is a 1963 Japanese

samurai film , also commonly spelled "''chambara''", meaning "sword fighting" films,Hill (2002). denotes the Japanese film genre called samurai cinema in English and is roughly equivalent to Western and swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub-category of ...

directed by

Kihachi Okamoto was a Cinema of Japan, Japanese film director who worked in several different film genre, genres. Career Born in Yonago, Tottori, Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted into the Air Force 1943 and entered World War II, an exp ...

with a screenplay by Okamoto, Takeshi Sano and

Shinichi Sekizawa was a Japanese screenwriter noted for his immense contributions to several films by Ishirō Honda, including several classic Godzilla films. He also contributed material to the original ''Ultraman'' series and several Tōei Dōga films such as ...

. The film is about a disenchanted samurai who resorts to smuggling weapons for a rival army. Japanese cinema specialist

David Desser David Desser (born 1953) is emeritus professor of cinema studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and former director of that university's Unit for Cinema Studies. He is an expert in Asian cinema, particularly the cinema of Jap ...

called the film "

eccentric Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off- center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a ...

".David Desser, ''The Samurai Films of Akira Kurosawa'' (p.100)

Plot

A lone masterless warrior with some new friends helps ship 300

rifles A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifle ...

to a Japanese warlord during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

Cast

Yūzō Kayama is a Japanese popular musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Life and career Son of mid-twentieth century film star Ken Uehara, and actress Yoko Kozakura, ( ja) Kayama graduated from Keio University. Yuzo Kayama signed with Toho and made ...

as Ochi * Makoto Satō as Kinoshita Tokichiro *

Yuriko Hoshi , born , was a Japanese actress. She appeared in more than 90 films beginning in 1959. Career Born in Tokyo but raised in Kobe, Hoshi made her film debut in 1958 at Toho. Hoshi died in Kyoto, Japan, at age 74. Selected filmography Film Tele ...

as Sagiri * Kumi Mizuno as Lady Taki * Hiroshi Hasegawa as

Hachisuka Koroku , also known Hachisuka Koroku (蜂須賀小六), was a ''daimyō'', retainer and adviser of Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Azuchi–Momoyama period of Japanese history. He was the son of Hachisuka Masatoshi. The Hachisuka clan were the ''kok ...

Jun Tazaki , born Minoru Tanaka, was a Japanese actor best known for his various roles in kaiju films produced by Toho, often portraying scientists or military personnel. Career Tanaka began his career as a traveling stage actor in the 1930s, performi ...

as Ariyoshi Sosuke *

Ichirō Nakatani was a Japanese actor. He attended Waseda University, but withdrew before completing his degree and joined the Haiyuza Theatre Company. In 1959, Nakatani won Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year. Nakatani was well known for his role as Ninja ...

as Doshi Harima

Release

''Warring Clans'' was distributed by Toho in Japan on March 24, 1963. It was distributed with English-language subtitles by Toho International in the United States on July 19, 1963. An English-dubbed version was also produced.

References

;Citations

Bibliography

External links

*
Sengoku Yaro - Vintage Ninja
1963 films 1960s Japanese films 1960s Japanese-language films 1960s martial arts films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Kihachi Okamoto Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka Films scored by Masaru Sato Films with screenplays by Shinichi Sekizawa 1960s samurai films Toho films {{1960s-Japan-film-stub