is a 1999 Japanese
ninja
A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...
-themed
jidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...
film directed by
Masahiro Shinoda
was a Japanese film director, whose career spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio fro ...
. It was co-written by Shinoda and Katsuo Naruse, and stars
Kiichi Nakai It is the second adaptation of
Ryōtarō Shiba
, also known as , was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the r ...
's 1959 novel ''
Fukurō no Shiro'', the first being the 1963 film ''
Castle of Owls''.
Cast
*
Kiichi Nakai as Jūzō Tsuzura
*
Takaya Kamikawa as Gohei Kazama
*
Mayu Tsuruta
Mayu Tsuruta (鶴田 真由, born April 25, 1970, in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan) is an actress. In 1996 she was nominated by the Award of the Japanese Academy for Best Supporting Actress in the film Kike wadatsumi no koe Last Friends. Following the ...
as Kohagi
*
Riona Hazuki as Kisaru
*
Shōhei Hino as Kuroami
*
Akiji Kobayashi
, sometimes credited as Shōji Kobayashi, was a Japanese actor. He attended Nihon University College of Art, but withdrew before completing his degree and joined the Haiyuza Theatre Company in 1949. He made his film debut with ''Satsujin Yogisha' ...
*
Akira Nakao
was a Japanese actor, television personality, and artist from Kisarazu, Chiba. He was represented by the Furutachi Project agency.
Biography
Nakao attended Chiba Prefectural Kisarazu High School from 1958, and entered Musashino Art University ...
*
Mako Iwamatsu
was a Japanese-American actor, credited mononymously in almost all of his acting roles as simply Mako (マコ), pronounced "MAH-ko". His career in film, on television, and on stage spanned five decades and 165 productions. He was an Academy Aw ...
as
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...
*
Jinpachi Nezu as
Hattori Hanzō
or ''Second Hanzō'', nicknamed , was a famous samurai of the Sengoku era, who served the Tokugawa clan as a general, credited with saving the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu and then helping him to become the ruler of united Japan. He is often a ...
* Kinnosuke Hannayagi as
Ishida Mitsunari
was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...
*
Shima Iwashita
*
Masahiko Tsugawa
, born Masahiko Katō (加藤 雅彦 ''Katō Masahiko''; January 2, 1940 – August 4, 2018) was a Japanese actor and director.
Career
Tsugawa was born January 2, 1940, in Kyoto, Japan. After acting as a child, he made his major debut at 16 in t ...
*
Atsuo Nakamura
is a Japanese actor and politician. He has appeared in more than 50 films since 1964. His younger brother Katsuyuki Nakamura is a writer.
Career
Nakamura first joined the Haiyuza theatre troupe in 1962, and became famous for his starring role i ...
Production
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
was a production partner on the film, and the use of
special effects
Special effects (often abbreviated as 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 fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...
and
computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...
was widely touted in the film's marketing.
Awards and accolades
*
Nikkan Sports Film Award
The , also called the Nikkan Sports Yujiro Ishihara Film Prizes, are annual film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Nikkan Sports'' newspaper since 1988.
The categories of ''Fans' Choice Award for Best Film'' and ''Fans' Choice Award for Best Act ...
s:
Ishihara Yujiro Award (1999).
*
Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival
The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (), or BiFan, formerly known as Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival or PiFan, is an international film festival held annually in July in Bucheon, South Korea. Inaugurated in 1997, the fe ...
: Best Director -
Masahiro Shinoda
was a Japanese film director, whose career spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio fro ...
(2000).
*
Japanese Academy Awards: Best Art Direction -
Yoshinobu Nishioka (2000).
The film also received nine Japanese Academy Award nominations.
References
External links
*
*
Comparison between original film (''Castle of Owls'') and the remake
1999 films
1990s adventure drama films
1999 romantic drama films
1990s Japanese-language films
Jidaigeki films
Ninja films
Toho films
Remakes of Japanese films
Cultural depictions of Hattori Hanzō
Cultural depictions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Films based on Japanese novels
1990s Japanese films
Films scored by Joji Yuasa
{{1990s-adventure-film-stub