Ginko Mine
Japanese actress photo album before World War 2
Born
Natsu Baba

July 21, 1909
DiedJanuary 27, 1993(1993-01-27) (aged 83)
OccupationActress
Years active1930-1933

Ginko Mine (峰 吟子, July 21, 1909 – January 27, 1993.[1]) was a Japanese actress. Her real name was Natsuyo Baba (at birth: Natsu Baba[2]). She was affectionately known by the nickname "Minegin."[2]

Early Life and Career

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Ginko Mine was born on July 21, 1909, in Motosu, Gifu Prefecture. After graduating from Motosu Girls' High School, she became a dancer and worked at a dance hall in Kobe[2]. There, she met Roy Tanaka, a Japanese-American businessman and manager of the Osaka branch of Paramount Pictures[1]. The two married, and in 1930, at the recommendation of film director Minoru Murata, she joined Nikkatsu Uzumasa Studio[2]. She made her film debut in Mihatenu Yume[2] and gained attention for her roles in Ginza Serenāde and Kono Taiyō, becoming popular as a vamp actress. In 1931, she starred in Rebyū no odoriko, earning significant popularity and being dubbed the "Queen of Eroticism."[2]

In 1932, due to the Nikkatsu labor dispute, she left the studio but returned in December. She appeared in Furansu Oseyo in 1933, but when her husband was transferred to Manchuria, she resigned from Nikkatsu in August to accompany him[2]. While in Manchuria, she stepped away from the public eye to focus on her family. However, in 1937, her husband died after falling from a train near the Tanna Tunnel[1], and she returned to work at a dance hall in Shinkyō to support herself[1]. She later remarried to a military doctor[1] and, after the war, lived in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture[1][2]. Ginko Mine passed away on January 27, 1993[1], at the age of 83.

A surviving 35mm film reel of her work in Tengoku sono higaeri (11 minutes, 672 feet) is archived at the National Film Archive of Japan[3]

Select Filmography

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  • Mihatenu Yume (1930) – Directed by Kyōchō Tōbōjō
  • Tengoku Sono Higaeri (1930) – Directed by Tomu Uchida
  • Ginza Serenāde (1930) – Directed by Yūkō Nagakura
  • Kono Taiyō (1930) – Directed by Minoru Murata
  • Shin Tōkyō Kōshinkyoku (1930) – Directed by Yūkō Nagakura
  • Misutā Nippon (1931) – Directed by Minoru Murata
  • Ren’ai Seisan Chō (1931) – Directed by Seiichi Ina
  • Revū no Odoriko (1931) – Directed by Shigeru Kito
  • Shikamo Karera wa Yuku (1931) – Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
  • Kokoro no Jitsugetsu (1931) – Directed by Tomotaka Tasaka
  • Kiri no Hoteru (1932) – Directed by Genjirō Saegusa
  • 1932-nen no Haha (1932) – Directed by Minoru Murata
  • Chōwakizashi Fūkei (1933) – Directed by Minoru Inuzuka
  • Sōkyū no Mon (1933) – Directed by Kajirō Yamamoto
  • Furansu Oseyo (1933) – Directed by Kunio Watanabe[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Kanō, Ichirō (December 1, 2003). 映画論叢 [Film Review Anthology] (in Japanese) (7th ed.). Japan: Juhanasha. pp. 23–29. ISBN 978-4434038556.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Yoshida, Chieo (December 31, 1980). Nihon eiga haiyū zenshū joyū-hen [Complete Japanese Film Actors: Actresses Edition] (in Japanese). Japan: Kinema Junposha. pp. 657–658.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ Tengoku sono higaeri, National Film Archive of Japan, viewed on November 27, 2020.
  4. ^ "峰吟子(Mine Ginko)". Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved September 5, 2024.

Biographies

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  • Masago Ōwada, Mine Ginko sono shōgai to jidai (Fūbaisha, 2023).
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