Miyamoto Musashi (1954)

Depicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.

Director:

Hiroshi Inagaki

Writers:

Hideji Hôjô (play), Hiroshi Inagaki

Stars:

Toshirô Mifune, Mariko Okada, Rentarô Mikuni

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Toshirô Mifune	...	Musashi Miyamoto (Takezo)
Rentarô Mikuni	...	Honiden Matahachi
Kurôemon 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
Fumindo Matsuo	...	Petty Official
Masanobu Ôkubo	...	Petty Official
Takuzô Kumagai	...	Villager

Storyline

Depicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.

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Plot Keywords:

japanese history | fiance | village | glory seeker | glory | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

18 November 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Musashi Miyamoto

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film depicts the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, which marked the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate and a new age of peace and prosperity for Japan. The Tokogawa clan would be the final Shogunate to rule Japan, during the Edo period for 265 years from 1603 to 1868. While Japan had an Emporer at the time, the Shoguns were the real rulers of the country for almost 700 years.

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Quotes

Otsu: Takezo-san, both of us are lonely.

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Connections

Followed by Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)

User Reviews

a good start to an excellent trilogy

Toshiro Mifune stars as a foolish young man who longs to run off to war to make his fortune and prove he is a man. When a battle looms, he runs off to volunteer and his friend, showing some initial reluctance, follows. Instead of glory, they barely escape with their lives. Their paths leads them to two women--an incredibly evil sociopathic mother and her daughter who is not yet as jaded and selfish as the mother. Mifune resists temptation and runs from them, while his friend succumbs to their pleas to stay--and in essence throws away his life and honor. Where Mifune's path takes him I'll leave for you to discover when you watch the film.

Despite having Mifune in the lead, this is NOT an Akira Kurasawa film and some may be disappointed that it is a little more stodgy than one of his films. Instead, I just see it as different but certainly worthwhile. The movie does have tremendous scope and is a very effective opening film to the Samurai Trilogy.

It is important to note that these movies were made nearly 50 years ago and existing copies on DVD are in poor condition--with fading and sepia tones instead of the vibrant original. This became VERY apparent when I saw the beginning of the 3rd film. The color was nearly perfect for the initial scene and that is great, as it's a beautiful and extremely artistic shot. At times throughout the movie, some of the scenes are once again vivid while others are faded and lose their impact. You can't blame the film for that, but you wish Criterion would try to digitally enhance the prints they've got to improve the colors and get rid of some scratchy cels.