Veterans Action ‘Suit Actors’ are like living cultural treasures

In February I organized a Kanreki Matsuri (a festival celebrating the age of 60), attended by experienced costume actors aged 60 or older. Suit actors wear full-body costumes and full-face masks as superheroes or their enemies in tokusatsu sci-fi TV shows or movies.

The four main participants of the event were Kazuo Niibori, the legendary suit actor who played many red-costumed leaders of the superhero teams in the TV series dramas “Super Sentai”; Junichi Haruta, who played both the superhero and human personality of the black-clad character of two Super Sentai works; Toshimichi Takahashi, who played villains in numerous superhero dramas in the late Showa era (1926-1989); and Tsutomu Kitagawa, who has played a variety of roles from Super Sentai heroes to Godzilla. Another regular participant, Kenji Oba, known for “Uchu Keiji Gavan” (“Space Sheriff Gavan”), has been absent from these events for a long time due to health reasons. Instead, his No. 1 disciple, Kenji Takechi, attended the event. Also in attendance was Kihachiro Uemura, who played Green Flash in “Choshinsei Flashman.”

The event generated a lot of laughter from the audience as the patrons mostly did not behave as they had rehearsed. They were supposed to come on stage one by one to start the show, but they ended up shuffling along in a loose group. It took a second take to get it right. These types of blunders, unthinkable at plays or normal events, created an atmosphere of heart-warming fun. The audience looked forward with joyful anticipation to what would happen next during this event full of miracles.

There were also five great guests in attendance: Eiichi Kikuchi, the costume actor of Ultraman Jack in “Kaettekita Ultraman” (“Return of Ultraman”); Kuniyasu Ito, whose credits include Vul Panther in “Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan”; Yu Tokita, who played the human personality of Dyna Yellow in “Kagaku Sentai Dynaman”; and the twin brothers Yuichi Hachisuka and Shoji Hachisuka, the most important twins of the tokusatsu world.

Kikuchi is in his eighties, but he has a vivid memory of his career and has told us many interesting stories. While working on ‘Return of Ultraman’, he and a Kaiju monster were nearly electrocuted by a damaged lighting cable in a swimming pool. He also talked about making epic films from the Showa era. He even appeared in a ‘James Bond’ movie with a scene where Sean Connery strangles him.

Spurred by Kikuchi’s memories, the other actors over 60 began to recall various incidents. Takahashi, who is often said to resemble Kikuchi, said the late Bunta Sugawara once mistook him for Kikuchi, but Takahashi was so impressed by the movie legend that he couldn’t bring himself to say, “No, I’m Not Kikuchi.” to correct him.

Ito revealed that when he worked as a suit actor in the Super Sentai series dramas, he would measure and record the height of his jumps from high places in action scenes by using a kite string with a weight attached to one end. He said the highest point he jumped from was the roller coaster tracks at Korakuen Amusement Park (now Tokyo Dome City Attractions) in “Dai Sentai Goggle V.” In that show, the five members of the superhero team often had to flop their stomachs on mattresses when jumping from high places. The landing was called “hara-ochi” (belly landing).

Niibori made a casual comment about the landing: “The air blew in quickly through the holes of my mask and it felt good.” Still, that landing would be technically more difficult than landing on your back after twisting your body in the air.

Ito also said that he could never forget the time Haruta jumped from a building about two meters high wearing a pair of normal hard-soled boots, and then just continued with a fight scene.

“I was really surprised because it wasn’t something you could do with regular techniques,” Ito said.

Haruta replied, “Did I really do something so dangerous? I’ve done too many action scenes that I don’t remember doing.”

Tokita reflected on a shoot for “Dynaman” in the Kyushu region.

“In the story, even though the Dynaman team has access to a giant robot that they use to defeat the enemy, they end up going home on a sightseeing bus,” he said with a bemused smile.

As for the Hachisuka twins, who look very similar, Niibori boasted that he could tell them apart. When Haruta asked him why he had so much confidence, after a moment of silence he said, “Intuition,” causing everyone to burst out laughing. The twins are now 61. Yuichi Hachisuka currently plays Papillon Ohger in “Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger,” while Shoji Hachisuka can be seen in the live-action show version of the tokusatsu TV drama at Theater G-Rosso in Tokyo Dome City. The audience loved meeting the brothers of the suit actors and cheered them loudly.

At the end of the show there was a medley of ‘nanori’ – a series of signature moves that superheroes perform as a prelude to a battle – which was just amazing, and the audience and I got a burst of energy from watching. The stories told by the people with behind-the-scenes knowledge of superhero shows from the late Showa era to the Reiwa era (2019-) are interesting and valuable. I would like to continue recording their testimonies, which are like intangible cultural treasures.