Kenichi Yajima

Kenichi Yajima (矢島 健一, Yajima Ken'ichi; born March 1, 1956 in Gifu) is a Japanese actor.

Kenichi Yajima
Born	(1956-03-01) March 1, 1956 (age 69) Gifu, Japan
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1981–present

Career

Graduating from Meiji Gakuin University, Yajima debuted as an actor in 1981.^[1][2] A frequent player in the films of Masato Harada, Yajima often plays yakuza and other bad guys, but can also do comic relief.^[2] He has appeared in over 200 TV dramas and 70 films.^[1]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1993	Sonatine	Takahashi
1995	Kamikaze Taxi	Ishida
1997	Hana-bi	Doctor
1999	Spellbound	Takuya Ishii
2001	Onmyoji	Fujiwara no Morosuke
2004	Lady Joker	Hidetsugu Kanzaki
	Kagen no Tsuki	Sayaka's father
2006	Tokyo Friends: The Movie	Kitahara
	The Uchōten Hotel	Arai
	Sinking of Japan	Minister for Foreign Affairs
	Strawberry Shortcakes	Ōsaki
2007	Densen Uta	Yorii
2008	Climber's High	Moriya
	10 Promises to My Dog	Dr. Sakamoto
2009	Shizumanu Taiyō	Taketarō Aoyama
2010	Sword of Desperation	Yabe Magochiyo
2012	Lesson of the Evil	Detective Shimozuru
2014	A Samurai Chronicle
2015	Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen	Hōjō
	Flying Colors
	The Emperor in August	Kōichi Kido
2016	Fueled: The Man They Called Pirate
	Shin Godzilla	Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
2017	Reminiscence
	Manhunt		Chinese film
2018	Killing for the Prosecution	Takashima
	Recall	Manabe
	The Blood of Wolves	Keiji Tomotake		[3]
	My Friend "A"			[4]
	Last Winter, We Parted			[5]
2020	Fukushima 50			[6]
	All About March			[7]
2021	Last of the Wolves	Keiji Tomotake		[3]
2022	The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai	Matsudaira Sadaaki		[8]
	Akira and Akira			[9]
	The Lines That Define Me	Kunieda		[10]
2023	Kubi	Honda Tadakatsu		[11]
2025	Muromachi Outsiders	Ise Sadachika		[12]
	Snowflowers: Seeds of Hope			[13]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1981	Omoide Zukuri	Okazaki	Debut role	[14]
1984	Romance		Asadora
1989	Kasuga no Tsubone	Fukushima Masanori	Taiga drama	[15]
1990	Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari	Narita
1999	Keizoku	Seiichi Hayashida
2004	Itoshi Kimi e	Yukihiko Ogasawara
	Shinsengumi!	Hirosawa Tomijirō	Taiga drama	[16]
2006	Kōmyō ga Tsuji	Naoe Kanetsugu	Taiga drama	[17]
2008	Atsuhime	Matsudaira Yoshinaga	Taiga drama	[18]
2010	Sunao ni Narenakute	Tomohiko Yamamoto
	Hammer Session!	Suguru Kai
2011	Ohisama	Hagiwara	Asadora
2012	Taira no Kiyomori	Fujiwara no Norinaga	Taiga drama	[19]
	Jun and Ai	Masakuni Yoneda	Asadora
2017	Naotora: The Lady Warlord	Sekiguchi Ujitsune	Taiga drama	[20]
2023	What Will You Do, Ieyasu?	Kira Yoshiakira	Taiga drama	[21]
2024	Laughing Matryoshka	Ikuo Morohashi		[22]