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 film history.
Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently featured in training scenes and other sequences in addition to fights. Martial arts films commonly include hand-to-hand combat along with other types of action, such as stuntwork, chases, and gunfights. Sub-genres of martial arts films include kung fu films, wuxia, karate films, and martial arts action-comedy films, while related genres include gun fu, jidaigeki and samurai films.
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, including as a lead actor in Drunken Angel (1948), Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952) and Seven Samurai (1954). He played Professor Kyohei Yamane in Ishirō Honda's original Godzilla (1954). For his contributions to the arts, the Japanese government decorated Shimura with the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1974 and the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette in 1980.
Segata Sanshiro is a character created by Sega to advertise the Sega Saturn in Japan between 1997 and 1998. He is a parody of Sugata Sanshirō, a legendary judo fighter from Akira Kurosawa's 1943 film Sanshiro Sugata. In television and radio advertisements, Segata Sanshiro is portrayed by actor Hiroshi Fujioka. He was positioned as a martial artist who commanded people to play Sega Saturn games.
Sanshiro Sugata is a 1943 Japanese martial arts drama film and the directorial debut of the Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa. First released in Japan on 25 March 1943 by Toho film studios, the film was eventually released in the United States on 28 April 1974. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Tsuneo Tomita, the son of prominent judoka Tsunejirō Tomita. It follows the story of Sanshiro, a talented though willful youth, who travels to the city in order to learn Jujutsu. However, upon his arrival he discovers a new form of self-defence: Judo. The main character is based on Saigō Shirō.
The Most Beautiful is a 1944 Japanese drama and propaganda film written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film is set in an optics factory during the Second World War when the film was produced.
Plawres Sanshiro is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Jirō Gyū. It was serialized in the Akita Shoten magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion from 1982 to 1985. An anime television series adaptation was broadcast from 1983 to 1984.
Susumu Fujita was a Japanese film and television actor. He played the lead role in Akira Kurosawa's first feature, Sanshiro Sugata, and appeared in other Kurosawa films including The Men Who Tread On the Tiger's Tail and The Hidden Fortress. Later, he was a supporting actor in Ishirō Honda's Mothra vs. Godzilla, among many other films.
Seiji Miyaguchi was a Japanese actor who appeared in films of Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai and many others. He succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 71.
Hidetaka Nishiyama was a prominent Japanese master of Shotokan karate. He was an internationally recognized instructor, author, and administrator, and helped to establish the Japan Karate Association. Nishiyama was one of the last surviving students of Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan karate. He was based in the United States of America from 1961 until his death in 2008, and was a pioneer of karate in that country. He had been posthumously awarded the rank of 10th dan in karate.
Throwdown is a 2004 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Johnnie To and starring Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok, Cherrie Ying and Tony Leung Ka-fai. The film is one of To's most personal to date; he dedicated it to the late Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and, in making it, had drawn upon elements of Kurosawa's debut feature, Sanshiro Sugata. Throw Down had its premiere at the 61st Venice International Film Festival.
Denjirō Ōkōchi was a Japanese film actor best known for starring roles in jidaigeki directed by leading Japanese filmmakers.
Yukiko Todoroki was a Japanese actress. Her real name was Tsuruko Nishiyama. She participated in the Takarazuka Revue. At Takarazuka, she was known not by her real name, but by the stage name Toruko. Her birthplace was Shinbori, Azabu-ku in Tokyo. Her two ex-husbands were film directors Masahiro Makino and Koji Shima. Her son is Masayuki Makino, the principal of Okinawa Actors School. Anna Makino, a former member of idol group Super Monkey's, is her granddaughter.
A number of Akira Kurosawa's films have been remade.
Ryūnosuke Tsukigata was a Japanese actor known especially for his work in jidaigeki in film and television. His real name was Kiyoto Monden.
Shiro Saigo was one of the earliest disciples of Judo. Saigo, together with Tsunejiro Tomita, became first in history of judo to be awarded Shodan by the founder of judo Jigoro Kano, who established the kyu-dan ranking system. He was one of the Kōdōkan Shitennō or Four Guardians of the Kodokan along with Yoshitsugu Yamashita, Sakujiro Yokoyama, and Tsunejiro Tomita.
Something Like an Autobiography is the memoir of Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa. It was published by Iwanami Shoten in 1981, and translated into English by Audie E. Bock the following year.
The legacy of filmmaking technique left by Akira Kurosawa (1910–1998) for subsequent generations of filmmakers has been diverse and of international influence beyond his native Japan. The legacy of influence has ranged from working methods, influence on style, and selection and adaptation of themes in cinema. Kurosawa's working method was oriented toward extensive involvement with numerous aspects of film production. He was also an effective screenwriter who would work in close contact with his writers very early in the production cycle to ensure high quality in the scripts which would be used for his films.
