Kenichi Hagiwara

Kenichi Hagiwara (萩原 健一, Hagiwara Ken'ichi, 26 July 1950 – 26 March 2019) was a Japanese singer and actor.

Ken'ichi Hagiwara
萩原健一
Born	Keizō Hagiwara July 26, 1950 Yono, Saitama, Japan
Died	March 26, 2019 (aged 68) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Actor, singer
Years active	1966–2019
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)
Spouse(s)	Hitomi Koizumi ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1978)​ Ayumi Ishida ​ ​ (m. 1980; div. 1984)​ Yuki ​ ​ (m. 1996; div. 2006)​ Rika Tomita ​ (m. 2011)​

Music career

Also known as Sho-Ken, he was the lead singer of The Tempters.[1] His group was blues rock style band of the Group Sounds scene, and gained big hits in late 1960s. Hagiwara was known for his good looks and wild vocal which appealed to both young male and female loyal fans like the Tigers.[2] After The Tempters, he formed the band PYG along with Kenji Sawada, the first true Japanese supergroup, a unit which included members of The Tigers, The Tempters, and The Spiders.[3] He was in the Donjuan R&R Band with Hideki Ishima, formerly of The Flowers Travelln' Band.[4]

Acting career

After being highly praised for his acting in the film The Rendezvous (1972), he appeared in many films and television shows, including many films directed by Tatsumi Kumashiro and such hit TV dramas as Taiyō ni hoero!, Kizudarake no tenshi, and Zenryaku ofukurosama.[5] He was still popular as an actor in the early 2000s,.[6]

Death

On 26 March 2019, Hagiwara died of a gastrointestinal stromal tumor at the age of 68 in a hospital in Tokyo. He had been fighting the disease since 2011, but with the strong hope of survival he declined to publicize the name of the disease.[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Za temputazu	Kenichi Yamakawa (Shôken)
1971	Kigeki: Inochi no nedan
1972	The Rendezvous	Burglar
	Niji wo watatte
1973	The Wanderers	Mokutaro
	Kaseki no mori
1974	Seishun no satetsu	Kenichiro Eto
1975	Ame no Amsterdam	Sakuda
	Afurika no hikari	Jun
1975	Yatsuhaka-mura	Tatsuya Terada
1979	Sono go no jingi naki tatakai	Customer
1980	Kagemusha	Takeda Katsuyori
1981	Masho no natsu - 'Yotsuya kaidan' yori	Iemon Tamiya
1982	To Trap a Kidnapper	Kazuo Furuya	Lead role
1983	Modori-gawa	Gakuyo Sonoda
1985	Capone Cries a Lot	Umiemon	Lead role
	Seburi Monogatari	Hajime Kinoshita	Lead role
	Love Letter	Shoichi Takehara	Lead role
1986	Minami e hashire, umi no michi o!	Ryuji Gondo
	Rikon shinai onna	Keiichi Iwatani
1987	Yogisha	Masahiko Tamura
	The Man Who Assassinated Ryoma
1989	Gokudo no onna-tachi: San-daime ane	Testuro Akamatsu
	226	Shiro Nonaka
1990	Gekido no 1750 nichi
1991	Jutai	Rinzo Fuji, Father
1992	The Triple Cross	Kanzaki	Lead role
1994	Ghost Pub	Sotaro	Lead role
1998	Joker	Murakoshi
2001	Daburusu	Key
	Tsuki no sabaku	Keechie's boss
2009	Tajomaru	Ashikaga Yoshimasa
2013	Natsuyasumi no chizu

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1973	Taiyō ni Hoero!	Jun "Macaroni" Hayami	6 episodes
1974	Katsu Kaishū	Okada Izo	Taiga drama
1999	Genroku Ryōran	Tokugawa Tsunayoshi	Taiga drama
2001	Fighting Girl	Yūzō Yoshida
2002	Toshiie and Matsu	Akechi Mitsuhide	Taiga drama
2018	The Rootless Land	Shigeru Yoshida
2019	Idaten	Takahashi Korekiyo	Taiga drama

See also

• The Rolling Stones
• The Beatles
• Blues rock
• Rock music
• Blues

References

1. https://www.discogs.com/artist/1097497-The-Tempters
2. Martin, Ian F. (2016). Quit Your Band: Musical Notes From the Japanese Underground. Awai Books. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-937220-05-1.
3. https://www.discogs.com/artist/927525-Pyg-2
4. ""First I had the idea, nobody cared. They said 'you're crazy!'"". jrawk.com. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
5. "萩原健一が68歳で死去、「傷だらけの天使」「青春の蹉跌」などに出演". 映画ナタリー (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 April 2019.
6. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353714/
7. https://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2019/03/28/kiji/20190328s00041000268000c.html

External links

• Kenichi Hagiwara at IMDb