is a 1981 Japanese

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Shue Matsubayashi Shue is a surname. It may be an Americanization (immigration), Americanized spelling of the German surnames Schue or Schuh. Additionally, it is an ad hoc romanization of Chinese, romanization of various Chinese surnames, including those spelled in ...

. The film is a retelling of the downfall of Japan's Imperial Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Plot

In 1940, despite the opposition of the commander-in-chief of the

Combined Fleet The was the main sea-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Until 1933, the Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units norm ...

, Admiral

Isoroku Yamamoto was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II. He commanded the fleet from 1939 until his death in 1943, overseeing the start of the Pacific War in 1941 and J ...

(

Keiju Kobayashi was a Japanese actor who appeared in 253 films in a career spanning 67 years. Born in Gunma Prefecture, he began acting at the Nikkatsu studio after dropping out of Nihon University and made his film debut in 1942. In 1956 he moved to Toho film ...

) and other officers, Japan signs the

Tripartite Pact The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano, and Saburō Kurusu (in that order) and in the ...

with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and

Fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

as it prepares for expansion in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Masato Odagiri, son of shipwright Takeichi Odgairi, graduates from the

Imperial Japanese Naval Academy The was a school established to train line officers for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was originally located in Nagasaki, moved to Yokohama in 1866, and was relocated to Tsukiji, Tokyo, in 1869. It moved to Etajima, Hiroshima, in 1888. Students ...

. A year later, his friend, Eiichi Hongo, is promoted to naval lieutenant. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Eiichi is in the raid as part of a

Val Val may refer to: Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Soviet assault rifle Music *''Val'', album by Val Doonican * VAL (band), Belarusian pop duo People * Val (give ...

dive bomber crew from the aircraft carrier ''

Zuikaku was the second and last built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before the beginning of the Pacific War. ''Zuikaku'' was one of the most modern Japanese aircraft carriers when commissioned, and saw successful action throughout numero ...

''. The raid is a success, but is tempered by the absence of the American carrier fleet. In February 1942, the battleship ''

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...

'' is designated as Yamamoto's flagship, and Takeichi is drafted as a reservist. He is assigned to the ship as a

launch Launch or launched may refer to: Involving vehicles * Launch (boat), one of several different sorts of boat ** Motor launch (naval), a small military vessel used by the Royal Navy * Air launch, the practice of dropping an aircraft, rocket, or ...

pilot. Not long afterwards, the Americans launch a counterstrike on Japan in the Doolittle Raid. Following this, Yamamoto assembles the ''

Kido Butai The , also known as the ''Kidō Butai'' ("Mobile Force"), was a combined carrier battle group comprising most of the aircraft carriers and carrier air groups of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the first eight months of the Pacific War. ...

'' in order to mount a massive naval strike at Midway, but the Japanese carrier force is met and sunk by the US carriers. Several months later, after the

Guadalcanal campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the United States, was an Allies of World War II, Allied offensive against forces of the Empire of Japan in the Solomon Islands during th ...

, Yamamoto is

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

as American pilots intercept and shoot down his plane. Eiichi returns home to Japan and marries his fiancée, but is soon recalled to participate in the

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf () 23–26 October 1944, was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. By late 1944, Japan possessed fewer capital sh ...

. Off Cape Engaño, the ''Zuikaku'' is sunk, and Eiichi is among the casualties as he had given his

life jacket A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suit that is worn by a u ...

to Shinji, Masato's younger brother, who was assigned to the ship as a navigator. Elsewhere, the ''Yamato'', now serving as the flagship of

Takeo Kurita was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Kurita commanded IJN 2nd Fleet, the main Japanese attack force during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. Biography Early life Takeo Kurit ...

's Center Force, withdraws from Leyte without having engaged in battle. In April 1945, the ''Yamato'' is assigned to participate in

Operation Ten-Go , literally Operation Chrysanthemum Water 1, best known as , literally Operation Heaven, was the last major Empire of Japan, Japanese naval operation in the Pacific War, Pacific Theater of World War II. In April 1945, the , the largest battleshi ...

, a suicide mission to

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

. Shinji has also been reassigned to serve on the battleship. Masato, now a ''

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

'' pilot, is also due to participate, and asks Shinji to stay with Takeichi during the battle. As the ''Yamato'' and her accompanying fleet sails down to Okinawa, it is intercepted by American planes and sunk with heavy loss of life. Shinji and Takeichi are both killed in battle. Masato observes the sinking, while contemplating on his own death. The film ends on a scene of Eiji's wife, child, and father playing on a beach as the credits roll.

Cast

Toshiyuki Nagashima is a Japanese actor. He won the award for Best Newcomer at the 3rd Hochi Film Awards for '' Kaerazaru hibi'' and for Best Actor at the 6th Hochi Film Awards for '' Enrai''. Selected filmography Film *'' Kaerazaru hibi'' (1978) *''Third Base' ...

as Eiichi Hongo *

Nobuo Kaneko was a Japanese actor. His wife was actress Yatsuko Tanami. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1946 and 1993. Career Kaneko was a versatile character actor, playing roles ranging from comedic buffoons to hardened yakuza bosses. He is es ...

Chūichi Nagumo was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Nagumo led Japan's main carrier battle group, the ''Kido Butai'', in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and over the next months in successful raids on Darwin in A ...

Eitaro Ozawa , also credited as Sakae Ozawa (小沢栄), was a Japanese film actor and stage actor and director. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1988, directed by notable filmmakers such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita ...

Osami Nagano was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of the leaders of Japan's military during most of the Second World War. In April 1941, he became Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. In this capacity, he served as the ...

Hiroyuki Nagato , stage name of Akio Kato (加藤晃夫), was a Japanese actor. He starred in ''Season of the Sun'', '' Endless Desire'', '' My Second Brother'', '' Stolen Desire'', and ''Sukeban Deka'', and ''Yo-Yo Girl Cop''. Life and career Nagato was born ...

as Takeda *

Ichiro Nakatani , also known mononymously as , is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played for 28 seasons. He played the first nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the next 12 years w ...

Kōsaku Aruga , was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. He commanded the battleship during its final mission, Operation ''Ten-Go''. Biography Aruga was a native of Nagano prefecture, and graduated from the 45th class of the I ...

Toru Abe TORU or Toru may refer to: *TORU, spacecraft system *Tōru (given name), Japanese male given name *Toru, Pakistan, village in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan *Tõru Tõru is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western Es ...

Kei Satō was a Japanese character actor and narrator. He is known for his work with Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima, and for several films with Kaneto Shindo, such as '' Onibaba'' and ''Kuroneko''. He won the best actor award from ''Kinema Junpo ...

as Shigenori Kami *

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 ...

Soemu Toyoda was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. Biography Early career Toyoda was born in what is now part Kitsuki city, Ōita Prefecture. He graduated from the 33rd class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1905, ranked ...

* Yoshitaka Tamba as Mogi *

Yūko Kotegawa is a Japanese actress from the city of Ōita. Biography Yūko graduated from high school in the city of Ōita. She placed first in the 1976 Miss Salad Girl contest (the runner-up was Yūko Natori). She landed a part in a Kanebo cosmetics com ...

as Yoko Hongo * Kenichi Kaneda as Shinji Hongo *

Junkichi Orimoto was a Japanese actor. Orimoto often worked with Kinji Fukasaku and Sadao Nakajima. He started his acting career at the Shinkyō theatre company in 1949. His first film appearance was in the 1952 film ''Yamabiko Gakkō'' directed by Tadashi Imai ...

as Obayashi *

Takuya Fujioka was a Japanese actor. He is most famous for playing the role of Daikichi Okakura on the television drama series ''Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari''. Fujioka attended Kwansei Gakuin University but dropped out because of illness. His first starring ro ...

Shigeru Fukudome was an admiral and Chief of Staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Biography Early life and career Born in Yonago, Tottori prefecture, Fukudome graduated from the 40th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1912, ra ...

Kōji Takahashi (born 10 June 1935 in Tōkamachi, Niigata), is a Japanese actor, who attended Niigata Prefectural Tōkamachi High School and later Toyo University. Career While he was at Toyo University, Takahashi became a chauffeur of Seiji Miyaguchi, an actor ...

Matome Ugaki was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, remembered for his extensive and revealing war diary, role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and participation in one of the final kamikaze attacks hours after the surrender of Japan ...

Kiichi Nakai is a Japanese actor. His name was given by Yasujirō Ozu. His father, Keiji Sada, also a movie actor, died when Nakai was only two years old. Nakai started his acting career while he was still in university and was awarded the Rookie of the Ye ...

as Masato Odagiri *

Akihiko Hirata , known professionally as , was a Japanese film actor. He is known for his work in the ''kaiju'' genre, including such films as ''King Kong vs. Godzilla'', '' The Mysterians'', '' Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla'', '' Terror of Mechagodzilla'', and hi ...

as Shimoda *

Tomoko Naraoka was a Japanese actress and narrator. The daughter of a painter, she was born in Komagome, Hongō (present-day Bunkyo), in the city of Tokyo, Japan. She graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design. Naraoka debuted as a cinema actres ...

as Utako Hongo *

Susumu Fujita was a Japanese film and television actor. He played the lead role in Akira Kurosawa's first feature, '' Sanshiro Sugata'', and appeared in other Kurosawa films including '' The Men Who Tread On the Tiger's Tail'' (as Togashi, commander of the ...

Koshirō Oikawa was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and Ministry of the Navy of Japan, Naval Minister during World War II. Biography Oikawa was born into a wealthy family in rural Koshi District, Niigata, Koshi County, Niigata Prefecture, but was rai ...

Tatsuya Mihashi was a Japanese actor best known internationally for his role as Commander Minoru Genda in the 1970 Japanese-American war epic ''Tora! Tora! Tora!''. In addition, Mihashi was known for his roles in Akira Kurosawa's ''The Bad Sleep Well'', '' The H ...

Ryūnosuke Kusaka was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II who served as Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet. Fellow Admiral Jinichi Kusaka was his cousin. Kusaka was also the 4th Headmaster of ''Ittō Shōden Mutō-ryū Kenjutsu'', a ...

Tetsurō Tamba was a Japanese actor with a career spanning five decades. He appeared in nearly 300 film and television productions, both in leading and supporting roles, and was the winner of two Japan Academy Film Prizes. At the height of his career, he wa ...

Jisaburō Ozawa was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Ozawa held several important commands at sea throughout the duration of the conflict ( Southern Expeditionary Fleet, 3rd Fleet, 1st Mobile Fleet, and the Combined Fleet). Ozawa ...

Kōji Tsuruta , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor and singer. He appeared in almost 260 feature films and had a unique style of singing. His daughter, Sayaka Tsuruta, is an actress. Career Born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Tsuruta was raised ...

Seiichi Ito Seiichi (written: , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese karateka *, Japanese cult member *, Japanese politician *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese philosopher *, Japanese art di ...

(special appearance) *

Hisaya Morishige was a Japanese actor and comedian. Born in Hirakata, Osaka, he graduated from Kitano Middle School (now Kitano High School), and attended Waseda University. He began his career as a stage actor, then became an announcer for NHK, working in Ma ...

as Naoki Hongo

Production

Release

''Imperial Navy'' was released theatrically in Japan where it was distributed by

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

on 8 August 1981. The film was the highest grossing domestic production in Japan in 1981. The film was released in the United States by Toho International on 28 November 1983. It was released to home video by Sony with an English-language dub.

Historical accuracy

While the film is generally accurate in its portrayal of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

, two inaccuracies occur during the Battle of Leyte sequence. In the film, the Center Force is seen withdrawing from battle at the

San Bernardino Strait The San Bernardino Strait () is a strait in the Philippines, connecting the Samar Sea with the Philippine Sea. It separates the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon from Samar (island), Samar of Visayas. History During an ill-fated expedition, only one ship ...

. In fact, it had engaged the

Taffy 3 The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battle in history, largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar (island), Samar Island, in the Philippin ...

unit of the

Seventh Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of th ...

for two hours off

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

before withdrawing from the battle; in addition, the sequence in which the ''Zuikaku'' is sunk was reversed with the withdrawal.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* {{refend 1981 films 1980s war films 1980s historical films Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka Toho films Cultural depictions of Isoroku Yamamoto Films scored by Katsuhisa Hattori Films about kamikaze pilots Films about naval aviation Films set on aircraft carriers Japanese historical films Japanese World War II films Japanese war films World War II naval films Pacific War films World War II films based on actual events Films set in 1941 Films set in 1942 Films set in 1943 Films set in 1944 Films set in 1945 Films set in Tokyo Films set in the Pacific Ocean