinaga and Keiko Matsuzaka, she is regarded as one of the leading actresses of the late Showa and early Heisei periods.

From the Showa to the Heisei Era, she continued to show a strong presence as a "symbol of maternal love" in Japanese visual culture.