Throne of Blood (1957)
"Kumonosu-jô" (original title)

A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Hideo Oguni (screenplay), Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay),

Stars:

Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Toshirô Mifune	...	Taketoki Washizu
Isuzu Yamada	...	Lady Asaji Washizu
Takashi Shimura	...	Noriyasu Odagura
Akira Kubo	...	Yoshiteru Miki
Hiroshi Tachikawa	...	Kunimaru Tsuzuki (as Yôichi Tachikawa)
Minoru Chiaki	...	Yoshiaki Miki
Takamaru Sasaki	...	Kuniharu Tsuzuki
Gen Shimizu
Kokuten Kôdô	...	Military Commander
Kichijirô Ueda	...	Washizu's workman
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Old Woman at castle
Chieko Naniwa	...	Old Ghost Woman
Nakajirô Tomita	...	Second Military Commander
Yû Fujiki	...	Washizu samurai
Sachio Sakai	...	Washizu samurai

Storyline

A transposition of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' to medieval Japan. After a great military victory, Lords Washizu and Miki are lost in the dense Cobweb Forest, where they meet a mysterious old woman who predicts great things for Washizu and even greater things for Miki's descendants. Once out of the forest, Washizu and Miki are immediately promoted by the Emperor. Washizu, encouraged by his ambitious wife, plots to make even more of the prophecy come true, even if it means killing the Emperor...

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Plot Keywords:

forest | castle | prophecy | traitor | battle | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

22 November 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

Throne of Blood

Filming Locations:

Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, Kurosawa Production Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording) Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The famous arrow scene near the end was in fact done with real arrows. That is, the arrows hitting the wooden planks were not done with special effects, but rather choreographed with archers. Mifune waves his arms to brush away the arrows sticking from the planks, indicating to them that he wanted to go in that particular direction. The real arrows were included to get Mifune's facial expressions of real-life fear, which is exceptionally hard to imitate. Of course, the arrows that hit the Mifune character were bamboo fakes.

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Goofs

When the witch runs in the forest she can briefly be seen wearing sneakers.

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Quotes

Old Ghost Woman: [singing] ambition is false fame and will fall, death will reign, man falls in vain

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Connections

Spoofed in Firebird: Daybreak Chapter (1978)

User Reviews

more should watch this

As much as I praise Mifune, it may well be Yamada who stands out in Kurosawa's version of Macbeth. Her Lady Macbeth is one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen, a forerunner to Sadako. Dressed in Noh make-up, slow moving like the world's most effective predator, unblinking, she is, without a doubt, the true lady Macbeth. She turns Mifune towards murder, and, although she is seen going mad at the end, we do not see her die. The tragedy of the tale is heightened by the fact that we are told at the start what will happen. Every shot Kurosawa composes is memorable. The arrow through the neck, the thread spinning witch in the forest, Mifune turning his back on his master, all are haunting and unforgettable. This film cannot be praised enough, and although it is not a horror movie, it puts all modern horror movies to shame with its deadly atmosphere. Great Quotes: Asaji. ‘Every samurai longs to be the master of a castle'. 10 out of ten.