met Old_Anime_Lady & betun, september 14, 2021
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For my generation, you cannot talk about Japanese films without mentioning Kurosawa Akira and the awesome films he produced and directed. I have been watching Kurosawa films for most of my adult life and I agree he was a very influential director. Many of the U.S. westerns borrowed plot lines and visuals from him. Star Wars was hugely influenced by Kurosawa's techniques and storytelling.  

Most great artists have tortured souls and Kurosawa was no exception. I will try my best to summarize his awesome life in this fan guide but please make sure to check out my sources that go into a lot more detail than what I can do in this small space. 

Name: Kurosawa Akira
Kanji Name(s): 黒澤明 or 黒沢明 or 黑澤明 
Hiragana Name:くろさわ あきら

Birth: March 23, 1910 (Meiji 43)
Death: September 6, 1998 (Heisei 10)
Jobs: Director and Screenwriter


Image: Akira Kurosawa at age three, in his early 20s, and his late 20s

Childhood

Akira Kurosawa was born on the 23rd of March 1910 (Meiji 43) in Oimachi in the Omori district of Tokyo. His father Isamu Kurosawa, from a Samurai clan in Akita, worked as the director of the Army’s Physical Education Institute’s lower secondary school, while his mother Shima came from a merchant family living in Osaka. Akira was the eighth and youngest child of the moderately wealthy family, with the oldest two already grown up and one has died, leaving Kurosawa to grow up with three sisters and one brother. 

Akira's father promoted exercise, so Akira was the captain of his school’s kendo club. Isamu was open to western traditions and saw theatre and motion pictures as educationally valuable, encouraging his children to watch films. Another strong influence on young Akira was his elementary school teacher Mr. Tachikawa, whose progressive educational practices ignited in his young pupil first his love of drawing and then an interest in education in general. This is also when he learned calligraphy.

Another major childhood influence was Heigo Kurosawa, Akira's older brother by four years. In the aftermath of the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923, which devastated Tokyo, Heigo took the 13-year-old Akira to view the devastation. When the younger brother wanted to look away from the human corpses and animal carcasses scattered everywhere, Heigo forbade him to do so, encouraging Akira instead to face his fears by confronting them directly. Some commentators have suggested that this incident would influence Kurosawa's later artistic career, as the director was seldom hesitant to confront unpleasant truths in his work.  (wikipedia)

He later moved in with his older brother, who had failed the exams to get into one of Tokyo's top schools. Akira had dreams to become a painter, but could not sell any of his paintings, got discouraged and gave up his pursuit of that career path.  Heigo was a silent film narrator (Benshi) at the time and was starting to make a name for himself and the two were inseparable.  In the 1930s when talking movies came out and Heigo began to lose work, Akira moved back home and, in 1933, Heigo committed suicide and his eldest brother died within a span of four months, leaving Akira the only brother with 3 surviving sisters.  

During production of The Most Beautiful, the actress playing the leader of the factory workers, Yaguchi Yoko, was chosen by her colleagues to present their demands to the director. She and Kurosawa were constantly at loggerheads, and it was through these arguments that the two, paradoxically, became close. They married on May 21, 1945, with Yaguchi two months pregnant (she never resumed her acting career), and the couple would remain together until her death in 1985. They had two children, both surviving Kurosawa as of 2018: a son, Hisao, born December 20, 1945, who served as producer on some of his father's last projects, and Kazuko, a daughter, born April 29, 1954, who became a costume designer. (Wikipedia)

Directing

In 1935 Kurosawa answered an ad in the paper for Photo Chemical Laboratories (PCL), which would later become Japan’s leading studio - Toho - advertising that they were looking for new assistant directors. While Akira had no strong interest in the film industry, he still filled out the essay on the deficiencies of Japanese films. His half-mocking essay earned him a callback, and while his results were not on par with the other second-rounders, one director Yamamoto Kajiro was intrigued. In February 1936, Kurosawa started working for PCL. Most of us are familiar with the movies he directed so I will only list below the movies where he had a different Job.

THIRD ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

CHIEF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

He received a promotion after Enoken's Kinta Part 2 and the following movies he gets the billing of Chief assistant Director 


Most of the pre-war movies have been lost and we cannot view them today, but their existence is proven in logs and record books. 

In 1943, Kurosawa was promoted to director and he had his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata. The film is based on the novel by the same name by author Tomita Tsueno. The film follows a man named Sanshiro who travels to the city to learn jujitsu. Whilst there, he witnesses a man doing a different form of self-defense - judo - and begins to focus on it.

The film is seen as an early example of Kurosawa's immediate grasp of the film-making process, and includes many of his directorial trademarks, such as the use of wipes, weather patterns as reflections of character moods, and abruptly changing camera speeds. [Wikipedia]

The film became influential at the time of release and has been remade five times over the course of the years. Kurosawa also went on to direct a sequel, Sanshiro Sugata Part II.

Besides being a director he was a screenwriter, producer, editor, and even song lyricist involving himself in many of the processes of filmmaking. During his early directing days he did not make enough money to support his new family so he supplemented his income by doing screenplays. Dohyo Matsuri and The Admirable Ishin Tasuke are two of his earliest ones after the war.
During the Toho dispute, he left Toho and created another production company to be contacted by other film companies. The Film Art Association (Eiga Geijutsu Kyōkai) was formed in 1948 with producer Motoroki Sojiro, and fellow directors Yamamoto Kajiro,  Naruse Mikioand Taniguchi Senkichi.  By 1952 and the filming of Ikiru he is back with Toho studios, this time with international fame from RashomonHis films became bigger productions that became more and more costly so Toho executives convinced him to bank role with some of his own money going in 50-50 with Toho. This was the beginning of "Kurosawa Production" of which Toho was the biggest shareholder on April 1st, 1959 whose offices were at Toho headquarters. After the Tora!Tora!Tora! dispute Kurosawa would never work with Mifune or screenwriter Kikushima Ryuzo ever again. Kurosawa Production had a top officer resign and it was a dark time for Kurosawa. His friends, Kobayashi Masaki, Kinoshita Keisuke, and Ichikawa Kon came together and put together yet another production company this time named "Yonki no Kai production" (Club of Four Knights) in July 1969.


 "All the films that I made with Mifune, without him, they would not exist." - Akira Kurosawa 

Chambara (sword fighting) - a subgenre of Jidaigeki (period or Era) - movies were banned for seven years by the Americans after the war. Mifune's first movie with Kurosawa in 1948 was Drunken Angel, then Stray Dog 1949 and, when the ban was lifted, Kurosawa was ready in 1950 with Rashomon. Together, they went on to make 16 (IMDB List) movies together before parting ways after the fiasco with Red Beard

During the time he was making Red Beard, Mifune could not take any other jobs because he was required to grow out an actual beard, and it hit him financially. So, as soon as it was finished, he took any job that came up and Kurosawa took this as defection. He stated he would never cast someone who was in a show like Shogun (1980) and cast a different lead when he was suggested for Ran.

Kurosawa presented Mifune with the Kawashita Award which he had won two years before. They finally made a move towards reconciliation in 1993 at the funeral of their friend Ishiro Honda. After making eye contact, they tearfully embraced one another, ending nearly three decades of mutual avoidance.  

Tora! Tora! Tora! and the beginning of the Kurosawa blue period.

Language barriers caused most of the issues that created this huge fiasco between Kurosawa Productions and 20th Century Fox. The Middle man, Tetsuro Aoyagi, negotiated everything and approved all the contracts. Kurosawa trusted him and he delivered the wrong information to both sides. Kurosawa believing he played a bigger role in the production of the movie than he actually did.  Clashes over the script started almost day one.

In 2002, Tasogawa visited the 89-year-old Elmo Williams in Oregon. Williams, then retired, acknowledged that he had made a mistake in choosing Kurosawa, although the choice seemed excellent at the time because the senior American executives and Williams respected Kurosawa as a fellow movie maker. Williams liked Kurosawa as a sensitive man but felt that Kurosawa never opened his heart to him. He understood that Kurosawa’s explosive temper, which poisoned the working environment, reflected his acute anxiety and the pressure he felt to produce a great movie. Kurosawa once said “Tora! Tora! Tora!” would be a record of neither victory nor defeat but a record of mutual misunderstanding and miscalculation and the waste of excellent human capabilities and energy. Tasogawa’s account of the production of this movie is exactly that. - Japansociety UK


After this Kurosawa had trouble securing funding for his films, while he had released a few more films they did not reach the same success his previous works had done. A fan of his work would come to his rescue, George Lucas. Star Wars had borrowed elements from The Hidden Fortress and was a major success. Lucas used the sequel as leverage to get funding for Kurosawa's Kagemusha. After much hardships and a delayed-release date, this would mark Kurosawa's come back more than double the amount of money spent to produce it.

His next work was Ran, which did mediocre domestically but was a success abroad in Europe and America. His next project was Dreams. He wrote the script entirely himself and was based on his own dreams. His son, Hisao, who had helped with his last previous movies was in principal production, and his daughter, Kazuko worked in wardrobe. He still was having trouble getting funding from Japanese companies for this project so he once again turned to international investors and reached Steven Spielberg who saw value in the project.

Kurosawa's honorary Academy Award
Kurosawa, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg at the 1990 Academy Awards

Madadayo was his last directed film because in 1995 he slipped t home and injured his spine. This injury caused him to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his days. In 1998, after many years of his body slowly failing, he passed away of a stroke.

Awards

The original chart is taken from Wikipedia and modified

Year of Award or Honor
(if known)
Name of Award or HonorAwarding Organization
(if known)
Country of
Origin
Given for…Film Title
(if applicable)
1943Sadao Yamanaka Prize(NK)JapanFilm
The National Incentive Film Prize
[Shared with Torii Kyouemon]
(NK)JapanFilm
1948Mainichi Film ConcoursMainichi Shimbun
(newspaper)
JapanDirectingOne Wonderful Sunday 
(1947)
1949Kinema Jumpo Award
(Critics' Award)
Kinema Jumpo magazineJapanFilmDrunken Angel (1948)

Mainichi Film ConcoursMainichi ShimbunJapanFilm
(NK)Geijutsusai (Arts Festival)
Grand Prize
Ministry of EducationJapanFilmStray Dog (1949)
1951Blue Ribbon AwardThe Association of Tokyo
Film Journalists
JapanScreenplay (with
Shinobu Hashimoto)
Rashomon (1950)
Golden Lion
(First prize)
Venice Film FestivalItalyFilm
NBR AwardNational Board of ReviewUSAFilm,
Directing
1952Honorary Award - Outstanding
Foreign Language Film
AMPAS
(Academy Award)
USAFilm
1953Kinema Jumpo AwardKinema Jumpo magazineJapanFilmIkiru (1952)
Mainichi Film ConcoursMainichi ShimbunJapanFilm,
Screenplay (with
Shinobu Hashimoto
and Hideo Oguni)
(NK)Arts FestivalMinistry of EducationJapanFilm
1954Special Prize of the
Senate of Berlin
Berlin Film FestivalGermanyFilm
1954Silver Lion of St. Mark
(Second Prize)
Venice Film FestivalItalyFilmSeven Samurai (1954)
1959Diploma of MeritJussi AwardFinlandDirecting
Blue Ribbon AwardThe Association of Tokyo
Film Journalists
JapanFilmThe Hidden Fortress (1958)
Silver Berlin BearBerlin Film FestivalGermanyDirecting
FIPRESCI PrizeThe International Federation
of Film Critics
(Berlin Film Festival)
GermanyFilm
1961Golden Laurel AwardDavid O. SelznickUSAFilmIkiru (1952)
1964Mainichi Film ConcoursMainichi ShimbunJapanFilm,
Screenplay (with
Ryuzo Kikushima,
Eijiro Hisaita
and Hideo Oguni)
High and Low (1963)
Golden Laurel AwardDavid O. SelznickUSAFilm
1965Asahi Culture PrizeAsahi ShimbunJapanFilmRed Beard (1965)
Foreign Honorary MemberAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesUSACareer
Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication ArtsRamon Magsaysay AwardPhilippinesCareer
OCIC AwardOCIC (later Signis)
(Venice Film Festival)
ItalyDirectingRed Beard (1965)
(NK)Soviet Filmmakers'
Association Prize[4]
Moscow Film FestivalUSSRFilm
(NK)Million Pearl AwardTokyo RoeiJapanFilm
(NK)NHK AwardNHK (broadcaster)JapanFilm
1966Blue Ribbon AwardThe Association of Tokyo
Film Journalists
JapanFilm
Mainichi Film ConcoursMainichi ShimbunJapanFilm
Kinema Jumpo AwardKinema Jumpo magazineJapanFilm
Directing
(NK)Geijutsusai (Arts Festival)
Prize for Excellence
Ministry of EducationJapanFilmDodesukaden
(aka, Dodeskaden) (1970)
1975Golden Prize9th Moscow International Film FestivalUSSRFilmDersu Uzala (1975)
FIPRESCI PrizeThe International Federation
of Film Critics
(Moscow Film Festival)
USSRFilmDersu Uzala (1975)
1976Best Foreign Language FilmAMPAS
(Academy Awards)
USAFilm
1977DavidDavid di Donatello AwardsItalyDirecting
Silver RibbonItalian National Syndicate
of Film Journalists
ItalyFilm
1978Prix Léon MoussinacSyndicate of French
Film Critics
FranceFilm
Golden HaloSouthern California Motion
Picture Council
USAFilm
1979Honorary Prize11th Moscow International Film FestivalUSSRCareer-
1980Palme d'Or
(First Prize)
Cannes Film FestivalFranceFilmKagemusha (1980)
Hochi Film AwardHochi Shimbun
(newspaper)
JapanFilm
1981Blue Ribbon AwardThe Association of Tokyo
Film Journalists
JapanFilm
Mainichi Film ConcoursMainichi ShimbunJapanFilm,
Directing
Reader's Choice AwardMainichi ShimbunJapanFilm
CésarCésar AwardsFranceFilm
DavidDavid di Donatello AwardsItalyDirecting
BAFTA Film AwardBAFTAUKDirecting
Silver RibbonItalian National Syndicate
of Film Journalists
ItalyDirecting
1982Career Golden LionVenice Film FestivalItalyCareer-
1985LAFCA AwardLos Angeles Film
Critics Association
USAFilm,
Career
Ran (1985)
NBR AwardNational Board of ReviewUSAFilm,
Directing
OCIC AwardOCIC (later Signis)
(San Sebastián Film Festival)
SpainFilm
BSFC AwardBoston Society of Film CriticsUSAFilm
NYFCC AwardNew York Film Critics CircleUSAFilm
1986NSFC AwardNational Society of Film CriticsUSAFilm
Amanda AwardNorwegian International Film FestivalNorwayFilm
Blue Ribbon AwardThe Association of Tokyo
Film Journalists
JapanFilm
BodilBodil AwardsDenmarkFilm
DavidDavid di Donatello AwardsItalyFilm
Mainichi Film ConcoursMainichi ShimbunJapanFilm,
Directing
Golden Jubilee AwardDirectors Guild of AmericaUSACareer-
Akira Kurosawa AwardSan Francisco International
Film Festival
USACareer-
1987BAFTA Film AwardBAFTAUKFilmRan (1985)
ALFS AwardLondon Film Critics' CircleUKFilm,
Directing
1989Lifetime Achievement AwardAMPAS
(Academy Awards)
USACareer
1990Special PrizeFukuoka Asian Culture PrizeJapanCareer
1992theatre/filmPraemium ImperialeJapanCareer
1992Lifetime Achievement AwardDirectors Guild of AmericaUSACareer
1994Kyoto Prize in Arts and PhilosophyInamori FoundationJapanCareer
1998Special Award
(for his work) (P)
Nikkan Sports Film AwardJapanCareer-
1999Lifetime Achievement Award (P)Awards of the Japanese AcademyJapanCareer-
1999Blue Ribbon Award
Special Award
(for his work) (P)
The Association of Tokyo
Film Journalists
JapanCareer-
1999Mainichi Film Concours
Special Award
(for his work) (P)
Mainichi ShimbunJapanCareer-
1999Asian of the Century Award
(Arts, Literature and Culture) (P)
CNN
AsianWeek (US
)
USACareer-
2013Jean Renoir Award U.S. Writer's Association AwardUSA


This hugely influential director left his mark on the history of filmmaking forever. His ideas and styles are still visible in today's movies, his stories are remade over and over again. I do not think this article does justice to his life so please be sure to check out my sources, some of which go into much more detail than I could go here.

Have you watched a Kurosawa film?

Which is your favorite?

What do you recommend?

Let me know in the comments.



Sources: Eng Wiki ~ IMDB ~ RottenTomatoes ~ Britannica ~ NYTimes ~ Biography ~ Wikiquote ~ Japanese Wikipedia ~ Eiga.com ~ Nicovideo
Akirakurosawa.info


Edited by: BrightestStar (1st editor), YW (2nd editor)

kurosawa akira yamamoto kajiro