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Tsubaki Sanjûrô
is a 1962 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film directed, co-written and edited by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune. It is a sequel to Kurosawa's 1961 ''Yojimbo''. Originally an adaptation of the Shūgorō Yamamoto novel ''Hibi Heian'', the script was altered following the success of the previous year's ''Yojimbo'' to incorporate the lead character of that film. Plot Nine young samurai believe that the lord chamberlain, Mutsuta, is corrupt after he tore up their petition against fraud at court. One of them tells the superintendent Kikui of this and he agrees to intervene. As the nine meet secretly to discuss this at a shrine, a rōnin overhears and cautions them against trusting the superintendent. While at first they do not believe him, he saves them from an ambush. But as their rescuer is about to leave, he realises that Mutsuta and his family must now be in danger and decides to stay and help. By the time the samurai get to Mutsuta's house, the chamberlain has been abducted an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a Filmmaking technique of Akira Kurosawa, bold, dynamic style strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it. He was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Cinema of Japan, Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film ''Sanshiro Sugata'' (1943). After the war, the critically acclaimed ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then-little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samurai
The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court downsized the national army and delegated the security of the countryside to these privately trained warriors. Eventually the samurai clans grew so powerful that they became the ''de facto'' rulers of the country. In the aftermath of the Gempei War (1180-1185), Japan formally passed into military rule with the founding of the first shogunate. The status of samurai became heredity by the mid-eleventh century. By the start of the Edo period, the shogun had disbanded the warrior-monk orders and peasant conscript system, leaving the samurai as the only men in the country permitted to carry weapons at all times. Because the Edo period was a time of peace, many samurai neglected their warrior training and focused on peacetime activities such as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of fiction typically Setting (narrative), set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with Americana (culture), folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. The frontier is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys, Outlaw (stock character), outlaws, sheriffs, and numerous other Stock character, stock Gunfighter, gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice, freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny, and the national history and identity of the United States. Native Americans in the United States, Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or Savage ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antihero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions that most of the audience considers morally correct, their reasons for doing so may not align with the audience's morality. ''Antihero'' is a literary term that can be understood as standing in opposition to the traditional hero, i.e., one with high social status, well-liked by the general populace. Past the surface, scholars have additional requirements for the antihero. The " Racinian" antihero is defined by three factors. The first is that the antihero is doomed to fail before their adventure begins. The second constitutes the blame of that failure on everyone but themselves. Thirdly, they offer a critique of social morals and reality. To other scholars, an antihero is inherently a hero f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yūnosuke Itō
was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than ninety films from 1947 to 1979. Career Itō made his film debut at Toho in 1946, and although mostly a prominent supporting actor—playing memorable figures such as the novelist in Akira Kurosawa's ''Ikiru''—he also was cast in leading roles such as Kon Ichikawa's '' Mr. Pu''. He is acclaimed as "one of the...extremely talented character actors who populated Japanese movies in Shōwaera, playing a broad range of roles." Itō received the 1962 Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Supporting Actor">Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actor for his dual role in the seminal ninja film ''Shinobi no Mono''. Film scholar Stuart Galbraith IV has noted that the "horse-faced actor...was a real chameleon, despite his instantly recognizable, distinctive features...[and] gives what may be the performance of his career sone of the all-time great Japanese movie villains. The son of kabuki actor Sawamura Sōnosuke I (1886-1924), Itō was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masao Shimizu
was a Japanese actor. His wife was actress Yumi Takano. His first starring role in the film was in ''Momoiro no Yuwaku'' in 1931. In 1947, he formed the Mingei Theatre Company. Shimizu often worked with Akira Kurosawa. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1931 and 1976. Selected filmography * '' The 47 Ronin'' (1941) * '' No Regrets for Our Youth'' (1946) as Professor Hakozaki * '' A Ball at the Anjo House'' (1947) * '' One Wonderful Sunday'' (1947) as the Dance Hall Manager * '' Drunken Angel'' (1948) as Boss * '' Stray Dog'' (1949) * '' Bōryoku no Machi'' (1950) * ''Scandal'' (1950) as Judge * '' Story of a Beloved Wife'' (1951) * '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952) * '' Children of Hiroshima'' (1952) * '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952) as kikuoji * '' Ikiru'' (1952) as Doctor * ''Epitome'' (1953) * '' Gate of Hell'' (1953) * '' Sansho the Bailiff'' (1954) as Masauji Taira * '' I Live in Fear'' (1955) as Yamazaki, Yoshi's husband * ''Season of the Sun'' (1956) * '' Black River' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashigaru
were peasant infantry employed by the warlords of Japan to supplement the samurai in their armies. The first known reference to ''ashigaru'' was in the 14th century, but it was during the Ashikaga shogunate (Muromachi period) that the use of ''ashigaru'' became prevalent by various warring factions.''War in the early modern world'' Jeremy Black, Taylor & Francis, 1999 p.59 Origins Attempts were made in Japan by (673–686) to have a conscripted national army, but this did not come about, and by the 10th century Japan instead relied on individual landowners to provide men for conflicts and wars. These horse-owning landowners were the beginnings of the ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sachio Sakai
, born , was a Japanese actor. In 1947, he made his film debut with Akira Kurosawa's '' One Wonderful Sunday''. He often worked with Akira Kurosawa and Kihachi Okamoto. Filmography Films * '' One Wonderful Sunday'' (1947) as Ticket seller * ''Drunken Angel'' (1948) as Guitarist * ''Stray Dog'' (1949) as Spectator of theater * '' Aoi sanmyaku'' (1949) * '' Bōryoku no Machi'' (1950) * '' Aoi Shinju'' (1951) as Yanagiya * '' Vendetta for a Samurai'' (1952) * '' Nangoku no hada'' (1952) * '' The Man Who Came to Port'' (1952) * ''Ikiru'' (1952) as Gang * '' Eagle of the Pacific'' (1953) * ''Seven Samurai'' (1954) as a coolie * ''Godzilla'' (1954) as Hagiwara * ''Half Human'' (1955) as Nakata * '' Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple'' (1955) as Matahachi Honiden * ''Throne of Blood'' (1957) as Washizu's vassal * '' Song for a Bride'' (1958) as Kurokawa * ''The Hidden Fortress'' (1958) as Ashigaru * '' Life of an Expert Swordsman'' (1959) * '' The Secret of the Telegian'' (1960) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takako Irie
was a Japanese film actress. Born in Tokyo into the aristocratic Higashibōjō family (her birth name was ), she graduated from Bunka Gakuin before debuting as an actress at Nikkatsu in 1927. She became a major star, even starting her own production company, Irie Productions, in 1932. One of Kenji Mizoguchi's silent film masterpieces, ''The Water Magician'', was produced at that company with Irie starring. She appeared in many advertisements, as well as on fans and other commercial goods. Irie was also the subject of a folding screen painting by ''Nihonga'' artist Nakamura Daizaburō, which appeared in the 1930 Teiten (Imperial Exhibition), and which is today in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art; toy dolls were also produced based on this image.Brown, Kendall et al (eds.). ''Taishō Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia, and Deco''. Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2001. pp. 70–77. In the postwar period, Irie became known as a "Kaibyō, ghost cat actress" (''bakeneko joyū'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamatari Fujiwara
was a Japanese stage and film actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1933 and 1984. In addition to regular appearances in the films of Akira Kurosawa, he worked for directors such as Mikio Naruse, Yasujirō Ozu, Heinosuke Gosho and others. Early life and career Fujiwara was born on 15 January 1905 in Tokyo, Japan. Fujiwara had initially focused on music before he became known as a comic actor After performing in Asakusa operas, a popular form of opera during the Taishō era until its decline after the Great Kantō earthquake, he joined Ken'ichi Enomoto's New Casino Folies. Enomoto's troupe performed satirical stage shows in an era often associated with the term or "Erotic Grotesque Nonsense" era. Fujiwara gave his film debut in the 1933 film ''Ongaku kigeki – Horoyui jinsei'' (lit. "Musical comedy – Intoxicated life"), the first production of the P.C.L. studios (later Toho). Most of Fujiwara's later films were Toho productions. He married actress Sadako Sawamura in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takashi Shimura
was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981. He appeared in 21 of Akira Kurosawa's 30 films (more than any other actor), including as a lead actor in '' Drunken Angel'' (1948), '' Rashomon'' (1950), '' Ikiru'' (1952) and '' Seven Samurai'' (1954). He played Professor Kyohei Yamane in Ishirō Honda's original ''Godzilla'' (1954) and its first sequel, '' Godzilla Raids Again'' (1955). For his contributions to the arts, the Japanese government decorated Shimura with the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1974 and the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette in 1980. Early life Shimura was born in Ikuno, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. His forebears were members of the samurai class: in 1868 his grandfather took part in the Battle of Toba–Fushimi during the Boshin War. Shimura entered Ikuno Primary School in 1911 and Kobe First Middle School in 1917. He missed two years of schooling because of a mild case of tuberculosis, and subsequently move ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
