Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954/I) Miyamoto Musashi (original title)

Director:

Hiroshi Inagaki

Writers:

Hideji Hôjô (play)
Hiroshi Inagaki
(more)

Release Date:

18 November 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

With his closest friend, Matahachi, Takezo (the town's wild, orphan kid) leaves his village to join an army on its way to battle...

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Samurai Warrior | Katana | Jidai Geki | Warrior

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Musashi Miyamoto (Takezo)
Rentarô Mikuni	...	Honiden Matahachi
Kuroemon Onoe	...	Takuan Osho
Kaoru Yachigusa	...	Otsu
Mariko Okada	...	Akemi
Mitsuko Mito	...	Oko, Matahachi's wife
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Osugi, Matahachi's mother
Akihiko Hirata	...	Seijuro Yoshioka
Kusuo Abe	...	Temma Tsujikaze
Eitarô Ozawa	...	Terumasa Ikeda (as Sakae Ozawa)
Akira Tani	...	Kawarano-Gonroku
Seijirô Onda	...	Chief Official
Fumito Matsuo	...	Petty Official
Masanobu Ôkubo	...	Petty Official
Takuzô Kumagai	...	Villager
Akira Sera	...	Villager
Yasuhisa Tsutsumi	...	Villager
Yutaka Sada	...	Soldier
Shigeo Katô	...	Soldier
Jun'ichirô Mukai	...	Soldier
Kiyoshi Kamoda	...	Roving Warrior
Michio Sakurai	...	Roving Warrior
Kyorô Sakurai	...	Roving Warrior
Masao Masuda	...	Woodcutter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Daisuke Katô
Kanta Kisaragi
Yoshio Kosugi
Kamiyama Sôjin		(as Sôjin)
William Holden	...	Narrator in original US version (uncredited)

Directed by
Hiroshi Inagaki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hideji Hôjô		play
Hiroshi Inagaki
Tokuhei Wakao
Eiji Yoshikawa		novel

Produced by
Robert B. Homel	....	producer (US version)
Kazuo Takimura	....	producer

Original Music by
Ikuma Dan

Cinematography by
Jun Yasumoto

Film Editing by
Robert B. Homel		(original US version)
Eiji Ooi		(as Hideshi Ohi)

Art Direction by
Makoto Sono

Production Management
Hidehisa Kuda	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jun Fukuda	....	chief assistant director

Art Department
Kisaku Ito	....	consultant

Sound Department
Chôshichirô Mikami	....	sound

Special Effects by
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Shôji Kameyama	....	lighting technician
Shigeru Mori	....	lighting technician

Other crew
Minoru Sakamoto	....	assistant: Robert Homel (US version)
Minoru Sakamoto	....	translator: English (US version)

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1954) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Fine Arts Films (I) (1955) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (2004) (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Alive (1993) (France) (theatrical)
• Homel Pictures Inc. (????) (USA) (theatrical) (US version)
• International Toho Co. Ltd. (????) (USA) (theatrical) (US version)

Special Effects

• Toho Technical Division

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Miyamoto Musashi" - Japan (original title)
"Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto" - , USA (DVD title)
"Musashi Miyamoto" - USA (video title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Not Rated

Company:

Toho Company

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007) (TV)

A milestone in Japanese postwar social development.

The importance of the Miyamo Musashi saga has been lost somewhat today, even in Japan. These were not just early high-quality color samurai movies, not just great films-- they were a nationwide event, and a milestone in Japanese social evolution. The early 50s were a time of postwar healing, and there were unsettled questions about the national character. The Miyamo Musashi saga used the past to dramatize issues of morality-- and, even more important at the time, morale. Japan had no problem westernizing and living under the rule of law under terms imposed by victors in war-- the knotty issue was, how much of the past do we keep alive in our daily thoughts and actions, and just how much of the real Japan, the one we remember, will our children and grandchildren inherit, once the aftermath of global war has subsided? Watch these films with such then-important issues in mind, and your experience will be deepened and enriched. All three episodes are directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and star Toshiro Mifune as Miyamoto-san, in a performance that is perfection. Miyamoto Musashi shows the young samurai aspirant as a hot-headed, imperfect man, neither hero nor monster-- but possessed of a fierce dark force that could impel him toward either outcome. The question of women looms large in this trilogy-- how to treat them, what kind of woman to honor and what kind to avoid, and just how the diametrically-opposite traits of women work in the world, whether at odds or in harmony with those of men. All these issues are played out without preachiness, in the actions of real people, well-drawn characters whom we meet and get to know before the episode ends in a series of parting of ways. (continued on the page for Ichijoji no Ketto)