is a 1969 Japanese

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

directed by Seiji Maruyama, with special effects by

Eiji Tsuburaya was a Japanese special effects director and cinematographer. Known as the he worked on 250 feature films in a career spanning 50 years. He is regarded as one of the co-creators of the ''Godzilla'' series, as well as the main creator of the ' ...

. The film stars

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

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

Tatsuya Nakadai is a Japanese film actor. He was featured in 11 films directed by Masaki Kobayashi, including ''The Human Condition'' trilogy, wherein he starred as the lead character Kaji, plus ''Harakiri'', ''Samurai Rebellion'' and ''Kwaidan''. Nakadai wor ...

, Toshio Kurosawa, Makoto Satō, Ryutaro Tatsumi,

Chishū Ryū was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting 65 years, appeared in over 160 films and about 70 television productions. Early life Ryū was born in Tamamizu Village, Tamana County, a rural area of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu, the most south ...

, and

Matsumoto Kōshirō VIII Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

. It focuses on Japan during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. In the course of the battle, both the Japanese navy and army fail in their attempts to seize Port Arthur, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Japanese sea.

Cast

Production

Special effects

''Battle of the Japan Sea'' was the last film for special effects director

before his death. A dedicated team of 60 artists worked on the 107 miniature ships created for the film. In addition, the miniature of the battleship ''Mikasa'' was made up to 13 meters long. Due to the weaker shell power during the

in the Pacific War, Freon gas was used to represent water column in the naval battle scene.

Release

''Battle of the Japan Sea'' was distributed theatrically in Japan by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

on August 1, 1969. During its theatrical release it earned a distribution rental of ¥360 million. It was released on DVD in Japan on June 21, 2001 by Toho Home Video.「綴込特別付録宇宙船 YEAR BOOK 2002」『宇宙船』Vol.100（2002年5月号）、朝日ソノラマ、2002年5月1日、 170頁、雑誌コード：01843-05。

Notes

References

;Bibliography * *

External links

* * {{1960s-Japan-film-stub 1969 films Japanese war drama films Toho films Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka Films set in 1904 1960s Japanese-language films Toho tokusatsu films 1960s Japanese films