Gannosuke Ashiya was a Japanese actor and voice artist born on May 29, 1931 in Kyoto, Japan. He passed away on April 7, 2004. His career in the entertainment industry spanned several decades, during which he appeared primarily in live-action film and television productions, with a limited but notable presence in the field of anime voice acting.

Ashiya's filmography is extensive, comprising numerous Japanese movies from the late 1950s through the early 1990s. He appeared in productions such as "Muddy River" in 1981, "Inferno of Torture" in 1969, and "The Dropout" in 1982, among many others. His work encompassed a variety of genres, including period dramas, yakuza films, and comedies. Despite this long career in front of the camera, Ashiya is best known to international audiences for his contributions to two animated films produced by Studio Ghibli.

Ashiya's first major voice role came in the theatrical version of the anime film "Jarinko Chie," released in 1981. In this production, directed by Isao Takahata, he provided the voice for the character Shacho. This character corresponds to Kōzō Yurine, as noted in the user's query. The film is an adaptation of the popular manga by Etsumi Haruki and depicts the life of a young girl in Osaka, with Ashiya's character being her lovable but sometimes troublesome father.

His most widely recognized voice acting credit came more than a decade later with the Studio Ghibli film "Pom Poko," released in 1994 and also directed by Isao Takahata. In this film, Ashiya voiced the character Inugami Gyobu, also known in some sources as Inugami-gyōbu. Pom Poko is a fantasy comedy about a community of shape-shifting raccoon dogs (tanuki) trying to save their forest home from urban development. Ashiya's character is the leader of the Ii clan of tanuki.

Gannosuke Ashiya's career is notable for its two significant collaborations with renowned director Isao Takahata. Both of his major credited voice roles were in films directed by Takahata, first with the character Shacho in "Jarinko Chie" in 1981 and later with Inugami Gyobu in "Pom Poko" in 1994. While his body of voice work for anime is very small, consisting primarily of these two films, these roles connect him to two cherished works from one of Japan's most celebrated animation studios. His performances in these films remain his lasting legacy within the world of anime.