The actress known as “Nihon no Okaasan” (Japan’s Mother) is to receive a National Honor Award, the government announced yesterday. Mori Mitsuko will be both the oldest ever recipient and the first working actor to be so recognized. Despite her age, Mori is still active and celebrated her 89th birthday last Saturday by starring in the stage play “Hourouki” for the 2,000th time, a role she has played for 48 years. Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura Takeo attended the landmark show at the Imperial Theater in Tokyo and made the announcement on Monday, while Mori was on stage for the 2,001st time. The decision to honor Mori was made by Prime Minister Aso Taro. Though the decision received widespread media coverage, Mori declined to comment as the details have yet to be formalized. The award was established in 1977 to recognize those who have earned national recognition and are deemed to have brought hope and inspiration to the country. The inaugural award was given to baseball legend and home run king Oh Sadaharu. To date there have been 16 recipients, of whom three were women: singer Misora Hibai in 1989, “Sazae-san” mangaka Hasegawa Machiko in 1992, and Olympic marathon gold medalist Takahashi Naoko in 2000. Since then, the only other recipient was songwriter Endo Minoru in January of this year. Mori is only the second person to receive both this award and the Order of Cultural Merit, after movie director Kurosawa Akira.
A Kyoto native, Mori made her acting debut at the age of 15, though she was somewhat disappointed to find herself appearing mostly in comedies. Her reputation was stained when she broke off her engagement to a movie producer and she moved to the theater. She contracted tuberculosis in 1949, which left her unable to work for three years and led to rumors of her death. In Osaka in the 1950s she worked on radio and TV, where she once again found herself in comedy. She moved to Tokyo in 1959 and married a radio producer. She switched from supporting roles to leading lady after she landed the starring role in Hourouki in 1961 (a highlight of the show was a stage tumble, which Mori did every night until 2008, when age finally caught up with her. She now does a triple banzai salute instead). From the mid60s to the 80s she regularly played motherly roles in popular TV dramas, such as “Jikan Desuyo” (1970-73) and “Hana Fubiki wa Hashigo Ikka” (1975-76). She is a big fan of Johnny’s Jimusho boy bands and is close to several of the top stars.