was a Japanese actor. Fujiwara worked regularly and extensively with Akira Kurosawa, and was known for both being adept at comic acting, as well as being able to take on serious roles. Early life and career Early life Fujiwara was born on January 15, 1905, in Tokyo, Japan. Fujiwara's parents ran a printing business. The business did not go well, so at the age of 10, Fujiwara started working at a local confectionery store. By the age of 14 he had started selling timber for building and manufacturing in Shizuoka prefecture. A year later he returned to Tokyo to study as a pharmacist. Asakusa Opera Movement The Movement was started in 1916, and was part of the mass culture of the time. By the 1920s it had become very popular. His early life focused initially focussed on music, before he was known as a comic actor Perhaps inspired by this, Fujiwara enrolled at the Takinoga actor/martial arts school. Following graduation, he approached actor Kenzo Kuroki at Asakisa's kinrukan to see if he would teach him acting. His first work was on stage as a chorist. Realising that he was short, not particularly attractive, and unlikely to have a main part on stage, he decided to diversify his skills for performance and started studying violin at Toyo music school. Following the Great Kantō earthquake, the Asakusa Opera movement started losing popularity. As a result, Fujiwara worked at the movie theatre as a violinist, where his lesser height and unattractiveness were not an issue. Marriage Perhaps, in spite of his looks, Fujiwara married an unknown village woman. They had a son; however, after his birth she died. Casino Folies In July 1930, an old friend, actor and comedian Kenichi Enomoto, asked him to participate in forming the New in the Asakusa district. The Casino Folies with its risqué showgirl entertainment, was often associated with the term or "Erotic Grotesque Nonsense" era. In 1933 he resigned from Casino Follies and became a movie actor. First films His first movie was Ongaku Kigeki - Horoyui Jinsei (English: "Musical Comedy - Intoxicated Life"), which was released in 1933. It was a comedy about the joys of beer drinking. This was the very first production of what was soon to become Toho Co., Ltd., the biggest and wealthiest studio during the so-called "Golden Age" of Japanese cinema of the 1950s and early 1960s. In fact, most