Sayumi Michishige

Template:Short description is a former Japanese singer, actress and model. She is a former sixth-generation member and former leader of the J-pop group Morning Musume. Following the departure of fifth-generation member Risa Niigaki on October 12, 2013, Michishige held the longest tenure of any member in the group's history even after her graduation. She went on to hold this record until surpassed by ninth-generation members Mizuki Fukumura and Erina Ikuta in December 2022.

Michishige was born in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. She joined Morning Musume in 2003 along with Eri Kamei, Miki Fujimoto, and Reina Tanaka, who all debuted with Morning Musume on the group's nineteenth single, "Shabondama". In 2005, she was assigned as mentor to seventh-generation member Koharu Kusumi, until Kusumi left the group in December 2009. Michishige was also a member of the Hello! Project unit Ecomoni, along with former Morning Musume member Rika Ishikawa.

During her term in Morning Musume, she portrays a visual-focused, self-confident image of herself in more TV shows, often calling herself the cutest member in Morning Musume and saying that her cuteness overwhelms her poor singing skills. In one of the skits known as Hello! Morning Theatre on their variety show, Hello! Morning, she frequently played a character known as "Ichiban Kawaii" (Cutest).

Biography

Early life and family

Michishige is from Ube, Yamaguchi. She is the youngest child in the family, she has an elder brother and an elder sister.

Morning Musume Career (2003–2014)

In 2002, at the age of 13, Michishige participated in the Love Audition 2002 held by Up-Front Agency in search of new members for the Japanese female idol group Morning Musume. Tens of thousand of contestants auditioned, but only four where chosen in the final stage. Michishige, along with Eri Kamei, Miki Fujimoto, and Reina Tanaka were admitted to Morning Musume as sixth-generation members on January 19, 2003.

A few weeks later, she was placed in Morning Musume's subgroup Morning Musume Otomegumi, when the group was temporarily divided so it could perform in smaller towns, thereby reaching out to a greater number of fans who could not otherwise watch them perform live. During the spring, she, along with the other sixth-generation members, made her first concert appearance on the Morning Musume Concert Tour 2003 Spring "Non Stop!" during second-generation member Kei Yasuda's leaving ceremony.

On July 16, 2003, the sixth-generation members (with the exception of Miki Fujimoto) released their first photobook and corresponding DVD, both shot in Hawaii, as part of the series. Their musical debut came shortly thereafter, on July 30, with Morning Musume's 19th single, "Shabondama". Towards the end of 2003, Michishige began appearing in the show , as a regular with ex-Morning Musume member Yuko Nakazawa.

2004 saw her first appearance on an album, Best! Morning Musume 2, and in a movie—. During the summer, Michishige appeared in her first solo photobook and was placed in a temporary unit called Ecomoni with fourth-generation Morning Musume member Rika Ishikawa. Originally, the goal of the group was to promote environmental awareness only for the duration of the festival, but their popularity led to the members being cast as voice actors for the fourth Hamtaro movie—along with Hello! Project soloist Aya Matsuura, with whom they also released the main theme for the film, titled —and appeared in subsequent festivals.

In 2005, Michshige and Rika Ishikawa released a duo photobook titled . Michishige also appeared as a regular news anchor on Hello! Morning for most of the second half of 2005. That year, she was assigned to be a mentor to seventh-generation member Koharu Kusumi, with whom she formed a duo called Rainbow Pink in the beginning of 2006. Introducing themselves as "Shige-pink" and "Koha-pink", the group was featured on Morning Musume's seventh album, Rainbow 7, with the song , and subsequently on the 7.5 Fuyu Fuyu Morning Musume Mini! and Sexy 8 Beat albums, with and , respectively.

Following in fellow Morning Musume member Miki Fujimoto's footsteps, Michishige began hosting a radio show titled in October 2006. Running approximately 30 minutes per episode, Michishige's show consisted of her answering fan mail and participating in several games, among which saying a given phrase/expression in reverse, and giving general advice to her listeners.

Michishige's second solo photobook, titled , was published on January 15, 2007. Shot in Okinawa, the book featured school uniform, swimsuit, simple one-piece, and wet yukata/bathrobe shots, in an attempt to convey a more mature image of the seventeen-year-old idol.

Michishige also starred in , an original internet drama created for the purpose of advertising the Family Restaurant chain , as , a novice waitress training under the supervision of her seniors (played by Morning Musume's Ai Takahashi) and (Reiko Tokita).

On June 9, 2007, Michishige began co-hosting the Young Town radio show as a result of Miki Fujimoto's Friday magazine scandal and subsequent resignation from Morning Musume. Shortly thereafter she released her third solo photobook and DVD, 17: Love Hello, both shot on the island of Guam. Her fourth solo photobook, Sōsō, was published in December 2007.

File:Mitsui, Michishige, Kamei - Platinum 9 Tour Spring 2009.jpg

Aika Mitsui (left), Michishige (center), and Eri Kamei performing at Morning Musume's Platinum 9 Disc concert tour in May 2009

On January 3, 2009, for the first time since she joined Morning Musume, Michishige appeared as an independent talent on a TV show, namely the quiz show. A cast of 30 performers (including former v-u-den member Yui Okada and former second-generation Morning Musume member Mari Yaguchi) gathered to answer a series of questions taken from elementary school textbooks. From a total of 60 questions she managed to score 22 (37%) and placed 29th. Later that year, Michishige was assigned to be a part of the new shuffle group zoku v-u-den, a revival of v-u-den, along with Risako Sugaya (of Berryz Kobo) and Junjun (also of Morning Musume).

When Risa Niigaki left on May 18, 2012, Sayumi Michishige was declared the new Morning Musume leader.

On April 29, 2014, during the Morning Musume '14 Concert Tour Haru: Evolution concert in Yamaguchi, Michishige announced her graduation from Morning Musume and Hello! Project. Morning Musume's Fall 2014 concert tour will see her depart. With her exit announced for Morning Musume's Fall 2014 concert tour, the group consisted only of the three most recent generations since the introduction of the fourth-generation members in 2000. She graduated from Morning Musume and Hello! Project on November 26, 2014, and Mizuki Fukumura took over as group leader.

Post-Morning Musume and comeback announcement (2014–2016)

After graduating, Michishige announced that she will take time to rest her mind and body and citied a possible comeback in the future.

On October 2, 2016, Michishige posted an entry in her blog after two years of absence. After that post she has been regularly updating her blog.

On November 26, she posted on her blog entry, "Michishige Sayumi Saisei" (道重さゆみ再生; Michishige Sayumi Rebirth) in hiragana, and in it she announced that would be resuming activities starting spring 2017.

Solo artist activities (2017–2025)

Before retire, Michishige was worked under Up Front Promotion. Her performance SAYUMINGLANDOLL ran in March and July at the Cotton Club. In December 2023, Michishige's agency announced she had recently been diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder and would be restricting some activities until her symptoms improved.

In January 2025, Michishige announced on her blog that she would retire in the summer.

She held her solo live tour “SAYUMINGLANDOLL～SAMSALA~“ in July 2025, and retired at 14 August 2025 after the end of the event.

Works

Photobooks

Title	Release date	Publisher	ISBN	Description
	July 15, 2003	Kadokawa Shoten	978-4-04-894251-5	With Eri Kamei and Reina Tanaka
	October 30, 2004	Wani Books	978-4-8470-2833-5	First solo photobook
	November 16, 2005		978-4-8470-2895-3	Photobook with Rika Ishikawa
	January 15, 2007		978-4-8470-2987-5	Solo photobook
	June 30, 2007	Kadokawa Shoten	978-4-04-894495-3	Solo photobook, shot in Guam
	December 14, 2007	Wani Books	978-4-8470-4055-9	Solo photobook
	September 25, 2008		978-4-4121-1	Solo photobook
	July 13, 2009		978-4-8470-4183-9	Solo photobook, in Okinawa/Tokyo
	April 26, 2010		978-4-8470-4269-0	Solo photobook, shot in Guam
	October 27, 2011		978-4-8470-4398-7	Solo photobook
	January 25, 2012		978-4-8470-4525-7	Solo photobook, 10th anniversary debut
	October 27, 2013		978-4-8470-4590-5	Solo photobook
	October 26, 2014		978-4-8470-4689-6	Solo photobook, Last photobook on Morning Musume, in Okinawa
	July 13, 2018		978-4-8470-8134-7	Solo photobook, in Lake Kawaguchi

Books

Title	Release date	Publisher	ISBN	Description
	July 13, 2014	Wani Books	978-4-8470-4665-0
	May 30, 2014		978-4-8470-4651-3	as Photographer
	February 25, 2015		978-4-8470-4735-0	as Photographer
	March 19, 2017	Hello!Project Official Shop	978-4-8470-8220-7
	April 17, 2017	Wani Books	978-4-8470-9499-6	with Masa Tanaka, as Photographer
	October 1, 2018	Hello!Project Official Shop	220-0-0003-2765-9
	April 16, 2018	Wani Books	978-4-8470-8111-8	with Masa Tanaka, as Photographer
	October 16, 2018		220-0-0003-8597-0
	July 13, 2019		978-4-8470-8220-7

Singles

Title	Release date	Information
Loneliness Tokyo	October 8, 2018
	March 13, 2019	Seiko Oomori feat. Michishige Sayumi

Other songs

Title	Release date	Information
	September 14, 2004	Morning Musume cover
It's You	March 18, 2009
	September 12, 2012
	September 25, 2013	Morning Musume cover
Night Light	December 1, 2021	Night Tempo feat. Sayumi Michishige on Ladies In The City album

Best albums

Title	Release date	Information
	August 5, 2019
SAYUMINGLANDOLL~SAYUTOPIA~	September 1, 2021
	February 15, 2023

Original soundtrack albums

Title	Release date	Information
	July 5, 2017	Live Show at Cotton Club Osaka
	July 4, 2018	Live Show
	December 5, 2018	Live Show
	November 3, 2019	Live Show, EP series part 1
	January 11, 2020	Live Show, EP series part 2
	April 4, 2020	Live Show, EP series part 3

Video albums

Title	Release date	Information
	July 16, 2003	DVD with Eri Kamei and Reina Tanaka
	July 18, 2007	First solo DVD, filmed in Hawaii
	October 1, 2008	Making Photobook
20's time	July 22, 2009	Second solo DVD, filmed in Okinawa
	April 28, 2010	Making Photobook
Homey	March, 2011	Released as part of the e-Hello! lineup.
	November 19, 2014	Last solo DVD as member of Morning Musume '14
	December 20, 2017	Live Show at Cotton Club Osaka Blu-ray
	November 7, 2018	Live Show Blu-ray
	November 20, 2019	Live Show Blu-ray
SAYUMINGLANDOLL～BIRTHDAY LIVE 2019～	November 20, 2019	Live Show DVD
M-line Special 2021~Make a Wish!~ on 20th June	November 3, 2021	Live Show DVD, with PINK CRES., Reina Tanaka and Karin Miyamoto
	December 12, 2021	Live Show Blu-ray
SAYUMINGLANDOLL～BIRTHDAY LIVE 2022～	February 15, 2023	Live Show DVD
	December 13, 2023	Live Show Blu-ray

Video games

Title	Release date	Role
Dragon Nest	August, 2011	Haloli, voice

Movies

Title	Release date	Role
	February 21, 2004	Toguchi Sato
	December 23, 2004	Shigeham (Eco-ham), voice
	September 28, 2005	Sayumi Michishige
	March 21, 2009	Sayumi
	February 5, 2011	Sayumi Michishige

Stage

Show	Start date	End date	Role
	May 29, 2004	June 13, 2004,	Oizumi Michiru
	August 1, 2006	August 27, 2006	Lady / Talent Scout Liu
	February 27, 2008	March 2, 2008	Luluka Jii
	August 6, 2008	August 25, 2008	Fairy 1
	June 7, 2009	June 14, 2009	Luluka Jii
	June 11, 2010	June 20, 2010	Anna Morinari
	February 22, 2012		various
	July 26, 2012	August 21, 2012
	March 19, 2017	July 8, 2017	various
	March 20, 2018	July 8, 2018	various
	October 10, 2018	March 22, 2019	various
	November 3, 2019	April 12, 2020	various
	August 16, 2022	January 31, 2023	various
	November 14, 2023	January 21, 2024	various

Series

Show	Release date	Role	Information
	December 24, 2006	Chii Ruruka	Web-drama
	January 15, 2010	Senior part-time job	Fuji TV TWO
	December 15, 2011	Haruka Hoshino (sister)	BeeTV
	January 11, 2012	Sayuri Tachikawa	NTV
	October 24, 2017	Arisa	Web-anime, voice

Television

Show	Start date	End date	Station
	January 26, 2003	April 1, 2007	TV Tokyo
	September 29, 2003	December 26, 2003
	October 7, 2003	September 9, 2004	TV Asahi
	June 16, 2004	June 25, 2004	TV Tokyo
	July 14, 2004	July 22, 2004
	October 21, 2004	December 15, 2004
	January 5, 2005	April 1, 2005
	April 5, 2005	May 5, 2006
	April 8, 2007	September 28, 2008
	October 6, 2008	March 27, 2009
	January 3, 2009		Nippon Television
	February 12, 2009		Nagoya Broadcasting Network
	February 23, 2009	March 9, 2009	TV Asahi
	March 10, 2009		TV Tokyo

Radio

Program	Start date	End date	Station
Regular
	October 5, 2006	November 24, 2014	CBC Radio
	June 9, 2007	Ongoing	MBS Radio
Non-regular
	May 2, 2005	May 13, 2005	TBC Radio
	May 30, 2005	June 10, 2005
	July 25, 2005	August 5, 2005
	January 22, 2007	February 2, 2007
	February 27, 2004		ABC Radio
	March 5, 2004
	June 10, 2005	June 24, 2005
	December 16, 2005
	November 3, 2006
	November 10, 2006
	December 15, 2006
	December 18, 2005
	December 17, 2006
B.B.L.	November 6, 2005	November 13, 2005
Radio drama
	December 4, 2005		MBS Radio

External links

• Official blog Template:In lang
• Template:PAGENAMEBASE at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidata