Ninagawa Yukio passes away due to multiple organ failure caused by pneumonia

Director Ninagawa Yukio passed away on 12 May at the age of 80 due to multiple organ failure caused by organ failure. His funeral hosted by his daughter photographer Ninagawa Mika, was held at Aoyama Funeral Hall on 16 May which was attended by a total of 1,344 people including fans. Celebrities who attended the funeral included Suzuki An, Aoi Yu, Matsumoto Jun, Ninomiya Kazunari, Kagawa Teruyuki, Hasegawa Hiroki, Takahata Mitsuki, Matsuzaka Tori, Asaoka Ruriko, Miyamoto Amon, Mori Shinichi, Fujiki Naohito, Ikuta Toma, Okamoto Kenichi, Ichimura Masachika, Shinohara Ryoko, Tsuruta Mayu, Onoue Matsuya, Yamamoto Kansai, Watanabe Ken, Yokota Eiji, Katsura Yumi, Harada Mieko, Kamikawa Takaya, Tabe Mikako, Ishibashi Renji, Kitamura Kazuki, Natsuki Mari, Iura Arata, Saito Takumi, Abe Hiroshi, Uchino Seiyo, Kimura Takuya, Miyazawa Rie, Kimura Yoshino, Nishioka Tokuma, Mizobata Junpei and Maeda Atsuko.

5 actors who were especially close to Ninagawa i.e. Hira Mikijiro, Otake Shinobu, Yoshida Kotaro, Fujiwara Tatsuya and Oguri Shun took turns to read their condolence messages. Hira said that he was thankful to Ninagawa for helping him to lead a fruitful life on stage and he had worked hard to earn words of praise from the latter. He commented that he won't say goodbye to Ninagawa as they will meet someday soon. As for Otake, she revealed her gratitude and thanks to Ninagawa and remembered fondly his smiling face whenever she did well in her acting. Yoshida commented that Ninagawa had a peaceful and beautiful face as if he was sleeping. Fujiwara and Oguri who were the favourite disciples of Ninagawa, took turns to reveal their thoughts about their beloved mentor. Oguri said that he was happy to be part of the Ninagawa Theatre Group and hoped that Ninagawa would come into his dreams to scold him at times. When it was Fujiwara's turn, he was sobbing and said that he would most likely have been scolded if Ninagawa saw him. He was sad and regretful that they didn't get to work more together but was glad that Ninagawa helped him transform as an actor since they first met in 1997 and thanked him for the 19 years they spent together.

During the final address to those who were present for the funeral, Ninagawa Mika thanked everyone for coming despite their busy schedules and recounted how her father was fighting to the last minute and always said that he could die anytime without regrets. However, when she found a script for a play which he intended to produce, she realised that he must have wanted to do that play too. Although her father would not see another new work again, she hoped that all of them will continue to work hard and forge ahead.

Source: Sponichi 1 / Sponichi 2 / Sponichi 3 / Sponichi 4