Nippon tanjô (1959)

The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor Keikoh's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers Ouso's ... See full summary »

Director:

Hiroshi Inagaki

Writers:

Ryûzô Kikushima, Toshio Yasumi

Stars:

Toshirô Mifune, Yôko Tsukasa, Akihiko Hirata

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Toshirô Mifune	...	Prince Yamato Takeru
Yôko Tsukasa	...	Princess Oto Tachibana
Akihiko Hirata	...	Kibino Takehiko
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Princess Miyazu
Takashi Shimura	...	Elder Kumaso
Setsuko Hara	...	Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess
Kumi Mizuno	...	Azami
Misa Uehara	...	Princess Kushinada
Kinuyo Tanaka	...	Princess Yamato
Akira Kubo	...	Prince Iogi
Akira Takarada	...	Prince Wakatarashi
Ganjirô Nakamura	...	Emperor
Eijirô Tôno	...	Ootomo
Jun Tazaki	...	Ootomo's Kurohiko
Ken'ichi Enomoto	...	God of Yaoyorozu

Storyline

The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor Keikoh's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers Ouso's stepbrother Waka, and conspires to have Ouso die on a dangerous mission he has contrived. But Ouso prevails in the mission and returns to his father's castle under a new name, Prince Yamato Takeru. Otomo plots to have the Prince sent into even greater danger, but Otomo is unaware that the gods have favored the Prince and the outcome is far from what any of them expected.

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Plot Keywords:

japan | man crying | monster | saké | party | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

20 December 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Age of the Gods

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

182 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Rudora no hihou (1996)

User Reviews

An epic three-hour long film about the birth of Japan.

The Japanese equivalent of 1956's The Ten Comandments. A lot of this features nomads wondering around in a desert on camels. Then there's Toshiro Mifune, who slays a hydra-esque dragon at the end. As usual, Toshiro Mifune is great. This is a great movie, with an excellent Ifukube score and Tsuburaya special effects but this is just too darn long and slow paced, it's really a chore to sit through. I still recommend it though.