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“Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple,” much like the first entry of “The Samurai Trilogy,” was a financial and critical success. A lot transpired storywise, and the ending teased for a great follow-up. It was time for Hiroshi Inagaki to wrap things up for Musashi Miyamoto. More stakes are to be raised, and loose ends are to be tied. Upon release, the third and final entry in Inagaki’s rendition of the famous swordsman would perform well like the previous two. Musashi would now face off against his greatest opponent, Sasaki Kojiro, in the enjoyable finale “Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island.”

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Following his newfound wisdom and immense regret for his failed awkward romantic advances on Otsu, Musashi Miyamoto retires his sword and pursues the life of a reserved commoner. He has taken in a younger apprentice and grown a liking for woodcutting. However, the...

Hiroshi Inagaki’s “Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto” was a critical and box office success. It was time to continue the narrative in the second entry of “The Samurai Trilogy.” Inagaki would raise more stakes, and much of Musashi’s history would be covered, albeit in a more theatrically romanticized way. Also, a major player in the narrative would be introduced, one that would participate in a significant event in the life of Musashi Miyamoto. So much content would be covered in the entertaining follow-up “Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple.”

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A majority of the cast from the previous returned, but some were recast here. Rentaro Mikuni was replaced in the part of Matahachi Honiden by Sachio Sakai. This change was likely due to Mikuni’s demanding schedule as he became more and more of a popular star in Japan. The renowned talent would work with...

The famous swordsman Musashi Miyamoto has been depicted in entertainment countless times with various interpretations. Some depictions of him are grounded and closer to his known history, while other versions are more romanticized in nature with elements of truth. Eiji Yoshikawa would detail the samurai’s life in his grand novel “Musashi,” which loosely details the life of the skilled warrior but with a fictional spin. Yoshikawa’s version of events would be the template for countless cinematic adaptations. One of the most popular adaptations is “The Samurai Trilogy,” directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, a three-part epic chronicle of the life of Musashi. The trilogy would be off to a terrific start in the first entry, “Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto.”

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As typical with the work of Hiroshi Inagaki, high production values would be on full display and this time in luscious Eastmancolor. With Toho being the production company,...

Japanese actress Kaoru Yachigusa, who appeared opposite Toshiro Mifune in Oscar-winner Samurai, the Legend of Musashi, has died. She was 88.

Yachigusa died of pancreatic cancer Thursday at a hospital in Tokyo, her agency announced Monday.

Born in Osaka, Yachigusa began her career in the all-female Takarazuka Revue theater troupe and made her film debut in 1951. Her big break came in the 1954 film Samurai, The Legend of Musashi, starring Mifune as legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. It was the first of a trilogy by director Hiroshi Inagaki and one of the first color films from the Toho studio. Samurai won the ...

Japanese actress Kaoru Yachigusa, who appeared opposite Toshiro Mifune in Oscar-winner Samurai, the Legend of Musashi, has died. She was 88.

Yachigusa died of pancreatic cancer Thursday at a hospital in Tokyo, her agency announced Monday.

Born in Osaka, Yachigusa began her career in the all-female Takarazuka Revue theater troupe and made her film debut in 1951. Her big break came in the 1954 film Samurai, The Legend of Musashi, starring Mifune as legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. It was the first of a trilogy by director Hiroshi Inagaki and one of the first color films from the Toho studio. Samurai won the ...

Craig Lines Oct 5, 2016

Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai trilogy is a feast best enjoyed in one go. We revisit the groundbreaking films right here...

The 1950s are widely regarded as a golden age of Japanese Cinema. To enormously simplify a complex period in history (so we can get talking about swords and duels and all that badass stuff), a lot changed between the end of WWII in 1945 and the end of the Allied Occupation of Japan in 1952. Censorship was simultaneously lifted and imposed. The Occupation restrained Japan in terms of what it could say in films being produced (for example, anything that 'promoted feudal values' was not allowed), yet at the same time, exposed it to all kinds of western material that had been forbidden in the pre-war years. When the Americans left, the restrictions were lifted but the new influences survived, unleashing a tsunami of innovative, passionate cinema, much of...

Giovannis Island Trailer. Mizuho Nishikubo‘s Giovannis Island / Giovanni no Shima (2014) movie trailer stars Tatsuya Nakadai, Yukie Nakama, Masachika Ichimura, Kaoru Yachigusa, and Yusuke Santamaria. Giovannis Island‘s plot synopsis: “In the aftermath of the most devastating conflict mankind had ever experienced, the tiny island of Shikotan became part of the Sakhalin [...]

Continue reading: Giovanni’S Island (2014) Movie Trailer: The Aftermath of War Animated...

Tori Matsuzaka, winner of the Best New Actor prize from the 85th Kinema Junpo Awards, is set to get his first starring film role in an adaptation of Mizuki Tsujimura’s best-selling novel, Tsunagi.

Last year, the novel helped Tsujimura take home the 32nd Yoshikawa Eiji Award for New Writers. The story is a mixture of fantasy and human drama, depicting a young man’s personal growth through his work helping people connect with lost loved ones as a spirit medium.

Matsuzaka plays Ayumi, a high school student who’s working as an apprentice medium under the tutelage of his grandmother, Aiko (Kirin Kiki), in hopes of taking over for her someday.

Yuichiro Hirakawa worked on the screenplay and will direct. His previous directorial work includes TBS dramas such as Rookies, Jin and Mr. Brain. He was reportedly deeply moved by the original novel.

According to Hirakawa, the Tohoku earthquake...

The official website for Kiyoshi Sasabe’s The Legacy of the Sun (Nichirin no Isan) has been updated with a 50-second teaser trailer.

Based on a 1993 novel by Naoki Award-winner Jiro Sato, the film revolves around a top secret mission to hide Japanese treasures near the conclusion of World War II which would currently be valued at around 200 trillion yen.

Masato Sakai stars as Major Mashiba, an intelligence officer with Japan’s Imperial Guard. Together with First Lieutenant Koizumi (Seiji Fukushi) and Master Sergeant Mochizuki (Shido Nakamura), Mashiba attempts to execute secret orders to hide the treasures from the occupying forces of Douglas MacArthur in the hopes of funding the nation’s reconstruction at some point in the future.

Out of necessity, 20 young schoolgirls are enlisted to help with the mission without being informed of the details. Yusuke Santamaria plays the girls’ teacher and Kaoru Yachigusa plays one of the girls in the present day.

A man on a bicycle finds a discarded white lab coat on the road at night. Then he puts the coat on. Miwa Nishikawa's Dear Doctor makes clear from the get-go what this film is really about. It's not the looks or the credentials that makes one a doctor, it's one's heart.

Adapting from her own novel, Nishikawa, a pupil of Hirokazu Kore-eda (Maboroshi, Nobody Knows), skillfully plays out a story of an imposter. In Kamiwada, a small rural village, the sudden disappearance of their beloved doctor, Dr. Ino (Tsurube Shofukutei), who's been serving them for the last three years, leaves its mostly elderly residents in shock and disbelief. Detectives are soon frustrated with conflicting information given by the villagers with no clear picture of who Ino really is.

The film jumps back and forth between the police investigation in to the disappearance and the happier times with Dr.

Earlier today, it was announced that Nichirin no Isan, a 1993 novel by Naoki Award-winner Jiro Sato (58) will be made into a film starring Masato Sakai (36).

The novel, which has sold over 500,000 copies to date, revolves around a top secret mission to hide Japanese treasures currently valued at a staggering 200 trillion yen near the conclusion of World War II. Sakai will play Major Mashiba, an intelligence officer with Japan’s Imperial Guard. Together with First Lieutenant Koizumi (Seiji Fukushi) and Master Sergeant Mochizuki (Shido Nakamura), Mashiba attempts to execute secret orders to hide these valuable treasures from the occupying forces of Douglas MacArthur in the hopes of funding the nation’s reconstruction at some point in the future.

Out of necessity, 20 young girls are enlisted to help with the mission without being informed of the details. Yusuke Santamaria (39) will play the girls’ teacher and Kaoru Yachigusa (79) will play one of the girls in the present day.

[Our thanks go out to Chris MaGee and Marc Saint-Cyr at the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow for sharing their coverage of the 2010 Nippon Connection Film Festival.]

Osamu Ino (Tsurube Shôfukutei), a small town doctor in rural Japan, has gone missing. Except for a white lab coat found in a nearby field there is no sign of the much loved physician. Police begin to investigate his disappearance, but very quickly they discover that the details of Dr. Ino's life just doesn't add up. First off the locals, mostly senior citizens, people who normally know everyone's business in town, can't agree on what exactly Dr. Ino's background is. Some are certain that his father was a factory owner from Osaka, others say Ino comes from a family of woodworkers in Kyoto. There's also the sense that his colleagues at the local medical clinic, nurse Akemi Otake (Kimiko Yo), young medical intern Keiskue Soma (Eita), as well as phramaceutical rep Saimon (Teruyuki Kagawa), weren't entirely convinced of Dr Ino's skills despite their deep admiration of him. They aren't the...