Yōko Tsukasa

is a Japanese actress. During her sixty-year career, she worked with directors such as Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Akira Kurosawa. For her role in The Kii River she was awarded the Blue Ribbon Award, Mainichi Film Award and Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actress.

Life Yōko Tsukasa was born Yōko Shōji (庄司 葉子) in Watari-cho, Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture.

Tsukasa attended Tottori Prefectural Sakai High School and graduated from Kyoritsu Women's Junior College in 1954.

She married politician and attorney Hideyuki Aizawa (1919–2019) in 1969 and reduced her acting activities after 1971 to care for her family. Their son Hiromitsu married singer and actress Shōko Aida.

Tsukasa was head of the "Nihon Taishō Mura" (Japan Taisho Village) open air museum in Ena, Gifu Prefecture, from 1999 to 2015. In 2021, she was honoured with a memorial hall in Nihon Taishō Mura.

Selected filmography Films

Marital Relations (1955) A Holiday in Tokyo (1958) Life of an Expert Swordsman (1959) The Birth of Japan (1959) Late Autumn (1960) Yojimbo (1961) The End of Summer (1961) Chūshingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki (1962) The Kii River (1966) Samurai Rebellion (1967) Scattered Clouds (1967) Admiral Yamamoto (1968) Goyokin (1969) Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor (1969) Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) Queen Bee (1978) Mifune: The Last Samurai (2015)

Television Daichūshingura (1971) Haru no Sakamichi (1971), Lady Kasuga Ōoku (1983) The Women of Osaka Castle (1983), Oichi Ohisama (2011)

Honours Medal with Purple Ribbon (2003) Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2010) Japan Academy Chairman's Achievement Award (2020)