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Ko Shibasaki

Japanese actor and singer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ253690 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ko Shibasaki (柴咲 コウ, Shibasaki Kou; born 5 August 1981) is a Japanese actress and singer who has performed in television shows, movies, and commercials. She is managed by Stardust Promotion.

Biography

Acting career

Ko (also transcribed Kou and Koh) Shibasaki debuted in 2000, when she portrayed Mitsuko Souma in Battle Royale. Shibasaki also won critical acclaim for her role as Tsubaki Sakurai in the 2001 film Go, which earned her several awards, including the Best Supporting Actress Award of Japanese Academy, the Hōchi Movie Award, and the Kinema Junpō Award.

In 2013, Shibasaki made her U.S. film debut in 47 Ronin, a Keanu Reeves-led adaptation of the Chushingura story of samurai loyalty and revenge. The film was billed as the first ever English-language adaptation of the legend, based on historical events in the early 18th century.

In 2017, she played the main character Ii Naotora in the NHK Taiga drama TV series Naotora: The Lady Warlord. Before the series was filmed, Shibasaki visited the grave of Naotora.

Music career

Shibasaki has two musical groups: Koh+ (with Masaharu Fukuyama) and Galaxias! (with Deco*27 and TeddyLoid).

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ko Shibasaki” as japanese actor and singer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shibasaki, Japanese and actor.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1981, 2000, 2001, 2013—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1981-08-05. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Shibasaki, Japanese and actor providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ko Shibasaki”, the useful work is to connect “japanese actor and singer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q253690. VIAF identifies the subject as 275551510. The Library of Congress control number is no2012061489. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1981, 2000, 2001 and 2013.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ko Shibasaki”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ko Shibasaki primary sources, Ko Shibasaki archive and Shibasaki research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ko Shibasaki”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ko Shibasaki” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.