Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor, famous for the samurais he portrayed in Akira Kurosawa’s movies. A veteran of WWII who stared death in the face countless times, this dashing figure carried himself like a true samurai wherever he went. Home again after the war, he began his career as an actor in earnest…
In 1950, Mifune married the beautiful young actress Sachiko Yoshimine, in an intimate ceremony. He was from a Christian family whereas her family was Buddhist. Hers were noble, his humble. There was a lot of opposition to their union but they persevered.
The pair had two sons and he loved them dearly. However Mifune had many demons to battle, traumas from the war and his childhood, not to mention the grueling work schedule the character actor put himself through…
Sooner rather than later, Mifune’s eye started to wander. He was a strikingly handsome man, after all, and soon found his success, reaching as far as Hollywood, a rather unique feat for a Japanese actor of his era. Working extremely hard, he became overwhelmed, had to drink to cope, and of course there was no shortage of beautiful starlets around the studios… he was unfaithful to his wife, and though he felt horrible, he kept at it.
In 1980 he left his wife for his young mistress. She had gotten pregnant and convinced him to stay with her instead so they could raise the child together. Toshiro Mifune, by now an old man, soon welcomed a daughter. For about a decade or so, the three lived in blissful happiness, the old samurai feeling rivogorated by his mistress’ youth and vigor…
In 1990, Mifune briefly went overseas for business. In his absence, his mistress — who he lived together with but never married legally — sold a priceless family heirloom of the Mifune’s. Enraged, he sent her out!
Now he was in his seventies and alone. Years of working too hard, sleeping too little and drinking too much had caught up with Mifune. An old man, his sons had married and given him grandchildren and his legal wife, who stayed away, had always followed him with interest from a distance. In spite of all that had happened, she had never forgotten him…
Disaster struck once more… Mifune was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Going senile, he left acting. He retired entirely from public life, and retreated to his mansion alone, only visited by his grandchildren and the odd friend, but mostly sending everyone away, not wanting his old friends to see him in such a sorry state…
At this lowest point in his life, against all odds, his wife Sachiko returned! He never expected it, neither had his sons, or his friends. But she had forgiven him already, never had she stopped loving him even when he left her… She returned to be by his side in his times of trouble, and cared for him lovingly. When he could no longer feed himself, wash himself, she gladly did. She became his nurse and his loving companion once more. All the pain and hardship, she had forgiven him. The Mifune family was once again complete.
Sadly, Toshiro Mifune forgot his wife’s name, Alzheimer’s cruelly robbing him of his ability to remember people. Not deterred, from there on he referred to her only as ‘the Lady’, as she hailed from a noble family and had always been his lady. She was by his side constantly, his loyal comrade in his final battle.
Against all odds, in 1995 it was Sachiko who died rather then her ailing husband. Pancreatic cancer unexpectedly and rapidly took her life. Toshiro Mifune kept asking everyone “where has the Lady gone?”
He died two years later, in 1997. Until his dying day he asked for ‘the Lady’… his nickname for her were the last words on his lips as he passed away.
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