Ayumi Ishida Honored with Chairman’s Special Award, Reflects on Marriage and Identity

Won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Actress for House on Fire

It has been decided that singer and actress Ayumi Ishida, who passed away on March 11 last year (aged 76), will receive the Japan Academy Prize Chairman’s Special Award. The Japan Academy Prize Association Secretariat announced this on January 13.

The Chairman’s Special Award is presented to filmmakers who made significant contributions and achieved outstanding accomplishments over many years and who passed away in 2025. In addition to Ishida, the recipients selected were Tatsuya Nakadai (died November 8, aged 92), film director Masato Harada (died December 8, aged 76), and Shochiku Honorary Chairman Nobuyoshi Otani (died December 10, aged 80).

They will be honored at the 49th Japan Academy Prize Awards Ceremony to be held in Tokyo on March 13.

Ayumi Ishida recorded a million-selling hit with “Blue Light Yokohama” (1968) and followed it with a string of hits including “Anata Nara Dō Suru” (1970) and “Sabaku no Yōna Tokyo de” (1971). She appeared a total of ten times on NHK’s Kōhaku Uta Gassen, becoming a hugely popular singer of her era.

Meanwhile, her acting ability was highly praised in Japan Sinks (1973), and her portrayal of the prostitute Kaoru in Seishun no Mon: Jiritsu-hen (1977) left a vivid impression.

She later co-starred as the wife of Ken Takakura in Station (1981). She caused a sensation with her striking nude performance in Yajū Deka (1982), and for Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō Ajisai no Koi (1982) she received the 6th Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. She went on to win the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actress for House on Fire (1986), as well as the 10th Japan Academy Prize for Best Actress, among many other film achievements.

She also appeared in television dramas such as Kita no Kuni kara (1981) and Kin’yōbi no Tsuma-tachi e (1983), leaving a significant legacy in both film and television as an actress.

Speaking of Ishida, in March 1979, while she was appearing in Shochiku’s Yami no Karyūdo (directed by Hideo Gosha), I once interviewed her during a break in filming at Toho Build in Seijo, Tokyo.

She had just turned 31 the day before and radiated the aura of a true actress. It was her first film appearance in two years since her widely discussed role as the prostitute Kaoru in Seishun no Mon: Jiritsu-hen.

The film was a period drama based on Shotaro Ikenami’s novel of the same name, set during the era of the tenth Tokugawa shogun, Ieharu. It told the story of the “Hunters in the Dark,” led by Seiuemon Itsuna, who took on the task of hunting down villains. Ishida played Oriha, the mistress of Itsuna, portrayed by Tatsuya Nakadai.

“Once I accept a role, I do as the director says.”

“After appearing in Seishun no Mon, I received quite a lot of film offers, but they were all the same kind of roles — prostitutes or similar types. I suppose the image of Kaoru, the decadent character, was very strong. This time, I was finally blessed with a new kind of role.”

She revealed that this was the reason she decided to appear in the film.

Director Gosha praised Ishida, saying:

“She gives performances with total commitment. She’s an actress from whom all sorts of things emerge from within. She conveys the very physiology of a mature woman beyond just acting.”

There was also an intense love scene with Nakadai, but she said:

“Once I’ve agreed to take the role, I do as the director says. It was written in the script, after all.”

Her actress’s spirit was in full force.

At the time, she was dating Kenichi Hagiwara — known as “Shōken” (died in 2019, aged 68) — and their marriage was rumored to be imminent. When asked about it, she replied:

“He’s my lover. Someone very important to me. But we probably won’t get married this year. Right now, I’m putting everything into appearing in a film again after such a long time.”

It was a frank and unaffected answer.

Some women’s magazines even referred to Ishida as a woman who won’t marry, drawing comparisons to the American film An Unmarried Woman (1978), directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Jill Clayburgh, which was popular at the time.

But she said:

“That’s a story about American women, isn’t it? I’m still a Japanese woman, after all. If I become a bride, I’ll be the kind of woman who quietly follows her husband.”

It was striking to hear her speak about her own views on marriage in this way. She married Shōken the following year, in 1980, but they divorced in 1984. After that, she remained single.

With Yami no Karyūdo, Ishida sought to show a new side of herself. She blossomed greatly as an actress and left behind remarkable achievements. The Chairman’s Special Award is surely a well-deserved recognition.