Born in Tokyo in 1876, Kaichi Yamamoto was one of the early actors with
Nikkatsu who stayed with and grew with the company for over 20 years.
He toured the USA with the Kawakami Otojiro Group as one of their
managers, but in 1917 he was invited to join Nikkatsu which at that
time was aiming to develop the modern Japanese film industry. While
with the latter company, he starred in rough character roles in films
such as Kirino Chigiri, Ikiru Shikabane, Fukkatsu and Konjikiyasha. He
was skilled at "becoming" the characters he played in his films so that
his name became synonymous with them, one of the most famous being that
of the title role in Mitokomon. It is said that there is none other who
could act the parts of historical characters as well as him. In the
film Tsuchi, under director Tomu Uchida, he played the role of the
farmer Kanji's father, Uhei, brilliantly but it was to be his last
film. Yamamoto was also famous for his development of make-up in the
film industry and he produced and sold "Yamaka" powder. He died in
1939.
