Legendary Godzilla Suit Actor Kenpachiro Satsuma’s Death Leaves Behind a Lasting Kaiju Legacy
The renowned Kenpachiro Satsuma passed away at the age of 76 on December 16, 2023. He played the legendary monster Godzilla in many of the movies produced between 1984 and 1995. He even portrayed various other monsters during Godzilla’s Heisei Era. He also appeared as a monster in the North Korean cult classic film Pulgasari. According to a translated obituary post from Matomedane, the cause of his death is said to be interstitial pneumonia.
His contribution to the gargantuan monster truly shaped the longstanding franchise into what it is now. He left behind a legacy that would be hard to overlook for any generation, no matter how much time has passed.
Donning the Godzilla suit: life and notable work of Kenpachiro Satsuma
Satsuma was born on May 27, 1947, under the name Yasuaki Maeda. He started off as a steel mill worker before enrolling in the Nikkatsu Acting Institute in 1967. He appeared in movies under stage names such as Ryoma Kusaka and Kengo Nakayama. Kenpachiro Satsuma left behind a lasting Kaiju legacy, not only with his portrayal of Godzilla but also with other legendary monsters on screen. In his debut monster movie, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, he actually played the role of the monster Herodah. He also played the role of Gigan in Godzilla vs. Gigan, which skyrocketed his fame.
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Kenpachiro Satsuma took over the role of Godzilla during the Heisei film period and played the iconic role in 1984’s Return of Godzilla through 1995’s Godzilla vs. Destroyah. It all started when then-Godzilla actor Haruo Nakajima retired from the role in 1972, and after much trial and error, it was deemed suitable to offer Kenpachiro Satstuma the role of Godzilla in suit, who gladly accepted the position.
As mentioned before, he debuted as Godzilla in 1984’s The Return of Godzilla, which undertook many changes to revamp the iconic monster. The movie was a complete U-turn from the Shōwa era portrayal of Godzilla, as it showed a much darker version of Godzilla. He was no longer a force of good who wanted to protect humans and fight other monsters. In fact, he turned into much more of an antagonist in this film and in the Heisei era in general, which distinctly marked him as different.
Although his pioneering work was with Godzilla, he did many other things that made him a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Some of the movies that come to mind are Hong Kil-dong and Japanese Hell. One other such movie that was extremely notorious was the 1985 North Korean kaiju film Pulgasari, which was based on the first-ever Korean Kaiju movie Bulgasari. The film itself has the most dangerous history attached to it, as North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il kidnapped South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok and his wife for directing the movie.
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The North Korean leader also flew out the Japanese SFX team for Godzilla films, along with Kenpachiro Satsuma, under the false impression that they were going to someplace in China. However, Kenpachiro Satsuma admitted much later that he preferred Pulgasari over the Hollywood adaptation of Godzilla.
Kenpachiro Satsuma would regularly pass out due to lack of oxygen on the sets of Godzilla movies
Playing Godzilla at that time and age with not much help from technology was no easy feat. Kenpachiro Satsuma’s experiences were probably the greatest example of that. According to Yahoo News, during the shoot of Godzilla, he would regularly pass out on set due to the lack of oxygen. The main culprit behind that was the poorly ventilated suits and costumes that were made out of rubber.
In an interview with Historyvortex, he highlighted that he had the worst time during Godzilla vs. Destroyah where the production used pure carbon dioxide to achieve a steam effect on the suit during Godzilla’s nuclear meltdown scene. While talking about whether he ever got hurt while playing Godzilla, he said:
“I did experience these types of things several times in one film! I know Mr. Nakajima once said he had got burned in the shooting of one of the films. I have fallen over into the water pool due to the loss of oxygen several times and was about to die countless times! I could see the gates of Hell several times!!”
He would be remembered as one of the greatest Godzilla suit actors to have ever existed due to his sheer dedication and hard work.
As per IMDb, Kenpachiro Satsuma’s last works include 2001’s Blind Beast vs. Dwarf and 2002’s Kawana Mariko: Sakuragi no amai mizu.
