Mihanayo Sumi, a former top star of the Takarazuka Revue’s Hoshigumi (Star Troupe), died on August 3 at 4:43 a.m. of old age. She was 94. Her talent agency, Toho Geino, announced her passing on August 6, alongside statements from her sons, actors Masahiro Takashima and Masanobu Takashima.
Masahiro Takashima said he was not present at the exact moment of her death, but had visited her days earlier as she cycled through periods of struggle and calm following repeated hospitalizations for aspiration pneumonia. “Of course I’m sad, but right now I’m mostly filled with relief that she’s finally resting easy,” he wrote, adding that hospital staff were repeatedly startled by how loud she could still talk during her stay. “She was the great actress Mihanayo Sumi right up to the very end.”
Masanobu Takashima said their mother passed peacefully while surrounded by her children and grandchildren, with music by Julio Iglesias, a singer she and her late husband both loved, playing in the background. “She remained beautiful and composed until the end, and never lost her sense of humor,” he wrote, thanking fans for their support over the years. The family held a private funeral for close relatives only, and no public farewell event is planned.
Who is Mihanayo Sumi?
Born Setsuko Takashima on February 6, 1932, in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Sumi joined the Takarazuka Revue in 1948 and made her stage debut in “Haru no Odori” (Dances of Spring). She landed her first leading role in the 1952 grand revue “Sarutobi Sasuke” and went on to become a top otokoyaku (male-role specialist) of the all-female troupe’s Hoshigumi. Her signature production, 1960’s “Kareinaru Senbyoshu,” won a Geijutsusai (Arts Festival) Award. She left the Revue in 1963 with the farewell production “Takarasienne ni Eiko Are.”
That same year, she married actor Tadao Takashima, and the couple went on to co-host the long-running cooking program “Gochisousama” for 26 years. On screen, she appeared in the 1955 Takarazuka film “Jazz Musume Kanpai!,” the Hibari Misora vehicle “Utae! Seishun Harikiri Musume,” and 1961’s “Shin Genji Monogatari” opposite Raizo Ichikawa. In later years she became known for variety show appearances and talk events discussing how she supported Tadao through his struggle with depression. In 2014, she performed at a Takarazuka 100th-anniversary event and was inducted into the Takarazuka Hall of Fame. Tadao Takashima died in 2019 at age 88.
Author’s Comment
I’ll be honest, a Takarazuka name from this era passing at 94 barely registers with younger readers overseas, and that’s exactly the tragedy of it. This woman was headlining as an otokoyaku back when the Revue was practically a religion, then spent the second half of her life quietly holding her husband together through his own depression battle without ever making it about her. Losing both parents of the Takashima acting family within seven years, dad Tadao in 2019 and now mom, and having both sons write these achingly tender public letters tells you everything about how that family actually operates once the cameras are off. Julio Iglesias playing as she passed is such a specific, human detail no publicist would ever invent it. Rest easy, Setsuko-san, you apparently out-volumed the hospital staff’s expectations right to the end.
