Machiko Kyo, an actress whose many noteworthy roles in postwar Japanese films included the female lead in Akira Kurosawa’s groundbreaking “Rashomon,” died on Sunday in a hospital in Tokyo. She was 95.

The Japanese news media reported that Toho, a studio where Ms. Kyo had worked, announced her death.

In 1950, a year after being discovered by a film scout while performing in an all-female dance revue, Ms. Kyo appeared in “Rashomon” opposite Toshiro Mifune, the magnetic screen idol who was on his way to international stardom.

In that movie, four contradictory accounts are given of the rape of Ms. Kyo’s character and the murder of her husband (Masayuki Mori) by a bandit played by Mr. Mifune. With its vivid portrayal of the unreliability of storytelling, “Rashomon” soon became recognized as a cinema classic.

During rehearsals, Kurosawa recalled, he had been “left speechless” by Ms. Kyo’s dedication to learning her craft.