Early life Keiko Sonoi was born on 6 August 1913 in
Matsuo, a village in
Iwate Prefecture. She was the first-born daughter of and his wife , who both ran a business that made and sold sweets. She moved to
Morioka to stay with her uncle 's family, in order to attend the "upper elementary school" there. Later, she and her uncle moved to
Otaru, where she attended . Her real name was "Tomi", as officially registered in her
koseki (family register). But during childhood, this name provoked the taunting of other children, who chanted the line from the
kabuki play . She therefore decided to re-christen herself , by which she was exclusively known as during her time in the Takarazuka Revue. She later called herself , and her last letter, written four days before her death, was signed with that name. She allegedly chose these
aliases from being immersed in
onomancy (), a type of fortune-telling based on the name. Her determination to join Takarazuka remained steadfast, and after dropping out of high school, she entered the (Takarazuka Ongaku Kageki Gakkō) in March 1929. As a student she earned the nickname
Hakama from her real name Hakamada, and was particularly close to her roommate .
Takarazuka Revue In 1930, she became second-year student (
yoka-sei) and was now a performing member of the . making the stage debut in
Haru no odori in April. She changed her stage name later that year to Keiko Sonoko.
Typecasting card mock-up. , December 1937. She became recognized as a skilled and versatile supporting actress, especially in comedic roles. Her close colleagues Hisako Sakura and recalled that she excelled in her role as Frédéri's mother in , which was the Takarazuka adaptation of ''
L'Arlésienne''. Other comments include: "Not flashy but giving a 'flavorful' performance"(
Yoshio Sakurauchi, politician well known as
zuka-fans), "Skillfully executes cheery, witty roles" (
Ken Harada, another politician), "Skillfully executes cheery, witty roles" (Issei Hisamatsu, Takarazuka stage director and writer). Because she was considered too small of stature for male roles, but largish for female roles, she became type-cast for the
sanmaime (a short-of- handsome, comic male) or elderly role. Even though one Takarazuka director, asserted that the Revue had precious few
sanmaime talents, and "only the truly skilled can execute
sanmaime parts", Sonoi herself despised being called
sanmaime.
Takarazuka Films In 1938,
Takarazuka Films was established, and she was cast in several of its movies, until the production company was forced to shut down in 1941 as the war-times situation turned more serious. She appeared in ("Female Students of a Military Nation", 1938),
Yama to shōjo ("A Mountain and a Girl", 1939), ("Primrose" 1939),
Minami jūjisei ("Southern Cross", 1941).
Playing outside repertoires .|250px In January 1941, Sonoi and Toho Studio movie star
Hideko Takamine made guest appearances in theatrical productions by comedian
Roppa Furukawa's company in Tokyo. According to some sources, Sonoi was specially picked out by playwright who wrote for Roppa's troupe; Kikuta had already regarded Sonoi as a promising talent and insisted she be cast in his
Sekijūji-ki wa sususmu at Takarazuka in 1940. The Takarazuka Revue tried to retain her by offering her terms that would allow her some leeway to perform in film or
shingeki theater, but the compensation and performing restrictions they offered were unsatisfactory, according to her correspondence to Shizu Nakai.
Film role in Matsu as Matsu. The child was played by
Hiroyuki Nagato.|250px In 1943, Sonoi was cast opposite top leading actor
Tsumasaburō Bandō in , where she played Mrs. Yoshioka, whom Muhōmatsu (or Matsu the Untamed, played by Bandō) becomes romantically but unrequitedly attached to. The film became a box office hit. The child actor billed as Akio Sawamura (actor
Hiroyuki Nagato of later years) said he earnestly wished he could marry a woman like Sonoi. 's Ashikaga Plant where they performed January 1945. Front row, left to right: Tsuyako Shimaki, Keiko Sonoi,
Yasushi Nagata, X, , X. Middle row:
Midori Naka, (stage director),
Jun Tatara, 、, Junko[?] Emori. Left row: , X, Ichiro Tetsu (acting coach), Yoshio Endo (lighting), Miezō Mizutani (prop manager), Kohei Hijikata (stage effects), X.|350px The mobile troupe was only able to do a grand tour briefly, from January to March 1945, travelling to parts of the Kanto area and then Hiroshima. In Kanto they mainly visited manufacturing plant workers, but in Hiroshima they "comfort-visited" wounded soldiers as well. The Nihon Ido Engeki Renmei (Japan Touring Theatre League) then instructed all troupes to cease touring city by city, and perform in the confines of an evacuation (
sokai) area. It was decided Kuraku-za would be assigned to stay in Hiroshima or its vicinity.
Hiroshima The choice of Hiroshima as their evacuation zone was a source of consternation for members, because the city remained relatively unscathed despite its military strategic importance, and a major strike was thought imminent. Sonoi wrote in April stating that she tried to refuse going to Hiroshima and remain in Tokyo (which had been incinerated in the
March bombing), but was pressured to change her mind. Also while she was still at Tokyo, she went to the Toho Studio office asking if there were any film roles for her, which she wanted to take to extricate herself from touring under heavy bombardment. In fact director
Kajirō Yamamoto was hoping to cast her in his new film (
Kaidanji) but the office replied no, and she had left. The Kuraku-za's mobile unit, now officially renamed reached Hiroshima on June 22. From July 5, they toured the
San'in region. Due to illness, the troupe returned to Hiroshima prematurely ahead of schedule. This marked the end of performance by the Sakura-tai. Members either dropped out of Sakura-tai or left Hiroshima, so that in August only 9 members remained at their office in Hiroshima. Sonoi spent time recuperating in Kobe (at the home of Shizu Nakai and husband Yoshio) August 2 to August 5, returning to Hiroshima on the fateful day. Thus Sonoi, Maruyama and others were in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. They both succumbed to the aftereffects shortly thereafter.
Hiroshima A-bomb When the
atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Sonoi was thrown from the hallway to the yard by the blast, and momentarily lost consciousness, but otherwise had no visible wounds. She found actor (son of Kuraku-za co-founder Tokuemon Takayama aka ) lightly injured, and the two of them fled to approximately away. Sadao Maruyama and
Midori Naka also left the scene, each separately, but were in poor condition were taken into custody at different locations. The remains of the five others members were found skeletonized at the burning wreck of the office. Sonoi and Takayama subsequently took the train and reached the Nakai residence in Kobe. Sonoi's face and clothing were soiled, and she wore a
jika-tabi on one foot and a man's shoe on the other, so that she looked "like a beggar" and was nearly beyond recognition. On August 15, when informed the war had ended, Sonoi expressed her gladness at being able to act to her hearts content to Akiko Utsumi who was visiting, and also wrote a letter dated August 17 to her mother Kame in Morioka expressing this sentiment. , Aiko Kagayaki,
Sonoi, Machiko Kako, and Mrs. Nakai's daughter Michiko Nakai.|250px However, Sonoi's condition deteriorated. Her hair started to fall off at night, before suffering high fever around August 19, according to Mrs. Nakai; Other symptoms such as
hematochezia,
internal bleeding and
delusions also presented. By August 19, who was a stage director for Sakura-tai tracked Sonoi down, and came to see her at the Nakai residence. Sonoi asked of news about Maruyama, and sensed he must have died. On August 21, Sonoi's fever reached 40 degrees C, and Mrs. Utsumi rushed out to procure ice. Sonoi felt the coolness of the chilled gauze, and said "Oh, how good it feels". Those were the last words she uttered before she died. Sonoi's remains were cremated the following day, and her bones and ashes buried in Onryū-ji in Morioka. The story of the Sakura-tai's demise was written up in a book by author in 1980, which was adapted into the film
Sakura-tai chiru (1988) directed by
Kaneto Shindō. == Legacy ==