Yukiko Todoroki


Yukiko Todoroki was a Japanese actress. Her real name was Tsuruko Nishiyama. She participated in the Takarazuka Revue. At Takarazuka, she was known not by her real name, but by the stage name Toruko. Her birthplace was Shinbori, Azabu-ku in Tokyo. Her two ex-husbands were film directors Masahiro Makino and Koji Shima. Her son is Masayuki Makino, the principal of Okinawa Actors School. Anna Makino, a former member of idol group Super Monkey's, is her granddaughter.

History and personal life

In 1931, she left Kyoto Prefectural Suzaku Senior High School to join the Takarazuka Revue. Shidare Itoi and Tomiko Hattori also joined the company at the same time. These Japanese beauties became very popular. In 1937, she left Takarazuka and had her debut as Otsu in the Nikkatsu production Musashi Miyamoto: Earth Scroll. It is said this was revenge by the four existing film companies against Toho's Kazuo Hasegawa. While shooting Edo no Arawashi, she met Nikkatsu director Masahiro Makino. She married him in 1940. The same year, her eldest son, Masayuki Makino, was born.
In 1942, due to government intervention, Nikkatsu's production division was forced to merge with other companies to form Daiei Studios. However, Todoroki did not join Daiei; she moved to Toho, to which her husband Makino was then attached.
In 1943, she gained popularity for portraying the heroine Sayo Murai in Akira Kurosawa's debut film, Sanshiro Sugata. That same year she had a hit with the theme song to Hanako-san, Otsukai wa jitensha ni notte.
After the war, she divorced Makino, married Koji Shima, then divorced him. In the post-war period, she gained weight and was gradually forced into supporting roles. For example, she played Hideki Takahashi's mother in the television series Otoko no monshō from 1963 to 1966.
On May 11, 1967, at 17:15, she died in Komae, Tokyo of post-hepatic jaundice. She was 49 years old.

Selected filmography