• 続・宮本武蔵 一乘寺の決斗 (Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple)

1/30/25 (Thurs)

The second film (1955) in Inagaki’s Musashi trilogy. Continue reading →

• 宮本武蔵 (Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto)

1/26/25 (Sun), home

Inagaki Hiroshi’s 1954 remake of his now-lost wartime epic about the legendary swordsman, adapted from Eiji Yoshikawa’s popular 1930s novel. The novel is a highly romanticized look at the elusive Miyamoto’s life, where the known facts are thin on the ground, and has done much to establish his swashbuckling image. The film is the first in a trilogy, as made clear in the English title. It proved a huge hit both at home and abroad. It was honored by Hollywood at the Academy Awards as the year’s best foreign-language film. I don’t think it was even the best Japanese-language film that year (its competition included The Seven Samurai, Sansho the Bailiff, Chikamatsu Story, Late Chrysanthemums, and Blue Ribbon and Kinejun winner Twenty-Four Eyes), but no arguing with success.

Continue reading →