is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 actor. His career has centered on television tokusatsu and jidaigeki

Jidaigeki

is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...

. He starred in the 1967–68 television series Kōsoku Esper and the 1973 series Shirojishi Kamen, and played a supporting role as the ninja

Ninja

A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...

 Saizō in Series III, Episodes 1–57, of Abarenbō Shōgun

Abarenbo Shogun

is a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun. The program started in 1978 under the title Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun...

. In NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

's eleventh Taiga drama

Taiga drama

is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...

, Kunitori Monogatari, Mitsugi portrayed Akechi Mitsuharu

Akechi Mitsuharu

a retainer beneath the clan of Akechi during the Azuchi-Momoyama period of Feudal Japan. Mitsuharu was also known and referred to as "Mitsutoshi," and was the cousin of the famed Akechi Mitsuhide...

. He appeared regularly in Episodes 436–509 of Tokusō Saizensen. A frequent guest actor, he made six appearances on Ōedo Sōsamō

Oedo Sosamo

and are long-running prime time television jidaigeki programs that originally aired from 1970 to 1992. The series was broadcast on TV Tokyo . The title literally translates as "Oedo Dragnet"...

and four on Zenigata Heiji

Zenigata Heiji

is Japanese fictional character, the hero of a series of Japanese novels, films and TV programmes set in the Edo period of Japanese history. He is a policeman who catches criminals by throwing coins, the zeni of the title, thus Zenigata Heiji. The hero was created by novelist Kodō Nomura in 1937...

, three on Taiyō ni Hoero!', and two on Happyaku Yachō Yume Nikki. Fans of the tokusatsu

Tokusatsu

is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....

Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman

Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman

is a Japanese Tokusatsu television series. It was TOEI Company Limited's fourteenth installment of the Super Sentai television series. It aired on TV Asahi from March 2, 1990 to February 8, 1991, with a total of 48 episodes...

know him as Dr. Hoshikawa. The producers of Abarenbō Shōgun selected him to reprise his role in the 500th episode special, and again to portray the daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 Tokugawa Munenao in Series VI.

Outside drama series, his career includes other media and genres. In film, Mitsugi has three credits. He was a guest voice in an episode of the animated 1979 television show Takarajima

Takarajima (1978 TV series)

is an Japanese anime television series developed with the 26 episodes for 23 minutes series that aired 1978-9 in Japan and in the mid 1980s in Europe & Persian Gulf countries, based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novels, Treasure Island.-Main characters:...

. He has acted in stage productions in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. A vocalist, Mitsugi has released nine single recordings and one album.

Source

This article incorporates material translated from 三ツ木清隆 (Mitsugi Kiyotaka) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on January 30, 2009.

External links

• Official site