Eijirō Yanagi

Eijirō Yanagi (柳永二郎) (16 September 1895 – 24 April 1984) was a Japanese stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 160 films from 1940 to 1975.

Career
A graduate of Ikubunkan Junior High School, Tokyo, Yanagi gave his stage debut at the Yutakuza theatre in 1913. After working with the troupes of Masao Inoue and Hanabishi Kawamura, and moving from shingeki to shinpa theatre, he formed the Shinsei Shinpa theatre company with Shōtaro Hanayagi and others in 1938, in which he was active for the next ten years. He also wrote books on shinpa theatre.

Yanagi was also a busy supporting actor in films in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in works of directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Akira Kurosawa and Heinosuke Gosho. He made his final film appearance in 1975 and gave his final stage performance in 1982.