Kitaoji Kinya, born February 23, 1943 in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, is a Japanese actor. He is the son of famous jidaigeki film star Utaemon Ichikawa, and graduated from Waseda University School of Letters, Arts and Sciences in Tokyo. Following his father's footsteps, Kitaoji's career is renowned for his jidaiki work , appearing in Taiga drama for a total of 8 times and many other films. He made his debut with his father in the 1956 Toei film "Oyakodaka" in the role of Katsu Kaishu. He is a contemporary of, and was taken to be a rival of, Matsukata Hiroki, who was also the son of a famous actor (Konoe Jushiro). In 1964, he made his first appearance on stage in Cyrano de Bergerac. The 1960s and 1970s saw him in many contemporary roles. He appeared in "Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima" and "Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode" as well as "Karei naru Ichizoku". The title role in the 1975 film "Takehisa Yumeji" was his. Later in the 2007 TV drama adaptation of "Karei naru Ichizoku", he portrayed the role of Manpyo Daisuke. On television, Kitaoji portrayed Miyamoto Musashi in the Nippon Television show of the same name. A major historical role was Sakamoto Ryoma in the year-long prime-time NHK Taiga drama "Ryoma ga Yuku" (1968). He landed the title role in the long-running cop show "Zenigata Heiji", set in the Edo period. In the 1985 twelve-hour New Year special "Fuun Yagyu Bugeicho", he played Yagyu Jubei, and in the following year's special, he portrayed both Tokugawa Yoshimune and Yagyu Shinrokuro. The role of another shogun fell to him in the following new year as TV Tokyo tapped him to play Tokugawa Iemitsu. Kitaoji returned to NHK for the 1987 Taiga drama "Dokuganryu Masamune" as Date Terumune, father of title character Date Masamune. In 2008, Kitaoji revisited the role of Katsu Kaishu in the Taiga drama "Atsuhime". He had portrayed Katsu in his 1956 debut. Other historical characters he had portrayed include Oishi Kuranosuke, Azai Nagamasa, Saito Dosan, and Yamamoto Kansuke. In the recent years, Kitaoji played the father figure characters in the Hanzawa Naoki and Keiji 7-nin series. Kitaoji was awarded with a Medal of Honors with Purple ribbon by the Government of Japan in 2007. (Source: Wikipedia)

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