Toshiro Mifune (三船 敏郎, Mifune Toshirō, April 1, 1920 – December 24, 1997) was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–65) with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in such works as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo. He also portrayed Musashi Miyamoto in Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy, as well as Lord Toranaga in the NBC TV miniseries Shōgun.

Early life

Toshiro Mifune was born on 1 April 1920 in Qingdao, Shandong, China, to Japanese parents. His parents were Methodist missionaries working there. Mifune grew up with his parents and two younger siblings in Dalian, Liaoning, China, and, from 4 to 19 years of age, in Manchuria. Mifune was a Christian born to Missionary parents.

In his youth, Mifune worked in the photography shop of his father Tokuzo, a commercial photographer and importer who had emigrated from northern Japan. After spending the first 19 years of his life in China, as a Japanese citizen, he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army Aviation division, where he served in the Aerial Photography unit during World War II.