Shima Iwashita


Shima Shinoda, better known as Shima Iwashita, is a Japanese actress who has appeared in about 100 films and many TV productions. She is married to film director Masahiro Shinoda, in whose films she has frequently appeared. She won the award for best actress at the 2nd Hochi Film Award for her performance in Shinoda's Ballad of Orin.

Heritage

Iwashita's father was the actor and film producer Kiyoshi Nonomura （野々村潔）. Her maternal aunt Shizue Yamagishi （山岸しづ江）was married to the kabuki actor Kawarasaki Chōjūrō IV （四代目　河原崎長十郎）, who starred in Sadao Yamanaka's 1937 Humanity and Paper Balloons, one of the most influential early Japanese talkies, and was one of the founders in 1931 of the Zenshinza Theatre Company （劇団前進座）.

Education

After attending No 3 Municipal Primary School and No 3 Municipal Middle School in Musashino City to the west of Tokyo, Iwashita proceeded first to Tokyo Metropolitan Musashi High School then Myōjō Gakuen High School before entering the Arts Faculty of Seijo University, which she left before taking a degree.

Career

In a career lasting 60 years, Iwashita has appeared in some 40 TV productions and about 100 films. She made her TV debut in 1958 in the daytime drama serial Basu-dōri ura （バス通り裏: Just Off the Main Street）. Her first film role was in Keisuke Kinoshita's 1960 The River Fuefuki （笛吹川: Fuefukigawa）. She remained with the production company Shōchiku from then until 1976. Also in 1960, she had the small part of a young woman at a reception desk in Yasujirō Ozu's Late Autumn （秋日和: Akibiyori）. Ozu again cast her as Chishū Ryū's daughter Michiko in the 1962 An Autumn Afternoon, his last film. According to the critic Nobuo Chiba, Ozu had Iwashita in mind for a role in the film he was preparing at the time of his death, Radishes and Carrots （大根と人参: Daikon to ninjin） In an article in the 12 October 2011 edition of the weekly magazine Shūkan Shinchō（週刊新潮）, Iwashita was quoted as saying that whenever she is abroad she is still very frequently asked about Ozu. In 1986, she starred in Gokudō no onnatachi （極道の妻たち: Yakuza Wives）, which turned out to be the first in a series of 16 immensely popular films.
Iwashita has appeared in a large number of commercials for a variety of products. For many years she was the face of the Nippon Menard Cosmetic Company.
Iwashita has been married to the director Masahiro Shinoda since 1967.

Selected filmography

Film

YearFilmRoleNotes
1960Late AutumnUketsuke no josei: woman on reception desk
1962HarakiriMiho Tsugumo
1962An Autumn AfternoonMichiko HirayamaLeading role
1963Twin Sisters of KyotoChieko/NaekoLeading role
1964AssassinationOren
1965Sword of the BeastTaka
1967Portrait of ChiekoChieko TakamuraLeading role
1969Double SuicideKoharu / OsanLeading role
1969Red LionTomi
1971SilenceKiku
1974HimikoHimikoLeading role
1977Ballad of OrinOrinLeading role
1978The DemonOumeLeading role
1978Bandits vs. Samurai SquadronChiyo
1982SuspicionRitsuko SaharaLeading role
1982OnimasaUta Kiryuin
1984MacArthur's ChildrenTome
1984Fireflies in the NorthYu Nakamura
1986Gonza the SpearmanOsai
1990Childhood DaysShizue Kazama
1993
1995SharakuTroupe Leader
1997Moonlight SerenadeFuji
1999Owls' CastleKita no Mandokoro
2003Spy SorgeMrs. Konoe

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1979Kusa MoeruHōjō MasakoLeading role, Taiga drama
1987Dokuganryū MasamuneYoshihimeTaiga drama
2000AoiOgōTaiga drama

Stage

On stage, Iwashita played Desdemona to the Othello of Keita Asari .

Honours