is a 1952 black-and-white

Japanese film The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that ea ...

directed by

Kazuo Mori , also known by his street name , was a Japanese film director who primarily worked in popular genres like the jidaigeki. Mori directed over 100 films in his life. Career Born in Ehime Prefecture, Mori graduated from Kyoto University before jo ...

made for

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 ...

and starring

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 '' ...

and

Takashi Shimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981. He appeared in 21 of Akira Kurosawa's 30 films (more than any other actor), including as a lead actor in ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), ''Rashomon'' (1950), ''Ikiru'' (1952) an ...

. The script was written by

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

Plot

Araki Mataemon was a Japanese samurai active in the early Edo period. Araki Mataemon was the founder of the koryū martial art Yagyū Shingan-ryū, known sometimes as Yagyū Shingan-ryū Taijutsu. Araki Matemon studied Yagyū Shinkage-ryū under Yagyū Munen ...

(

), a renowned swordsman, helps a young man find vengeance, an event known as the

Igagoe vendetta The Igagoe vendetta was a vengeance incident in Japan in 1634, where the murder of a retainer was avenged by his older brother. The event happened in the town of Iga-Ueno near Iga Pass. The vendetta is known as one of the three major vendetta inc ...

. The opening scene has Araki sternly accosting Jinza with a formal proclamation of vengeance for the killing of his family member. Jinza (

) cackles villainously and an epic fight commences. Just then a narrator breaks in to explain that this is a traditional version of the showdown at Kagiya Corner that has been told through the centuries which happened at the start of the 17th century. It is about a vendetta because of the killing of a family member, and the samurai connected with the family want revenge and Araki is one of the samurai who go looking for a showdown. The facts surrounding the vendetta have been expanded and distorted through the telling, and the villain Jinza was actually a noble man and the close friend of Mataemon Araki, whom he faces off against at Kagiya corner. The narrative returns to November 7, 1634, and Mataemon's party arrives at an inn on the site one hour before the fight will take place. As the men prepare for their ambush, we get a series of flashbacks filling in the backstory piece by piece.

Cast

as Araki Mataemon *

as Jinza *

Minoru Chiaki was a Japanese actor who appeared in eleven of Akira Kurosawa's films, including ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''Throne of Blood'', and ''The Hidden Fortress''. He was also one of Kon Ichikawa's favorite actors. He attended, but did not gradu ...

as Matagoro *

Daisuke Katō was a Japanese actor. He appeared in over 200 films, including Akira Kurosawa's ''Seven Samurai'', ''Rashomon'', ''Yojimbo'', and ''Ikiru''. He also worked repeatedly for noted directors such as Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi. ...

as Mago *

Kokuten Kōdō , real name Tanigawa Saichirō (谷川佐市郎), was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1923 to 1959. Career Kōdō first began acting on the stage in 1901 in shinpa dramas. He joined the Teikine studio in 1923, ...

as the Innkeeper *

Bokuzen Hidari was a Japanese actor and comedian born in Kotesashi Village (now part of Tokorozawa), Iruma District, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. He appeared in such films as Akira Kurosawa's ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Lower Depths'' and ''Ikiru''. Hidari was f ...

as Magoemon the elder *

Toranosuke Ogawa Toranosuke is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Toranosuke can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples: *虎之介, "tiger, of, mediate" *虎之助, "tiger, of, help" *虎之輔, "tiger, o ...

as Buemon * Yuriko Hamada * Akihiko Katayama * Shin Tokudaiji

References

External links

* 1952 films 1950s Japanese-language films Samurai films Films set in feudal Japan Films produced by Sōjirō Motoki Films directed by Kazuo Mori Toho films Films with screenplays by Akira Kurosawa Japanese black-and-white films 1950s Japanese films {{1950s-Japan-film-stub