is a 1983

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

directed by

Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative filmmaking," Fukasaku worked in many different genres and styles, but was best known for his gritty yakuza films, typified by the ''Battles Without Honor ...

. The script is adapted from Toshio Kamata's

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

novel ''Shin Satomi Hakkenden'' (新・里見八犬伝), itself a loose reworking of the epic serial ''

Nansō Satomi Hakkenden ''Nansō Satomi Hakkenden'' ( ja, 南総里見八犬伝, label=shinjitai; ja, 南總里見八犬傳, label=kyūjitai) is a Japanese epic novel (''yomihon'') written and published over twenty-eight years (1814–42) in the Edo period, by Kyokute ...

'' by

Kyokutei Bakin (), a.k.a. (, 4 July 1767 – 1 December 1848), was a Japanese novelist of the Edo period. Born (), he wrote under the pen name (). Later in life he took the pen name (). Modern scholarship generally refers to him as , or just as n. He is ...

Synopsis

The story follows Princess Shizu (

Hiroko Yakushimaru is a common feminine Japanese given name. Name meanings Hiroko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *裕子, "kind child" *弘子, "Beautiful child" *寛子, " small child" *浩子, "large child" *博子, "wise child" *� ...

), her family slain and on the run from her enemies. As she escapes she is found by the vagabond Shinbei (

Hiroyuki Sanada is a Japanese actor and martial artist. He is best known to international audiences for his roles as Genbu in ''Ninja in the Dragon's Den'' (1982), Ryuji Takayama in ''Ring'' (1998), Seibei Iguchi in ''The Twilight Samurai'' (2002), Ujio in ''T ...

), before being rescued from her pursuers by Dōsetsu (

Sonny Chiba , known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience. Born in Fuku ...

). He tells her the legend of a curse on her family, and of eight beads that identify eight dog-warriors who can lift it, of which he and his companion are two. To defeat the evil queen Tamazusa (

Mari Natsuki , more commonly known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer, dancer and actress. Born in Tokyo, she started work as a singer from a young age. In 2007, Natsuki announced her engagement to percussionist Nobu Saitō, with their marriage taking ...

) who killed her family, they must find all eight. But Shinbei hears of Princess Shizu's identity, and vows to collect the reward for capturing her.

Cast

as Princess Shizu *

as Inue Shinbee Masashi *

as Inuyama Dōsetsu Tadatomo *

Minori Terada is a Japanese voice actor and actor. Life and career Terada was born in Tokyo, as first son of Masaaki Terada, a famous painter. In 1961, Terada begun to be an actor. Terada is known as a villain, such as Alien Metron in ''Ultraman Max'', an ...

as Inumura Daikaku Masanori *

Masaki Kyomoto is a Japanese actor, singer song writer, and guitarist. He is famous for playing the role of Ryu on the television jidaigeki Hissatsu series. He has appeared in films and television series including ''Legend of the Eight Samurai'', '' Sukeban ...

as Inuzuka Shino Moritaka *

Etsuko Shihomi Etsuko (written: 悦子, 英津子, えつ子, えつこ in hiragana or エツコ in katakana) is a feminine Japanese given name. The most common meaning is joy child. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese football player *, Japanese c ...

as Inusaka Keno Tanetomo *Takuya Fukuhara as Inukawa Sōsuke Yoshitō *Shunsuke Kariya as Inuta Kobungo Yasuyori *

Kenji Ohba , known professionally as is a prolific Japanese actor and former stuntman best known for his roles in the Super Sentai and Metal Heroes series, especially as Retsu Ichijouji/Gavan in the 1982 TV series '' Space Sheriff Gavan''. He is the presi ...

as Inukai Genpachi Nobufuchi *

Keiko Matsuzaka (born July 20, 1952) is a Japanese actress. Early life Born in Ōta, Tokyo, her father was a naturalized South Korean while her mother was Japanese. Career In the 1960s, Matsuzaka became a child actress. Matsuzaka grew into adulthood in film ...

as Princess Fuse *

as Tamazusa *

Yūki Meguro Yūki Meguro ( ja, 目黒祐樹) is a Japanese actor. He is the son of jidaigeki actor Jūshirō Konoe and had an older brother Hiroki Matsukata. He was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his work in Shōgun in 19 ...

as Hikita Gonnokami Motofuji *

Nagare Hagiwara , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor and TV personality. Death On 22 April 2015, two weeks after his 62nd birthday, Hagiwara died in a road accident in Suginami, Tokyo, while riding his motorbike. Filmography Cinema * ''Fall ...

as Yōnosuke *Mamako Yoneyama as Funamushi *Akira Shioji as Genjin * Tatsuo Endō as Mayuroku *

Nana Okada is a Japanese singer and actress, represented by Avex Asunaro. She is a member of the girl group AKB48 and a former member of STU48. She has been a fixture in AKB48's major single lineups since 2016 and is considered one of the best singers in ...

as Hamaji *Akira Hamada as Akushirō

Production

Adaptation

The film preserves little of the plot or characterization, and none of the feel of the Bakin original. Instead it builds on the basic template – collecting a band of warriors together to accomplish a task, better known from films such as Kurosawa's ''

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who hire seven ...

''. While some of the back story and key elements like the beads remain, even the eight dog brothers are substantially changed, to the extent of Keno's feminine disguise becoming actual womanhood.

Effects

Fantastical elements in the film are brought to life with a combination of props, wire work, and

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

special effect Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...

s. While the best of these like the eight glowing beads work well, others such as the rubber giant flying snake have aged less gracefully. The film version maintains the ''

ero-guro is an artistic genre that puts its focus on eroticism, sexual corruption, and decadence.Silverberg, Miriam Rom. "By Way of a Preface: Defining ''Erotic Grotesque Nonsense''". Galley copy of the preface for ''Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass C ...

'' elements of Kamata's book, including a nude blood-bathing rejuvenation scene.

Score

The colorful film score features a mixture of synthesizers and "real" strings produced by

Nobody Nobody may refer to: * Nobody, an indefinite pronoun Nobody may also refer to: Fictional characters *Nobody (Kingdom Hearts), Nobody (''Kingdom Hearts''), a race of beings in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' video game series *Nobody, a character in the ...

, and a couple of

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

s performed by

John O'Banion John O'Banion (16 February 1947 – 14 February 2007) was an American vocalist and actor. Early career O'Banion was born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1947 and was performing in theater by the age of 13 as well as in a local Indiana band Hog Honda & the ...

: ''Satomi Hakkenden'', composed by

Joey Carbone Joey Carbone is a composer, music producer, arranger, keyboardist, vocalist, advisor and educator. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Early life When he was 16, Carbone was signed as a singer in a band to Atlantic Records by one of A ...

and written by Kathi Pinto, and ''Hakkenshi no Tēma (White Light)'' (八剣士のテーマ), composed by Joey Carbone and

Richie Zito Richie Zito (born August 21, 1952) is an American songwriter, composer and record producer from Los Angeles. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Zito has experienced success as a prolific session musician, being featured on a wide array of ...

, written by David Palmer. An LP of the music was released by

Eastworld Eastworld is a Japanese jazz and pop music record label owned by EMI Music Japan (former Toshiba-EMI), under Universal Music Group. Artists *Minako Honda *Jennifer Connelly *Marvin Peterson *Original Love *RC Succession *Sadistic Mika Band *Sand ...

Reception

''Legend of the Eight Samurai'' was the number one Japanese film on the domestic market in 1984, earning ¥2.3 billion in distribution income.

Versions

Various English releases have been sold since the 1980s under the title ''Legend of the Eight Samurai'', or ''Legend of Eight Samurai''. An English dubbed version was released with some script modifications; and in 2005 an uncut, English subtitled version of the film was released. In 2012 the film was released on Blu-ray in Japan as part of the "Kadokawa Blu-ray Collection". On May 5, 2005, Digiview Entertainment released the English dub version of the film on DVD. It was on sale for $1, in many places like Wal-Mart, Dollar Store, etc.

References

External links

* *
Legend of the Eight Samurai
' at the Japanese Movie Database

Reviews

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Legend Of The Eight Samurai 1983 films Films based on Japanese novels Films directed by Kinji Fukasaku 1980s Japanese-language films Samurai films Toei Company films 1980s Japanese films