Samurai Banners (1969)
"Fûrin kazan" (original title)

Feudal Japan, 1543 to 1562. Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces ... See full summary »

Director:

Hiroshi Inagaki

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto, Yasushi Inoue (novel),

Stars:

Toshirô Mifune, Yoshiko Sakuma, Kinnosuke Nakamura

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Toshirô Mifune	...	Kansuke Yamamoto
Yoshiko Sakuma	...	Princess Yufu
Kinnosuke Nakamura	...	Shingen Takeda
Yûjirô Ishihara	...	Kenshin Uesugi
Katsuo Nakamura	...	Nobusato Itagaki
Kanzaburô Nakamura	...	Katsuyori Takeda (as Kankurô Nakamura)
Kan'emon Nakamura	...	Nobukato Itagaki
Masakazu Tamura	...	Nobushige Takeda
Mayumi Ohzora	...	Princess Okoto
Ken Ogata
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takashi Shimura

Storyline

Feudal Japan, 1543 to 1562. Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces Takeda to kill the lord of neighboring Suwa and take his wife as a concubine. He then convinces the widow, Princess Yu, to accept this arrangement and to bear Takeda a son. He pledges them his life. He then spends years using treachery, poetic sensibility, military and political strategy to expand Takeda's realm, advance the claim of Yu's son as the heir, and prepare for an ultimate battle with the forces of Echigo. Has Kansuke overreached? Are his dreams, blinded by love, too big?

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Plot Keywords:

samurai | japan | 1560s | warrior | 16th century | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

24 June 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Samurai Banners

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mifune Productions Co. Ltd., Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

165 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Cool sengoku jidai movie

Lots of attention to historical detail, like the horned kabuto worn by Yamamoto Kansuke. Climactic battle (4th Kawanakajima)between the Takeda and Uesugi well worth seeing. Story told from the viewpoints of Kansuke and his overlord, Takeda Shingen. I liked this a lot more than the 1990 "Heaven and Hell," which retold the story of the rivalry between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, but from Kenshin's viewpoint. For example, the later movie seemed less accurate and more artsy (each side's soldiers all wore the same standard-color sashimono)in its depiction of the same battle.