Akira_Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa[note 1] ( 黒澤明 or 黒沢明 ,
Kurosawa Akira, March 23, 1910 – September 6, Akira Kurosawa
1998) was a Japanese filmmaker who created 30 films 黒澤明
of his own as well as occasionally directing and
writing for others in a career spanning seven decades.
He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most
influential filmmakers in the history of cinema.
Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style strongly
influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it. He
was involved with all aspects of film production.
Kurosawa entered the 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 Kurosawa in 1960
role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the Born March 23, 1910
most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two Shinagawa, Tokyo, Empire of
men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen Japan
films.
Died September 6, 1998 (aged 88)
Rashomon (1950), which premiered in Tokyo, became Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Resting An'yō-in, Kamakura,
Venice Film Festival. The commercial and critical place Kanagawa, Japan
success of that film opened up Western film markets Occupations Film director · screenwriter ·
for the first time to the products of the Japanese film producer · editor
industry, which in turn led to international recognition Years active 1936–1993
for other Japanese filmmakers. Kurosawa directed
Notable work Rashomon (1950)
approximately one film per year throughout the 1950s
and early 1960s, including a number of highly Seven Samurai (1954)
regarded (and often adapted) films, including Ikiru Throne of Blood (1957)
(1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood Yojimbo (1961)
(1957), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961),
Ran (1985)
High and Low (1963) and Red Beard (1965). After the
1960s he became much less prolific; even so, his later Spouse Yōko Yaguchi

(m. 1945; died 1985)
work – including two of his final films, Kagemusha
(1980) and Ran (1985) – continued to receive great Children Hisao (b. 1945–) and Kazuko
acclaim. (b. 1954–)
In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Awards Golden Lion (1951)
Achievement. Posthumously, he was named "Asian of Palme d'Or (1980)
the Century" in the "Arts, Literature, and Culture"
Légion d'honneur (1984)
category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN, cited there
Order of Culture (1985)
as being among the five people who most prominently
contributed to the improvement of Asia in the 20th Academy Award (1990)
century. His career has been honored by many Signature
retrospectives, critical studies and biographies in both
print and video, and by releases in many consumer
media. Kurosawa told the critic Donald Richie: "I
suppose all of my films have a common theme. If I
think about it, though, the only theme I can think of is really a question: Why can't people be happier
together?"[2]
Biography
Childhood to war years (1910–1945)
Childhood and youth (1910–1935)

Kurosawa was born on March 23, 1910,[3] in Ōimachi in the Ōmori district of Tokyo. His father Isamu
(1864–1948), a member of a samurai family from Akita Prefecture, worked as the director of the Army's
Physical Education Institute's lower secondary school, while his mother Shima (1870–1952) came from a
merchant's family living in Osaka.[4] Akira was the eighth and youngest child of the moderately wealthy
family, with two of his siblings already grown up at the time of his birth and one deceased, leaving
Kurosawa to grow up with three sisters and a brother.[4][5]
In addition to promoting physical exercise, Isamu Kurosawa was open to Western traditions and
considered theatre and motion pictures to have educational merit. He encouraged his children to watch
films; young Akira viewed his first movies at the age of six.[6] An important formative influence was his
elementary school teacher Mr. Tachikawa, whose progressive educational practices ignited in his young
pupil first a love of drawing and then an interest in education in general.[7] During this time, Akira also
studied calligraphy and Kendo swordsmanship.[8]
Another major childhood influence was Heigo Kurosawa (1906–1933), Akira's older brother by four
years. In the aftermath of the Great Kantō earthquake and the subsequent Kantō Massacre of 1923, Heigo
took the thirteen-year-old Akira to view the devastation. When Akira wanted to look away from the
corpses of humans and animals scattered everywhere, Heigo forbade him to do so, encouraging Akira
instead to face his fears by confronting them directly. Some commentators have suggested that this
incident would influence Kurosawa's later artistic career, as the director was seldom hesitant to confront
unpleasant truths in his work.[9][10]
Heigo was academically gifted, but soon after failing to secure a place in Tokyo's foremost high school,
he began to detach himself from the rest of the family, preferring to concentrate on his interest in foreign
literature.[5] In the late 1920s, Heigo became a benshi (silent film narrator) for Tokyo theaters showing
foreign films and quickly made a name for himself. Akira, who at this point planned to become a
painter,[11] moved in with him, and the two brothers became inseparable.[12] With Heigo's guidance,
Akira devoured not only films but also theater and circus performances,[13] while exhibiting his paintings
and working for the left-wing Proletarian Artists' League. However, he was never able to make a living
with his art, and, as he began to perceive most of the proletarian movement as "putting unfulfilled
political ideals directly onto the canvas", he lost his enthusiasm for painting.[14]
With the increasing production of talking pictures in the early 1930s, film narrators like Heigo began to
lose work, and Akira moved back in with his parents. In July 1933, Heigo died by suicide. Kurosawa has
commented on the lasting sense of loss he felt at his brother's death[15] and the chapter of Something Like
an Autobiography that describes it—written nearly half a century after the event—is titled, "A Story I
Don't Want to Tell".[16] Only four months later, Kurosawa's eldest brother also died, leaving Akira, at age
23, the only one of the Kurosawa brothers still living, together with his three surviving sisters.[12][16]
Director in training (1935–1941)

In 1935, the new film studio Photo Chemical Laboratories, known as
P.C.L. (which later became the major studio Toho), advertised for
assistant directors. Although he had demonstrated no previous
interest in film as a profession, Kurosawa submitted the required
essay, which asked applicants to discuss the fundamental deficiencies
of Japanese films and find ways to overcome them. His half-
mocking view was that if the deficiencies were fundamental, there
was no way to correct them. Kurosawa's essay earned him a call to From the left: Kurosawa, Ishirō
take the follow-up exams, and director Kajirō Yamamoto, who was Honda, and Senkichi Taniguchi
among the examiners, took a liking to Kurosawa and insisted that the with their mentor Kajirō
Yamamoto, late 1930s
studio hire him. The 25-year-old Kurosawa joined P.C.L. in February
1936.[17][18]
During his five years as an assistant director, Kurosawa worked

under numerous directors, but by far the most important figure in his
development was Yamamoto. Of his 24 films as A.D., he worked on
17 under Yamamoto, many of them comedies featuring the popular
actor Ken'ichi Enomoto, known as "Enoken".[19] Yamamoto nurtured
Kurosawa's talent, promoting him directly from third assistant
director to chief assistant director after a year.[20] Kurosawa's
responsibilities increased, and he worked at tasks ranging from stage
construction and film development to location scouting, script
polishing, rehearsals, lighting, dubbing, editing, and second-unit
directing.[21] In the last of Kurosawa's films as an assistant director
for Yamamoto, Horse (1941), Kurosawa took over most of the Kurosawa (left) and Mikio
production, as his mentor was occupied with the shooting of another Naruse (right) during the
film.[22] production of Avalanche (1937)
Yamamoto advised Kurosawa that a good director needed to master

screenwriting.[23] Kurosawa soon realized that the potential earnings from his scripts were much higher
than what he was paid as an assistant director.[24] He later wrote or co-wrote all his films, and frequently
penned screenplays for other directors such as Satsuo Yamamoto's film, A Triumph of Wings (Tsubasa no
gaika, 1942). This outside scriptwriting would serve Kurosawa as a lucrative sideline lasting well into the
1960s, long after he became famous.[25][26]
Wartime films and marriage (1942–1945)

In the two years following the release of Horse in 1941, Kurosawa searched for a story he could use to
launch his directing career. Towards the end of 1942, about a year after the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor, novelist Tsuneo Tomita published his Musashi Miyamoto-inspired judo novel, Sanshiro Sugata,
the advertisements for which intrigued Kurosawa. He bought the book on its publication day, devoured it
in one sitting, and immediately asked Toho to secure the film rights. Kurosawa's initial instinct proved
correct as, within a few days, three other major Japanese studios also offered to buy the rights. Toho
prevailed, and Kurosawa began pre-production on his debut work as director.[27][28]
Shooting of Sanshiro Sugata began on location in Yokohama in December 1942. Production proceeded
smoothly, but getting the completed film past the censors was an entirely different matter. The censorship
office considered the work to be objectionably "British-American" by the standards of wartime Japan,
and it was only through the intervention of director Yasujirō Ozu, who championed the film, that Sanshiro
Sugata was finally accepted for release on March 25, 1943. (Kurosawa had just turned 33.) The movie
became both a critical and commercial success. Nevertheless, the censorship office would later decide to
cut out some 18 minutes of footage, much of which is now considered lost.[29][30]
He next turned to the subject of wartime female factory workers in The Most Beautiful, a propaganda film
which he shot in a semi-documentary style in early 1944. To elicit realistic performances from his
actresses, the director had them live in a real factory during the shoot, eat the factory food and call each
other by their character names. He would use similar methods with his performers throughout his
career.[31][32]
During production, the actress playing the leader of the factory

workers, Yōko Yaguchi, was chosen by her colleagues to present
their demands to the director. She and Kurosawa were constantly
at odds, and it was through these arguments that the two
paradoxically became close. They married on May 21, 1945, with
Yaguchi two months pregnant (she never resumed her acting
career), and the couple would remain together until her death in
1985.[33][34] They had two children, both surviving Kurosawa as
of 2018: a son, Hisao, born December 20, 1945, who served as
producer on some of his father's last projects, and Kazuko, a
daughter, born April 29, 1954, who became a costume
designer.[35] Filming of The Men Who Tread on
the Tiger's Tail, 1945
Shortly before his marriage, Kurosawa was pressured by the
studio against his will to direct a sequel to his debut film. The
often blatantly propagandistic Sanshiro Sugata Part II, which premiered in May 1945, is generally
considered one of his weakest pictures.[36][37][38]
Kurosawa decided to write the script for a film that would be both censor-friendly and less expensive to
produce. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, based on the Kabuki play Kanjinchō and starring the
comedian Enoken, with whom Kurosawa had often worked during his assistant director days, was
completed in September 1945. By this time, Japan had surrendered and the occupation of Japan had
begun. The new American censors interpreted the values allegedly promoted in the picture as overly
"feudal" and banned the work. It was not released until 1952, the year another Kurosawa film, Ikiru, was
also released. Ironically, while in production, the film had already been savaged by Japanese wartime
censors as too Western and "democratic" (they particularly disliked the comic porter played by Enoken),
so the movie most probably would not have seen the light of day even if the war had continued beyond its
completion.[39][40]
Early postwar years to Red Beard (1946–1965)
First postwar works (1946–1950)

After the war, Kurosawa, influenced by the democratic ideals of the Occupation, sought to make films
that would establish a new respect towards the individual and the self. The first such film, No Regrets for
Our Youth (1946), inspired by both the 1933 Takigawa incident and the Hotsumi Ozaki wartime spy case,
criticized Japan's prewar regime for its political oppression.[note 2] Atypically for the director, the heroic
central character is a woman, Yukie (Setsuko Hara), who, born into upper-middle-class privilege, comes
to question her values in a time of political crisis. The original script had to be extensively rewritten and,
because of its controversial theme and gender of its protagonist, the completed work divided critics.
Nevertheless, it managed to win the approval of audiences, who turned variations on the film's title into a
postwar catchphrase.[42]
His next film, One Wonderful Sunday, premiered in July 1947 to mixed reviews. It is a relatively
uncomplicated and sentimental love story dealing with an impoverished postwar couple trying to enjoy,
within the devastation of postwar Tokyo, their one weekly day off. The movie bears the influence of
Frank Capra, D. W. Griffith and F. W. Murnau, each of whom was among Kurosawa's favorite
directors.[43][44] Another film released in 1947 with Kurosawa's involvement was the action-adventure
thriller, Snow Trail, directed by Senkichi Taniguchi from Kurosawa's screenplay. It marked the debut of
the intense young actor Toshiro Mifune. It was Kurosawa who, with his mentor Yamamoto, had
intervened to persuade Toho to sign Mifune, during an audition in which the young man greatly
impressed Kurosawa, but managed to alienate most of the other judges.[45]
Drunken Angel is often considered the director's first major work.[46] Although the script, like all of
Kurosawa's occupation-era works, had to go through rewrites due to American censorship, Kurosawa felt
that this was the first film in which he was able to express himself freely. A gritty story of a doctor who
tries to save a gangster (yakuza) with tuberculosis, it was also the first time that Kurosawa directed
Mifune, who went on to play major roles in all but one of the director's next 16 films (the exception being
Ikiru). While Mifune was not cast as the protagonist in Drunken Angel, his explosive performance as the
gangster so dominates the drama that he shifted the focus from the title character, the alcoholic doctor
played by Takashi Shimura, who had already appeared in several Kurosawa movies. However, Kurosawa
did not want to smother the young actor's immense vitality, and Mifune's rebellious character electrified
audiences in much the way that Marlon Brando's defiant stance would startle American film audiences a
few years later.[47] The film premiered in Tokyo in April 1948 to rave
reviews and was chosen by the prestigious Kinema Junpo critics poll as
the best film of its year, the first of three Kurosawa movies to be so
honored.[48][49][50][51]
After the completion of Drunken Angel, Toho became embroiled in a

months-long labor strike, in which the Toho union occupied the grounds
of the studio. When Toho management ceased paying workers' salaries,
Kurosawa formed a touring acting troupe to raise funds, directing Anton
Chekhov's The Proposal, and an adaptation of Drunken Angel starring
Mifune and Shimura.[52] Disillusioned by the division and violence
Takashi Shimura played a between employees at Toho, the underhanded tactics of Toho leadership,
dedicated doctor helping an and the breaking of the occupation by police and military standoff,
ailing gangster in Drunken
Kurosawa left Toho, later recalling "I had come to understand that the
Angel. Shimura performed
studio I had thought was my home actually belonged to strangers".[53]
in over 20 of Kurosawa's
films.
Kurosawa, with producer Sōjirō Motoki and fellow directors and friends
Kajiro Yamamoto, Mikio Naruse and Senkichi Taniguchi, formed a new
independent production unit called Film Art Association (Eiga Geijutsu Kyōkai). For this organization's
debut work, and first film for Daiei studios, Kurosawa turned to a contemporary play by Kazuo Kikuta
and, together with Taniguchi, adapted it for the screen. The Quiet Duel starred Toshiro Mifune as an
idealistic young doctor struggling with syphilis, a deliberate attempt by Kurosawa to break the actor away
from being typecast as gangsters. Released in March 1949, it was a box office success, but is generally
considered one of the director's lesser achievements.[54][55][56][57]
His second film of 1949, also produced by Film Art Association and
released by Shintoho, was Stray Dog. It is a detective movie (perhaps the
first important Japanese film in that genre)[58] that explores the mood of
Japan during its painful postwar recovery through the story of a young
detective, played by Mifune, and his fixation on the recovery of his
handgun, which was stolen by a penniless war veteran who proceeds to
use it to rob and murder. Adapted from an unpublished novel by
Kurosawa in the style of a favorite writer of his, Georges Simenon, it
was the director's first collaboration with screenwriter Ryuzo Kikushima,
who would later help to script eight other Kurosawa films. A famous,
virtually wordless sequence, lasting over eight minutes, shows the
detective, disguised as an impoverished veteran, wandering the streets in
search of the gun thief; it employed actual documentary footage of war- Toshiro Mifune, a frequent
ravaged Tokyo neighborhoods shot by Kurosawa's friend, Ishirō Honda, lead in Kurosawa's films, in
1954
the future director of Godzilla.[59][60][61] The film is considered a
precursor to the contemporary police procedural and buddy cop film
genres.[62]
Scandal, released by Shochiku in April 1950, was inspired by the director's personal experiences with,
and anger towards, Japanese yellow journalism. The work is an ambitious mixture of courtroom drama
and social problem film about free speech and personal responsibility, but even Kurosawa regarded the
finished product as dramatically unfocused and unsatisfactory, and almost all critics agree.[63] However, it
would be Kurosawa's second film of 1950 that would ultimately win him, and Japanese cinema, a whole
new international audience.
International recognition (1950–1958)

After finishing Scandal, Kurosawa was approached by Daiei studios to make another film for them.
Kurosawa picked a script by an aspiring young screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, who would eventually
work on nine of his films. Their first joint effort was based on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's experimental
short story "In a Grove", which recounts the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife from various
different and conflicting points of view. Kurosawa saw potential in the script, and with Hashimoto's help,
polished and expanded it and then pitched it to Daiei, who were happy to accept the project due to its low
budget.[64]
The shooting of Rashomon began on July 7, 1950, and, after extensive location work in the primeval
forest of Nara, wrapped on August 17. Just one week was spent in hurried post-production, hampered by
a studio fire, and the finished film premiered at Tokyo's Imperial Theatre on August 25, expanding
nationwide the following day. The movie was met by lukewarm reviews, with many critics puzzled by its
unique theme and treatment, but it was nevertheless a moderate financial success for Daiei.[65][66][67]
Kurosawa's next film, for Shochiku, was The Idiot, an adaptation of the
novel by the director's favorite writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky. The story is
relocated from Russia to Hokkaido, but otherwise adheres closely to the
original, a fact seen by many critics as detrimental to the work. A studio-
mandated edit shortened it from Kurosawa's original cut of 265 minutes to
just 166 minutes, making the resulting narrative exceedingly difficult to
follow. The severely edited film version is widely considered to be one of
the director's least successful works and the original full-length version no
longer exists. Contemporary reviews of the much shortened edited version
were very negative, but the film was a moderate success at the box office,
largely because of the popularity of one of its stars, Setsuko
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote
Hara.[68][69][70][71]
The Idiot, which Kurosawa
adapted into a Japanese
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kurosawa, Rashomon had been entered in the
film of the same name in
Venice Film Festival, due to the efforts of Giuliana Stramigioli, a Japan- 1951. Perov's portrait from
based representative of an Italian film company, who had seen and the 1800s
admired the movie and convinced Daiei to submit it. On September 10,
1951, Rashomon was awarded the festival's highest prize, the Golden
Lion, shocking not only Daiei but the international film world, which at the time was largely unaware of
Japan's decades-old cinematic tradition.[72]
After Daiei briefly exhibited a subtitled print of the film in Los Angeles, RKO purchased distribution
rights to Rashomon in the United States. The company was taking a considerable gamble. It had put out
only one prior subtitled film in the American market, and the only previous Japanese talkie commercially
released in New York had been Mikio Naruse's comedy, Wife! Be Like a Rose!, in 1937: a critical and
box-office flop. However, Rashomon 's commercial run, greatly helped by strong reviews from critics and
even the columnist Ed Sullivan, earned $35,000 in its first three weeks at a single New York theatre, an
almost unheard-of sum at the time.
This success in turn led to a vogue in America and the West for Japanese movies throughout the 1950s,
replacing the enthusiasm for Italian neorealist cinema.[73] By the end of 1952 Rashomon was released in
Japan, the United States, and most of Europe. Among the Japanese film-makers whose work, as a result,
began to win festival prizes and commercial release in the West were Kenji Mizoguchi (The Life of
Oharu, Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff) and, somewhat later, Yasujirō Ozu (Tokyo Story, An Autumn
Afternoon)—artists highly respected in Japan but, before this period, almost totally unknown in the
West.[74] Kurosawa's growing reputation among Western audiences in the 1950s would make Western
audiences more sympathetic to the reception of later generations of Japanese film-makers ranging from
Kon Ichikawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Nagisa Oshima and Shohei Imamura to Juzo Itami, Takeshi Kitano
and Takashi Miike.
His career boosted by his sudden international fame, Kurosawa, now reunited with his original film
studio, Toho (which would go on to produce his next 11 films), set to work on his next project, Ikiru.
Based on Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, the movie stars Takashi Shimura as a cancer-ridden
Tokyo bureaucrat, Watanabe, on a final quest for meaning before his death.[75] For the screenplay,
Kurosawa brought in Hashimoto as well as writer Hideo Oguni, who would go on to co-write twelve
Kurosawa films. Despite the work's grim subject matter, the screenwriters took a satirical approach,
which some have compared to the work of Brecht, to both the bureaucratic world of its hero and the U.S.
cultural colonization of Japan. (American pop songs figure prominently in the film.) Because of this
strategy, the filmmakers are usually credited with saving the picture from the kind of sentimentality
common to dramas about characters with terminal illnesses. Ikiru opened in October 1952 to rave reviews
—it won Kurosawa his second Kinema Junpo "Best Film" award—and enormous box office success. It
remains the most acclaimed of all the artist's films set in the modern era.[76][77][78]
In December 1952, Kurosawa took his Ikiru screenwriters, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni, for a
forty-five-day secluded residence at an inn to create the screenplay for his next movie, Seven Samurai.
The ensemble work was Kurosawa's first proper samurai film, the genre for which he would become most
famous. The simple story, about a poor farming village in Sengoku period Japan that hires a group of
samurai to defend it against an impending attack by bandits, was given a full epic treatment, with a huge
cast (largely consisting of veterans of previous Kurosawa productions) and meticulously detailed action,
stretching out to almost three-and-a-half hours of screen time.[79]
Three months were spent in pre-production and a month in rehearsals. Shooting took up 148 days spread
over almost a year, interrupted by production and financing troubles and Kurosawa's health problems.
The film finally opened in April 1954, half a year behind its original release date and about three times
over budget, making it at the time the most expensive Japanese film ever made. (However, by Hollywood
standards, it was a quite modestly budgeted production, even for that time.) The film received positive
critical reaction and became a big hit, quickly making back the money invested in it and providing the
studio with a product that they could, and did, market internationally—though with extensive edits. Over
time—and with the theatrical and home video releases of the uncut version—its reputation has steadily
grown. It is now regarded by some commentators as the greatest Japanese film ever made, and in 1999, a
poll of Japanese film critics also voted it the best Japanese film ever made.[79][80][81] In the most recent
(2022) version of the widely respected British Film Institute (BFI) Sight & Sound "Greatest Films of All
Time" poll, Seven Samurai placed 20th among all films from all countries in the critics' and tied at 14th in
the directors' polls, receiving a place in the Top Ten lists of 48 critics and 22 directors.[82]
In 1954, nuclear tests in the Pacific were causing radioactive rainstorms in Japan and one particular
incident in March had exposed a Japanese fishing boat to nuclear fallout, with disastrous results. It is in
this anxious atmosphere that Kurosawa's next film, I Live in Fear, was conceived. The story concerned an
elderly factory owner (Toshiro Mifune) so terrified of the prospect of a nuclear attack that he becomes
determined to move his entire extended family (both legal and extra-marital) to what he imagines is the
safety of a farm in Brazil. Production went much more smoothly than the director's previous film, but a
few days before shooting ended, Kurosawa's composer, collaborator, and close friend Fumio Hayasaka
died (of tuberculosis) at the age of 41. The film's score was finished by Hayasaka's student, Masaru Sato,
who would go on to score all of Kurosawa's next eight films. I Live in Fear opened in November 1955 to
mixed reviews and muted audience reaction, becoming the first Kurosawa film to lose money during its
original theatrical run. Today, it is considered by many to be among the finest films dealing with the
psychological effects of the global nuclear stalemate.[83][84][85]
Kurosawa's next project, Throne of Blood, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth—set, like
Seven Samurai, in the Sengoku Era—represented an ambitious transposition of the English work into a
Japanese context. Kurosawa instructed his leading actress, Isuzu Yamada, to regard the work as if it were
a cinematic version of a Japanese rather than a European literary classic. Given Kurosawa's appreciation
of traditional Japanese stage acting, the acting of the players, particularly Yamada, draws heavily on the
stylized techniques of the Noh theater. It was filmed in 1956 and released in January 1957 to a slightly
less negative domestic response than had been the case with the director's previous film. Abroad, Throne
of Blood, regardless of the liberties it takes with its source material, quickly earned a place among the
most celebrated Shakespeare adaptations.[86][87][88][89]
Another adaptation of a classic European theatrical work followed almost immediately, with production
of The Lower Depths, based on a play by Maxim Gorky, taking place in May and June 1957. In contrast
to the Shakespearean sweep of Throne of Blood, The Lower Depths was shot on only two confined sets,
in order to emphasize the restricted nature of the characters' lives. Though faithful to the play, this
adaptation of Russian material to a completely Japanese setting—in this case, the late Edo period—unlike
his earlier The Idiot, was regarded as artistically successful. The film premiered in September 1957,
receiving a mixed response similar to that of Throne of Blood. However, some critics rank it among the
director's most underrated works.[90][91][92][93]
Kurosawa's three next movies after Seven Samurai had not managed to capture Japanese audiences in the
way that that film had. The mood of the director's work had been growing increasingly pessimistic and
dark even as Japan entered a boom period of high-speed growth and rising standards of living. Out of step
with the prevailing mood of the era, Kurosawa's films questioned the possibility of redemption through
personal responsibility, particularly in Throne of Blood and The Lower Depths. He recognized this, and
deliberately aimed for a more light-hearted and entertaining film for his next production while switching
to the new widescreen format that had been gaining popularity in Japan. The resulting film, The Hidden
Fortress, is an action-adventure comedy-drama about a medieval princess, her loyal general, and two
peasants who all need to travel through enemy lines in order to reach their home region. Released in
December 1958, The Hidden Fortress became an enormous box-office success in Japan and was warmly
received by critics both in Japan and abroad. Today, the film is considered one of Kurosawa's most
lightweight efforts, though it remains popular, not least because it is one of several major influences on
George Lucas's 1977 space opera, Star Wars.[94][95][96][97]
Birth of a company and Red Beard (1959–1965)

Starting with Rashomon, Kurosawa's productions had become increasingly large in scope and so had the
director's budgets. Toho, concerned about this development, suggested that he might help finance his own
works, therefore making the studio's potential losses smaller, while in turn allowing himself more artistic
freedom as co-producer. Kurosawa agreed, and the Kurosawa Production Company was established in
April 1959, with Toho as the majority shareholder.[98]
Despite risking his own money, Kurosawa chose a story that was more directly critical of the Japanese
business and political elites than any previous work. The Bad Sleep Well, based on a script by Kurosawa's
nephew Mike Inoue, is a revenge drama about a young man who is able to infiltrate the hierarchy of a
corrupt Japanese company with the intention of exposing the men responsible for his father's death. Its
theme proved topical: while the film was in production, the massive Anpo protests were held against the
new U.S.–Japan Security treaty, which was seen by many Japanese, particularly the young, as threatening
the country's democracy by giving too much power to corporations and politicians. The film opened in
September 1960 to positive critical reaction and modest box office success. The 25-minute opening
sequence depicting a corporate wedding reception is widely regarded as one of Kurosawa's most
skillfully executed set pieces, but the remainder of the film is often perceived as disappointing by
comparison. The movie has also been criticized for employing the conventional Kurosawan hero to
combat a social evil that cannot be resolved through the actions of individuals, however courageous or
cunning.[99][100][101][102]
Yojimbo (The Bodyguard), Kurosawa Production's second film, centers on a masterless samurai, Sanjuro,
who strolls into a 19th-century town ruled by two opposing violent factions and provokes them into
destroying each other. The director used this work to play with many genre conventions, particularly the
Western, while at the same time offering an unprecedentedly (for the Japanese screen) graphic portrayal
of violence. Some commentators have seen the Sanjuro character in this film as a fantasy figure who
magically reverses the historical triumph of the corrupt merchant class over the samurai class. Featuring
Tatsuya Nakadai in his first major role in a Kurosawa movie, and with innovative photography by Kazuo
Miyagawa (who shot Rashomon) and Takao Saito, the film premiered in April 1961 and was a critically
and commercially successful venture, earning more than any previous Kurosawa film. The movie and its
blackly comic tone were also widely imitated abroad. Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars was a virtual
(unauthorized) scene-by-scene remake with Toho filing a lawsuit on Kurosawa's behalf and
prevailing.[103][104][105]
Following the success of Yojimbo, Kurosawa found himself under pressure from Toho to create a sequel.
Kurosawa turned to a script he had written before Yojimbo, reworking it to include the hero of his
previous film. Sanjuro was the first of three Kurosawa films to be adapted from the work of the writer
Shūgorō Yamamoto (the others would be Red Beard and Dodeskaden). It is lighter in tone and closer to a
conventional period film than Yojimbo, though its story of a power struggle within a samurai clan is
portrayed with strongly comic undertones. The film opened on January 1, 1962, quickly surpassing
Yojimbo's box office success and garnering positive reviews.[106][107][108]
Kurosawa had meanwhile instructed Toho to purchase the film rights to King's Ransom, a novel about a
kidnapping written by American author and screenwriter Evan Hunter, under his pseudonym of Ed
McBain, as one of his 87th Precinct series of crime books. The director intended to create a work
condemning kidnapping, which he considered one of the very worst crimes. The suspense film, titled
High and Low, was shot during the latter half of 1962 and released in March 1963. It broke Kurosawa's
box office record (the third film in a row to do so), became the highest grossing Japanese film of the year,
and won glowing reviews. However, his triumph was somewhat tarnished when, ironically, the film was
blamed for a wave of kidnappings which occurred in Japan about this time
(he himself received kidnapping threats directed at his young daughter,
Kazuko). High and Low is considered by many commentators to be
among the director's strongest works.[109][110][111][112]
Kurosawa quickly moved on to his next project, Red Beard. Based on a

short story collection by Shūgorō Yamamoto and incorporating elements
from Dostoevsky's novel The Insulted and Injured, it is a period film, set
in a mid-nineteenth century clinic for the poor, in which Kurosawa's
humanist themes receive perhaps their fullest statement. A conceited and
Kurosawa based his 1963 materialistic, foreign-trained young doctor, Yasumoto, is forced to become
crime film High and Low on an intern at the clinic under the stern tutelage of Doctor Niide, known as
Ed McBain's novel King's "Akahige" ("Red Beard"), played by Mifune. Although he resists Red
Ransom. Image of McBain Beard initially, Yasumoto comes to admire his wisdom and courage and to
c. 1953
perceive the patients at the clinic, whom he at first despised, as worthy of
compassion and dignity.[113]
Yūzō Kayama, who plays Yasumoto, was an extremely popular film and music star at the time,
particularly for his "Young Guy" (Wakadaishō) series of musical comedies, so signing him to appear in
the film virtually guaranteed Kurosawa strong box-office. The shoot, the filmmaker's longest ever, lasted
well over a year (after five months of pre-production), and wrapped in spring 1965, leaving the director,
his crew and his actors exhausted. Red Beard premiered in April 1965, becoming the year's highest-
grossing Japanese production and the third (and last) Kurosawa film to top the prestigious Kinema Jumpo
yearly critics poll. It remains one of Kurosawa's best-known and most-loved works in his native country.
Outside Japan, critics have been much more divided. Most commentators concede its technical merits and
some praise it as among Kurosawa's best, while others insist that it lacks complexity and genuine
narrative power, with still others claiming that it represents a retreat from the artist's previous
commitment to social and political change.[114][115][116][117]
The film marked something of an end of an era for its creator. The director himself recognized this at the
time of its release, telling critic Donald Richie that a cycle of some kind had just come to an end and that
his future films and production methods would be different.[118] His prediction proved quite accurate.
Beginning in the late 1950s, television began increasingly to dominate the leisure time of the formerly
large and loyal Japanese cinema audience. And as film company revenues dropped, so did their appetite
for risk—particularly the risk represented by Kurosawa's costly production methods.[119]
Red Beard also marked the midway point, chronologically, in the artist's career. During his previous
twenty-nine years in the film industry (which includes his five years as assistant director), he had directed
twenty-three films, while during the remaining twenty-eight years, for many complex reasons, he would
complete only seven more. Also, for reasons never adequately explained, Red Beard would be his final
film starring Toshiro Mifune. Yū Fujiki, an actor who worked on The Lower Depths, observed, regarding
the closeness of the two men on the set, "Mr. Kurosawa's heart was in Mr. Mifune's body."[120] Donald
Richie has described the rapport between them as a unique "symbiosis".[121]
Hollywood ambitions to last films (1966–1998)
Hollywood detour (1966–1968)

When Kurosawa's exclusive contract with Toho came to an end in 1966, the 56-year-old director was
seriously contemplating change. Observing the troubled state of the domestic film industry, and having
already received dozens of offers from abroad, the idea of working outside Japan appealed to him as
never before.[122]
For his first foreign project, Kurosawa chose a story based on a Life magazine article. The Embassy
Pictures action thriller, to be filmed in English and called simply Runaway Train, would have been his
first in color. But the language barrier proved a major problem, and the English version of the screenplay
was not even finished by the time filming was to begin in autumn 1966. The shoot, which required snow,
was moved to autumn 1967, then canceled in 1968. Almost two decades later, another foreign director
working in Hollywood, Andrei Konchalovsky, finally made Runaway Train (1985), though from a new
script loosely based on Kurosawa's.[123]
The director meanwhile had become involved in a much more ambitious Hollywood project. Tora! Tora!
Tora!, produced by 20th Century Fox and Kurosawa Production, would be a portrayal of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor from both the American and the Japanese points of view, with Kurosawa helming
the Japanese half and an Anglophonic film-maker directing the American half. He spent several months
working on the script with Ryuzo Kikushima and Hideo Oguni, but very soon the project began to
unravel. The director of the American sequences turned out not to be David Lean, as originally planned,
but American Richard Fleischer. The budget was also cut, and the screen time allocated for the Japanese
segment would now be no longer than 90 minutes—a major problem, considering that Kurosawa's script
ran over four hours. After numerous revisions with the direct involvement of Darryl Zanuck, a more or
less finalized cut screenplay was agreed upon in May 1968.
Shooting began in early December, but Kurosawa would last only a little over three weeks as director. He
struggled to work with an unfamiliar crew and the requirements of a Hollywood production, while his
working methods puzzled his American producers, who ultimately concluded that the director must be
mentally ill. Kurosawa was examined at Kyoto University Hospital by a neuropsychologist, Dr.
Murakami, whose diagnosis was forwarded to Darryl Zanuck and Richard Zanuck at Fox studios
indicating a diagnosis of neurasthenia stating that, "He is suffering from disturbance of sleep, agitated
with feelings of anxiety and in manic excitement caused by the above mentioned illness. It is necessary
for him to have rest and medical treatment for more than two months."[124] On Christmas Eve 1968, the
Americans announced that Kurosawa had left the production due to "fatigue", effectively firing him. He
was ultimately replaced, for the film's Japanese sequences, with two directors, Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio
Masuda.[125]
Tora! Tora! Tora!, finally released to unenthusiastic reviews in September 1970, was, as Donald Richie
put it, an "almost unmitigated tragedy" in Kurosawa's career. He had spent years of his life on a
logistically nightmarish project to which he ultimately did not contribute a foot of film shot by himself.
(He had his name removed from the credits, though the script used for the Japanese half was still his and
his co-writers'.) He became estranged from his longtime collaborator, writer Ryuzo Kikushima, and never
worked with him again. The project had inadvertently exposed corruption in his own production company
(a situation reminiscent of his own movie, The Bad Sleep Well). His very sanity had been called into
question. Worst of all, the Japanese film industry—and perhaps Kurosawa himself—began to suspect that
he would never make another film.[126][127]
A difficult decade (1969–1977)

Knowing that his reputation was at stake following the much publicised Tora! Tora! Tora! debacle,
Kurosawa moved quickly to a new project to prove he was still viable. To his aid came friends and famed
directors Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi and Kon Ichikawa, who together with Kurosawa
established in July 1969 a production company called the Club of the Four Knights (Yonki no kai).
Although the plan was for the four directors to create a film each, it has been suggested that the real
motivation for the other three directors was to make it easier for Kurosawa to successfully complete a
film, and therefore find his way back into the business.[128][129]
The first project proposed and worked on was a period film to be called Dora-heita, but when this was
deemed too expensive, attention shifted to Dodesukaden, an adaptation of yet another Shūgorō Yamamoto
work, again about the poor and destitute. The film was shot quickly (by Kurosawa's standards) in about
nine weeks, with Kurosawa determined to show he was still capable of working quickly and efficiently
within a limited budget. For his first work in color, the dynamic editing and complex compositions of his
earlier pictures were set aside, with the artist focusing on the creation of a bold, almost surreal palette of
primary colors, in order to reveal the toxic environment in which the characters live. It was released in
Japan in October 1970, but though a minor critical success, it was greeted with audience indifference. The
picture lost money and caused the Club of the Four Knights to dissolve. Initial reception abroad was
somewhat more favorable, but Dodesukaden has since been typically considered an interesting
experiment not comparable to the director's best work.[130]
After struggling through the production of Dodesukaden, Kurosawa turned to television work the
following year for the only time in his career with Song of the Horse, a documentary about thoroughbred
race horses. It featured a voice-over narrated by a fictional man and a child (voiced by the same actors as
the beggar and his son in Dodesukaden). It is the only documentary in Kurosawa's filmography; the small
crew included his frequent collaborator Masaru Sato, who composed the music. Song of the Horse is also
unique in Kurosawa's oeuvre in that it includes an editor's credit, suggesting that it is the only Kurosawa
film that he did not cut himself.[131]
Unable to secure funding for further work and allegedly having health problems, Kurosawa apparently
reached the breaking point: on December 22, 1971, he slit his wrists and throat multiple times. The
suicide attempt proved unsuccessful and the director's health recovered fairly quickly, with Kurosawa
now taking refuge in domestic life, uncertain if he would ever direct another film.[132]
In early 1973, the Soviet studio Mosfilm approached the film-maker to ask if he would be interested in
working with them. Kurosawa proposed an adaptation of Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev's
autobiographical work Dersu Uzala. The book, about a Goldi hunter who lives in harmony with nature
until destroyed by encroaching civilization, was one that he had wanted to make since the 1930s. In
December 1973, the 63-year-old Kurosawa set off for the Soviet Union with four of his closest aides,
beginning a year-and-a-half stay in the country. Shooting began in May 1974 in Siberia, with filming in
exceedingly harsh natural conditions proving very difficult and demanding. The picture wrapped in April
1975, with a thoroughly exhausted and homesick Kurosawa returning to Japan and his family in June.
Dersu Uzala had its world premiere in Japan on August 2, 1975, and did well at the box office. While
critical reception in Japan was muted, the film was better reviewed abroad, winning the Golden Prize at
the 9th Moscow International Film Festival,[133] as well as an Academy Award for Best Foreign
Language Film. Today, critics remain divided over the film: some see it as an example of Kurosawa's
alleged artistic decline, while others count it among his finest works.[134][135]
Although proposals for television projects were submitted to him, he had no interest in working outside
the film world. Nevertheless, the hard-drinking director did agree to appear in a series of television ads
for Suntory whiskey, which aired in 1976. While fearing that he might never be able to make another
film, the director nevertheless continued working on various projects, writing scripts and creating detailed
illustrations, intending to leave behind a visual record of his plans in case he would never be able to film
his stories.[136]
Two epics (1978–1986)

In 1977, George Lucas released Star Wars, a wildly successful science fiction film influenced by
Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. Lucas, like many other New Hollywood directors, revered Kurosawa
and considered him a role model, and was shocked to discover that the Japanese film-maker was unable
to secure financing for any new work. The two met in San Francisco in July 1978 to discuss the project
Kurosawa considered most financially viable: Kagemusha, the epic story of a thief hired as the double of
a medieval Japanese lord of a great clan. Lucas, enthralled by the screenplay and Kurosawa's illustrations,
leveraged his influence over 20th Century Fox to coerce the studio that had fired Kurosawa just ten years
earlier to produce Kagemusha, then recruited fellow fan Francis Ford Coppola as co-producer.[137]
Production began the following April, with Kurosawa in high spirits. Shooting lasted from June 1979
through March 1980 and was plagued with problems, not the least of which was the firing of the original
lead actor, Shintaro Katsu—known for portraying the popular character Zatoichi—due to an incident in
which the actor insisted, against the director's wishes, on videotaping his own performance. (He was
replaced by Tatsuya Nakadai, in his first of two consecutive leading roles in a Kurosawa movie.) The film
was completed only a few weeks behind schedule and opened in Tokyo in April 1980. It quickly became
a massive hit in Japan. The film was also a critical and box office success abroad, winning the coveted
Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival in May, though some critics, then and now, have faulted the
film for its alleged coldness. Kurosawa spent much of the rest of the year in Europe and America
promoting Kagemusha, collecting awards and accolades, and exhibiting as art the drawings he had made
to serve as storyboards for the film.[138][139]
The international success of Kagemusha allowed Kurosawa to proceed with his next project, Ran, another
epic in a similar vein. The script, partly based on Shakespeare's King Lear, depicted a ruthless,
bloodthirsty daimyō (warlord), played by Tatsuya Nakadai, who, after foolishly banishing his one loyal
son, surrenders his kingdom to his other two sons, who then betray him, thus plunging the entire kingdom
into war. As Japanese studios still felt wary about producing another film that would rank among the most
expensive ever made in the country, international help was again needed. This time it came from French
producer Serge Silberman, who had produced Luis Buñuel's final movies. Filming did not begin until
December 1983 and lasted more than a year.[140]
In January 1985, production of Ran was halted as Kurosawa's 64-
year-old wife Yōko fell ill. She died on February 1. Kurosawa
returned to finish his film and Ran premiered at the Tokyo Film
Festival on May 31, with a wide release the next day. The film was
a moderate financial success in Japan, but a larger one abroad and,
as he had done with Kagemusha, Kurosawa embarked on a trip to
Europe and America, where he attended the film's premieres in
September and October.[141]
Ran won several awards in Japan, but was not quite as honored
there as many of the director's best films of the 1950s and 1960s
had been. The film world was surprised, however, when Japan
passed over the selection of Ran in favor of another film as its Sidney Lumet (pictured)
official entry to compete for an Oscar nomination in the Best successfully requested that
Kurosawa be nominated as Best
Foreign Film category, which was ultimately rejected for
Director for his film Ran at the 58th
competition at the 58th Academy Awards. Both the producer and Academy Awards; the award was
Kurosawa himself attributed the failure to even submit Ran for won by Sydney Pollack.
competition to a misunderstanding: because of the academy's
arcane rules, no one was sure whether Ran qualified as a Japanese
film, a French film (due to its financing), or both, so it was not submitted at all. In response to what at
least appeared to be a blatant snub by his own countrymen, the director Sidney Lumet led a successful
campaign to have Kurosawa receive an Oscar nomination for Best Director that year (Sydney Pollack
ultimately won the award for directing Out of Africa). Ran 's costume designer, Emi Wada, won the
movie's only Oscar.[142][143]
Kagemusha and Ran, particularly the latter, are often considered to be among Kurosawa's finest works.
After Ran 's release, Kurosawa would point to it as his best film, a major change of attitude for the
director who, when asked which of his works was his best, had always previously answered "my next
one".[144][145]
Final works and last years (1987–1998)

For his next movie, Kurosawa chose a subject very different from any that he had ever filmed before.
While some of his previous pictures (for example, Drunken Angel and Kagemusha) had included brief
dream sequences, Dreams was to be entirely based upon the director's own dreams. Significantly, for the
first time in over forty years, Kurosawa, for this deeply personal project, wrote the screenplay alone.
Although its estimated budget was lower than the films immediately preceding it, Japanese studios were
still unwilling to back one of his productions, so Kurosawa turned to another famous American fan,
Steven Spielberg, who convinced Warner Bros. to buy the international rights to the completed film. This
made it easier for Kurosawa's son, Hisao, as co-producer and soon-to-be head of Kurosawa Production, to
negotiate a loan in Japan that would cover the film's production costs. Shooting took more than eight
months to complete, and Dreams premiered at Cannes in May 1990 to a polite but muted reception,
similar to the reaction the picture would generate elsewhere in the world.[146] In 1990, he accepted the
Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. In his acceptance speech, he famously said "I'm a little
worried because I don't feel that I understand cinema yet."[147] At the time, Bob Thomas of The Daily
Spectrum noted that Kurosawa was "considered by many critics as the greatest living filmmaker."[148]
Kurosawa now turned to a more conventional story with Rhapsody in
August—the director's first film fully produced in Japan since Dodeskaden
over twenty years before—which explored the scars of the nuclear
bombing which destroyed Nagasaki at the very end of World War II. It
was adapted from a Kiyoko Murata novel, but the film's references to the
Nagasaki bombing came from the director rather than from the book. This
was his only movie to include a role for an American movie star: Richard
Gere, who plays a small role as the nephew of the elderly heroine.
Shooting took place in early 1991, with the film opening on May 25 that
year to a largely negative critical reaction, especially in the United States,
where the director was accused of promulgating naïvely anti-American
sentiments,[149][150] though Kurosawa rejected these accusations. Steven Spielberg helped
finance the production of
Kurosawa wasted no time moving onto his next project: Madadayo, or several of Kurosawa's final
Not Yet. Based on autobiographical essays by Hyakken Uchida, the film films. Spielberg at his
follows the life of a Japanese professor of German through the Second masterclass at the
Cinémathèque Française in
World War and beyond. The narrative centers on yearly birthday
2012
celebrations with his former students, during which the protagonist
declares his unwillingness to die just yet—a theme that was becoming
increasingly relevant for the film's 81-year-old creator. Filming began in February 1992 and wrapped by
the end of September. Its release on April 17, 1993, was greeted by an even more disappointed reaction
than had been the case with his two preceding works.[151]
Kurosawa nevertheless continued to work. He wrote the original screenplays The Sea Is Watching in 1993
and After the Rain in 1995. While putting finishing touches on the latter work in 1995, Kurosawa slipped
and broke the base of his spine. Following the accident, he would use a wheelchair for the rest of his life,
putting an end to any hopes of him directing another film.[152] His longtime wish—to die on the set while
shooting a movie[150][153]—was never to be fulfilled.
After his accident, Kurosawa's health began to deteriorate. While his mind remained sharp and lively, his
body was giving up, and for the last half-year of his life, the director was largely confined to bed,
listening to music and watching television at home. On September 6, 1998, Kurosawa died of a stroke in
Setagaya, Tokyo, at the age of 88.[154][155] At the time of his death, Kurosawa had two children, his son
Hisao Kurosawa (who married Hiroko Hayashi) and his daughter Kazuko Kurosawa (who married
Harayuki Kato), along with several grandchildren.[35] One of Kazuko Kurosawa's children, Takayuki
Kato, became a supporting actor in two films posthumously developed from screenplays written by
Kurosawa, Takashi Koizumi's After the Rain (1999) and Kei Kumai's The Sea Is Watching (2002).[156]
Filmography
Although Kurosawa is primarily known as a filmmaker, he also worked in theater and television and
wrote books. A detailed list, including his complete filmography, can be found in the list of works by
Akira Kurosawa.
Style, themes and techniques

Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by
Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of
film production.[157] He was a gifted screenwriter and worked closely
with his co-writers from the film's development onward to ensure a high-
quality script, which he considered the firm foundation of a good film. He
frequently served as editor of his own films. His team, known as the
"Kurosawa-gumi" ( 黒澤組 , Kurosawa group), which included the
cinematographer Asakazu Nakai, the production assistant Teruyo Nogami
and the actor Takashi Shimura, was notable for its loyalty and
dependability.
Throne of Blood cast and
crew photo taken in 1956, Kurosawa's style is marked by a number of devices and techniques. In his
showing (from left to right) films of the 1940s and 1950s, he frequently employs the "axial cut", in
Shinjin Akiike, Fumio which the camera moves toward or away from the subject through a series
Yanoguchi, Kuichiro of matched jump cuts rather than tracking shots or dissolves.[158] Another
Kishida, Samaji Nonagase,
stylistic trait is "cut on motion", which displays the motion on the screen
Takao Saito, Toshiro Mifune
(in the jeep), Minoru Chiaki,
in two or more shots instead of one uninterrupted one.[159] A form of
Takashi Shimura, Teruyo cinematic punctuation strongly identified with Kurosawa is the wipe, an
Nogami, Yoshirō Muraki, effect created through an optical printer: a line or bar appears to move
Akira Kurosawa, Hiroshi across the screen, wiping away the end of a scene and revealing the first
Nezu, Asakazu Nakai, and image of the next. As a transitional device, it is used as a substitute for the
Sōjirō Motoki straight cut or the dissolve; in his mature work, the wipe became
Kurosawa's signature.
In the film's soundtrack, Kurosawa favored the sound-image counterpoint, in which the music or sound
effects appeared to comment ironically on the image rather than emphasizing it. Teruyo Nogami's memoir
gives several such examples from Drunken Angel and Stray Dog. Kurosawa was also involved with
several of Japan's outstanding contemporary composers, including Fumio Hayasaka and Tōru
Takemitsu.[160]
Kurosawa employed a number of recurring themes in his films: the master-disciple relationship between a
usually older mentor and one or more novices, which often involves spiritual as well as technical mastery
and self-mastery; the heroic champion, the exceptional individual who emerges from the mass of people
to produce something or right some wrong; the depiction of extremes of weather as both dramatic devices
and symbols of human passion; and the recurrence of cycles of savage
violence within history. According to Stephen Prince, the last theme,
which he calls, "the countertradition to the committed, heroic mode of
Kurosawa's cinema," began with Throne of Blood (1957), and recurred
in the films of the 1980s.[162]
Legacy and cultural impact

Kurosawa is often cited as one of the greatest filmmakers of all Kurosawa's kamon, used by
time.[163][164][165][166][167] In 1999, he was named "Asian of the several of his characters as
Century" in the "Arts, Literature, and Culture" category by AsianWeek their mon-tsuki[161]
magazine and CNN, cited as "one of the [five] people who contributed
most to the betterment of Asia in the past 100 years".[168] Kurosawa was
ranked third in the directors' poll and fifth in the critics' poll in Sight & Sound's 2002 list of the greatest
directors of all time. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Kurosawa's birth in 2010, a project
called AK100 was launched in 2008. The AK100 Project aims to "expose young people who are the
representatives of the next generation, and all people everywhere, to the light and spirit of Akira
Kurosawa and the wonderful world he created".[169]
Reputation among filmmakers

Many filmmakers have been influenced by Kurosawa's work. Ingmar
Bergman called his own film The Virgin Spring a "touristic... lousy
imitation of Kurosawa", and added, "At that time my admiration for the
Japanese cinema was at its height. I was almost a samurai myself!"[170]
Federico Fellini considered Kurosawa to be "the greatest living example
of all that an author of the cinema should be".[171] Steven Spielberg cited
Kurosawa's cinematic vision as shaping his own.[172] Satyajit Ray, who
was posthumously awarded the Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime
Achievement in Directing at the San Francisco International Film
Festival in 1992,[173] had said earlier of Rashomon:
The effect of the film on me [upon first seeing it in Calcutta in

1952] was electric. I saw it three times on consecutive days, Ingmar Bergman, shown here
in a bust located in Kielce,
and wondered each time if there was another film anywhere
Poland, was an admirer of
which gave such sustained and dazzling proof of a director's Kurosawa's work.
command over every aspect of film making.[174]
Ray described him as "one of the giants of cinema."
Roman Polanski considered Kurosawa to be among the three film-makers he favored most, along with
Fellini and Orson Welles, and picked Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood and The Hidden Fortress for
praise.[175] Bernardo Bertolucci considered Kurosawa's influence to be seminal: "Kurosawa's movies and
La Dolce Vita of Fellini are the things that pushed me, sucked me into being a film director."[176] Andrei
Tarkovsky cited Kurosawa as one of his favorites and named Seven Samurai as one of his ten favorite
films.[177] Sidney Lumet called Kurosawa the "Beethoven of movie directors".[178] Werner Herzog
reflected on film-makers with whom he feels kinship and the movies that he admires:
Griffith – especially his Birth of a Nation and Broken Blossoms – Murnau, Buñuel, Kurosawa
and Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible, ... all come to mind. ... I like Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of
Arc, Pudovkin's Storm Over Asia and Dovzhenko's Earth, ... Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari,
Satyajit Ray's The Music Room ... I have always wondered how Kurosawa made something as
good as Rashomon; the equilibrium and flow are perfect, and he uses space in such a well-
balanced way. It is one of the best films ever made.[179]
According to an assistant, Stanley Kubrick considered Kurosawa to be "one of the great film directors"
and spoke of him "consistently and admiringly", to the point that a letter from him "meant more than any
Oscar" and caused him to agonize for months over drafting a reply.[180] Robert Altman claimed that, upon
first seeing Rashomon, he was so impressed by the sequence of frames of the sun that he began to shoot
the same sequences in his work the very next day.[181] George Lucas cited The Hidden Fortress as the
main inspiration for Star Wars. He also cited other films of Kurosawa as his favorites including Seven
Samurai, Yojimbo, and Ikiru. He also said, "I had never seen anything that powerful or cinematographic.
The emotions were so strong that it didn't matter that I did not understand the culture or the traditions.
From that moment on, Kurosawa's films have served as one of my strongest sources of creative
inspiration."[182][183] Wes Anderson's animated film Isle of Dogs is partially inspired by Kurosawa's
filming techniques.[184] At the 64th Sydney Film Festival, there was a retrospective of Akira Kurosawa
where films of his were screened to remember the great legacy he has created from his work.[185] Zack
Snyder cited him as one of his influences for his Netflix film Rebel Moon.[186]
Criticism
Kenji Mizoguchi, the acclaimed director of Ugetsu (1953) and
Sansho the Bailiff (1954), was eleven years Kurosawa's senior.
After the mid-1950s, some critics of the French New Wave began
to favor Mizoguchi over Kurosawa. New Wave critic and film-
maker Jacques Rivette, in particular, thought Mizoguchi to be the
only Japanese director whose work was at once entirely Japanese
and truly universal;[187] Kurosawa, by contrast, was thought to be
Jacques Rivette, a prominent critic more influenced by Western cinema and culture, a view that has
of the French New Wave who been disputed.[188]
assessed Mizoguchi's work to be
more wholly Japanese in In Japan, some critics and filmmakers considered Kurosawa to be
comparison to Kurosawa's elitist. They viewed him to center his effort and attention on
exceptional or heroic characters. In her DVD commentary on
Seven Samurai, Joan Mellen argued that certain shots of the
samurai characters Kambei and Kyuzo, which show Kurosawa to have accorded higher status or validity
to them, constitutes evidence for this point of view. These Japanese critics argued that Kurosawa was not
sufficiently progressive because the peasants were unable to find leaders from within their ranks. In an
interview with Mellen, Kurosawa defended himself, saying,
I wanted to say that after everything the peasants were the stronger, closely clinging to the
earth ... It was the samurai who were weak because they were being blown by the winds of
time.[159][189]
From the early 1950s, Kurosawa was also charged with catering to Western tastes due to his popularity in
Europe and America. In the 1970s, the politically engaged, left-wing director Nagisa Ōshima, who was
noted for his critical reaction to Kurosawa's work, accused Kurosawa of pandering to Western beliefs and
ideologies.[190] Author Audie Block, however, assessed Kurosawa to have never played up to a non-
Japanese viewing public and to have denounced those directors who did.[191]
Posthumous screenplays
Following Kurosawa's death, several posthumous works based on his unfilmed screenplays have been
produced. After the Rain, directed by Takashi Koizumi, was released in 1999,[192][193] and The Sea Is
Watching, directed by Kei Kumai, premiered in 2002.[194] A script created by the Yonki no Kai ("Club of
the Four Knights") (Kurosawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi, and Kon Ichikawa), around the
time that Dodeskaden was made, finally was filmed and released (in 2000) as Dora-heita, by the only
surviving founding member of the club, Kon Ichikawa.[195] Huayi Brothers Media and CKF Pictures in
China announced in 2017 plans to produce a film of Kurosawa's posthumous screenplay of The Masque
of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe for 2020, to be entitled The Mask of the Black Death.[196] Patrick
Frater writing for Variety magazine in May 2017 stated that another two unfinished films by Kurosawa
were planned, with Silvering Spear to start filming in 2018.[197]
Kurosawa Production Company

In September 2011, it was reported that remake rights to most of Kurosawa's movies and unproduced
screenplays were assigned by the Akira Kurosawa 100 Project to the L.A.-based company Splendent.
Splendent's chief Sakiko Yamada, stated that he aimed to "help contemporary film-makers introduce a
new generation of moviegoers to these unforgettable stories".[198]
Kurosawa Production Co., established in 1959, continues to oversee many of the aspects of Kurosawa's
legacy. The director's son, Hisao Kurosawa, is the current head of the company. Its American subsidiary,
Kurosawa Enterprises, is located in Los Angeles. Rights to Kurosawa's works were then held by
Kurosawa Production and the film studios under which he worked, most notably Toho. These rights were
then assigned to the Akira Kurosawa 100 Project before being reassigned in 2011 to the L.A. based
company Splendent.[198] Kurosawa Production works closely with the Akira Kurosawa Foundation,
established in December 2003 and also run by Hisao Kurosawa. The foundation organizes an annual short
film competition and spearheads Kurosawa-related projects, including a recently shelved one to build a
memorial museum for the director.[199]
Film studios
In 1981, the Kurosawa Film Studio was opened in Yokohama; two additional locations have since been
launched in Japan.[200] A large collection of archive material, including scanned screenplays, photos and
news articles, has been made available through the Akira Kurosawa Digital Archive, a Japanese
proprietary website maintained by Ryukoku University Digital Archives Research Center in collaboration
with Kurosawa Production.[201]
Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film

Anaheim University in collaboration with Kurosawa Production and the Kurosawa family established the
Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film in spring 2009. The Anaheim University Akira
Kurosawa School of Film offers an Online Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Digital Filmmaking supported
by many of the world's greatest filmmakers.[202]
Kurosawa Restaurant Group

Kurosawa was known to be a connoisseur of Japanese cuisine and
as such, the Kurosawa family foundation established the
Kurosawa Restaurant Group after his passing in 1999, opening
four restaurants in the Tokyo area bearing the family name.
Nagatacho Kurosawa specializing in Shabu-shabu, Teppanyaki
Kurosawa in Tsukiji specializing in Teppanyaki, Keyaki Kurosawa
in Nishi-Azabu specializing in soba, and Udon Kurosawa
specializing in udon in Roppongi. All four locations were designed
to evoke the Meiji era machiya of Kurosawa's youth and feature Teppanyaki Kurosawa restaurant is
memorabilia of Kurosawa's career. As of 2023, only the Tsukiji tucked away down a small side
location is currently still operating. A number of entrepreneurs street in Tsukiji, Tokyo.
around the world have also opened restaurants and businesses in
honor of Kurosawa without any connection to Akira or the
estate.[203][204]
Awards and honours

Two film awards have also been named in Kurosawa's honour. The Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime
Achievement in Film Directing is awarded during the San Francisco International Film Festival, while the
Akira Kurosawa Award is given during the Tokyo International Film Festival.[205][206]
Kurosawa has also been given a number of state honours, including being named as an officer of the
French Légion d'honneur in 1984, a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in
1986, and was the first filmmaker to receive the Order of Culture from his native Japan in 1985.
Posthumously, he was recognized with the Junior Third Court Rank, which would be the modern
equivalent of a noble title under the Kazoku aristocracy.[207]
Documentaries
A significant number of short and full-length documentaries concerning the life and work of Kurosawa
were made both during his artistic heyday and after his death. AK, by French video essay director Chris
Marker, was filmed while Kurosawa was working on Ran; however, the documentary is more concerned
about Kurosawa's distant yet polite personality than on the making of the film.[208][209] Other
documentaries concerning Kurosawa's life and works produced posthumously include:
Kurosawa: The Last Emperor (Alex Cox, 1999)[210]

A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies (Hisao Kurosawa, 2000)[211]
Kurosawa (Adam Low, 2001)[212]
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create (Toho Masterworks, 2002)[211]
Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate (2010)[213]
Kurosawa's Way (Catherine Cadou, 2011)[214]
Notes
1. /əˈkɪərə kʊərəˈsɑːwə/;[1] Japanese: [kɯɾosawa aꜜkiɾa].
2. In 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with his mentor, Kajiro Yamamoto, and Hideo Sekigawa, the
feature Those Who Make Tomorrow (Asu o tsukuru hitobito). Apparently, he was
commanded to make this film against his will by Toho studios, to which he was under
contract at the time. (He claimed that his part of the film was shot in only a week.) It was the
only film he ever directed for which he did not receive sole credit as director, and the only
one that has never been released on home video in any form. The movie was later
repudiated by Kurosawa and is often not counted with the 30 other films he made, though it
is listed in some filmographies of the director.[41][25]
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204. "Kurosawa" (https://9638.net). Kurosawa Restaurant Group. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
205. "Awards & Tributes" (http://history.sffs.org/awards_tributes/search.php?search_by=1&searc
hfield=Akira+Kurosawa+Award&x=16&y=10). San Francisco Film Society. Retrieved June 9,
2017.
206. Schilling, Mark (October 26, 2008). "Mikhalkov given Kurosawa Award" (https://variety.com/2
008/film/features/mikhalkov-given-kurosawa-award-1117994692/). Variety. Retrieved
June 9, 2017.
207. "黒澤明" (https://www.praemiumimperiale.org/ja/laureate/laureates/kuros).
praemiumimperiale.org.
208. "A.K." (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/a-k) festival-cannes.com. Retrieved June 28,
2009.
209. Kehr, Dave (March 7, 1986). "A.K." (https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ak/Film?oid=10
54410) Chicago Reader. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
210. Kurosawa, Kasuko. "Kurosawa – The Last Emperor" (https://web.archive.org/web/20071113
154911/http://www.alexcox.com/dir_lastemperor.htm) (Interview). Archived from the original
(http://www.alexcox.com/dir_lastemperor.htm) on November 13, 2007. Retrieved June 24,
2017.
211. Maunula, Vili (November 16, 2015). "Documentaries on Akira Kurosawa" (http://akirakurosa
wa.info/documentaries-on-akira-kurosawa/). Akira Kurosawa info. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
212. WH. "Kurosawa" (https://www.timeout.com/london/film/kurosawa). Time Out. London.
213. "Ran (Blu-ray)" (http://www.oldies.com/product-view/6130FD.html). Oldies.com. Retrieved
June 24, 2017.
214. "Akira Kurosawa's Dreams" (https://www.criterion.com/films/28700-akira-kurosawa-s-dream
s). The Criterion Collection. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
Sources
Bock, Audie (1978). Japanese Film Directors. Kodansha. ISBN 0-87011-304-6.
Conrad, David A. (2022). Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan. McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-1-
4766-8674-5.
Fellini, Federico (2006). Bert Cardullo (ed.). Federico Fellini: Interviews (https://archive.org/d
etails/federicofellini00fede). University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-57806-885-2.
Galbraith, Stuart IV (2002). The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira
Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune (https://archive.org/details/emperorwolf00galb). Faber and
Faber, Inc. ISBN 978-0-571-19982-2.
Goodwin, James (1994). Perspectives on Akira Kurosawa. G. K. Hall & Co. ISBN 978-0-
8161-1993-6.
Kurosawa, Akira (1983). Something Like an Autobiography. Translated by Audie E. Bock.
Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-394-71439-4.
Kurosawa, Akira (2008). Bert Cardullo (ed.). Akira Kurosawa: Interviews. University Press of
Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-57806-996-5.
Kurosawa: The Last Emperor (DVD-R). Channel Four (UK)/Exterminating Angel
Productions. 1999.
Kurosawa (DVD). WNET, BBC and NHK. 2000.
Mellen, Joan (2002). Seven Samurai (BFI Classics). British Film Institute. ISBN 978-0-
85170-915-4.
Nogami, Teruyo (2006). Waiting on the Weather. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-
09-9.
Prince, Stephen (1999). The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa (2nd,
revised ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-01046-5.
Rashomon (DVD). Criterion. 2002.
Ray, Satyajit (2007). Our Films Their Films. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-81-250-1565-9.
Richie, Donald (1999). The Films of Akira Kurosawa (Third, Expanded and Updated ed.).
University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22037-9.
Richie, Donald (2001). A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. Kodansha International.
ISBN 978-4-7700-2682-8.
San Juan, Eric (2018). Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer's Guide (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=SVVyDwAAQBAJ). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-1090-4.
Seven Samurai: 3-disc Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #2) (DVD). Criterion.
2006.
Tagusagawa, Hiroshi (2006). Akira Kurosawa vs. Hollywood (in Japanese). Bungeishunjū.
ISBN 978-4-16-367790-3.
Yojimbo: Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #52) (DVD). Criterion. 2007.
Yoshimoto, Mitsuhiro (2000). Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema. Duke
University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-2519-2.
Further reading
Buchanan, Judith (2005). Shakespeare on Film. Pearson Longman. ISBN 0-582-43716-4.
Burch, Nöel (1979). To the Distant Observer: Form and Meaning in the Japanese Cinema (h
ttps://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cjfs/aaq5060.0001.001). University of California Press. ISBN 0-
520-03605-0.
Cowie, Peter (2010). Akira Kurosawa: Master of Cinema. Rizzoli Publications. ISBN 0-8478-
3319-4.
Davies, Anthony (1990). Filming Shakespeare's Plays: The Adaptions of Laurence Olivier,
Orson Welles, Peter Brook and Akira Kurosawa. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-
39913-0.
Desser, David (1983). The Samurai Films of Akira Kurosawa (Studies in Cinema No. 23).
UMI Research Press. ISBN 0-8357-1924-3.
Desser, David (1988). Eros Plus Massacre (https://archive.org/details/erosplusmassacre00d
avi). Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-20469-1.
Goodwin, James (1993). Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema. The Johns Hopkins
University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-4661-8.
Godard, Jean-Luc (1972). Tom Milne (ed.). Godard on Godard. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-
0-306-80259-1.
High, Peter B. (2003). The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Years'
War, 1931–45. The University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-18134-5.
Kurosawa, Akira (1999). Kurosawa Akira zengashū [The complete artworks of Akira
Kurosawa] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-699611-9.
Kurosawa, Akira (1999). Yume wa tensai de aru (A Dream Is a Genius). Bungei Shunjū.
ISBN 978-4-16-355570-6.
Kardozi, Karzan (2024). 100 Years of Cinema, 100 Directors, Vol 9: Akira Kurosawa (https://
themovingsilent.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/book-100-years-of-cinema-from-d-w-griffith-to-ri
chard-linklater/). Xazalnus Publication – via The Moving Silent.
Leonard, Kendra Preston (2009). Shakespeare, Madness, and Music: Scoring Insanity in
Cinematic Adaptations. Plymouth: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-6946-2.
Martinez, Delores P. (2009). Remaking Kurosawa: Translations and Permutations in Global
Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-29358-1.
Mellen, Joan (1975). Voices from the Japanese Cinema. Liveright Publishing Corporation.
ISBN 978-0-87140-604-0.
Mellen, Joan (1976). The Waves at Genji's Door (https://archive.org/details/wavesatgenjisdo
o0000mell). Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-394-49799-0.
Morrison, James (2007). Roman Polanski (Contemporary Film Directors). University of
Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07446-2.
Peckinpah, Sam (2008). Kevin J. Hayes (ed.). Sam Peckinpah: Interviews. University Press
of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-934110-64-5.
Sato, Tadao (1987). Currents in Japanese Cinema. Kodansha International Ltd. ISBN 978-
0-87011-815-9.
Sorensen, Lars-Martin (2009). Censorship of Japanese Films During the U.S. Occupation of
Japan: The Cases of Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-
4673-7.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (DVD). 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. 2006.
Tirard, Laurent (2002). Moviemakers' Master Class: Private Lessons from the World's
Foremost Directors. Faber and Faber Ltd. ISBN 978-0-571-21102-9.
Wild, Peter. (2014) Akira Kurosawa Reaktion Books ISBN 978-1-78023-343-7
External links
Akira Kurosawa (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000041/) at IMDb
Akira Kurosawa (https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/106389%
7C*) at the TCM Movie Database
Akira Kurosawa (https://www.criterion.com/shop/collection/3-akira-kurosawa) at The
Criterion Collection
Akira Kurosawa: News, Information and Discussion (http://akirakurosawa.info/)
Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database (https://web.archive.org/web/2010070
4194325/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/kurosawa.html)
Akira Kurosawa at Japanese celebrity's grave guide (https://web.archive.org/web/20081024
014317/http://www.horror-house.jp/cat2/19101998.html) (in Japanese)
Akira Kurosawa (http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0121190.htm) at the Japanese Movie
Database (in Japanese)
Several trailers (https://sites.google.com/site/illustratedjapanesevocabulary/film/kurosawa)
Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film (https://anaheim.edu/schools-and-institut
es/akira-kurosawa-school-of-film.html)
Akira Kurosawa (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/akira_kurosawa) at Rotten
Tomatoes
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Akira Kurosawa

Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936,

Childhood to war years (1910–1945)

Childhood and youth (1910–1935)

Director in training (1935–1941)

During his five years as an assistant director, Kurosawa worked

Yamamoto advised Kurosawa that a good director needed to master

Wartime films and marriage (1942–1945)

During production, the actress playing the leader of the factory

Early postwar years to Red Beard (1946–1965)

First postwar works (1946–1950)

After the completion of Drunken Angel, Toho became embroiled in a

International recognition (1950–1958)

Birth of a company and Red Beard (1959–1965)

Kurosawa quickly moved on to his next project, Red Beard. Based on a

Hollywood ambitions to last films (1966–1998)

Hollywood detour (1966–1968)

A difficult decade (1969–1977)

Two epics (1978–1986)

Final works and last years (1987–1998)

Style, themes and techniques

Legacy and cultural impact

Reputation among filmmakers

The effect of the film on me [upon first seeing it in Calcutta in

Ray described him as "one of the giants of cinema."

Kurosawa Production Company

Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film

Kurosawa Restaurant Group

Awards and honours

Kurosawa: The Last Emperor (Alex Cox, 1999)[210]

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