Akira Kurosawa-Sugata Sanshiro (’Judo Story’) (1943)

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The directorial debut from one of the screen’s greatest ever directors - Akira Kurosawa - this is the tale of the emergence of the fighting art of Judo in old Japan. Set in the late 19th century, the film follows a wayward young man Sugata and his quest for knowledge. After witnessing some Ju-Jitsu bullies beaten by a man with a new fighting style, Sugata yearns to learn the emerging art of Judo. As Sugata aims to beat the Ju-Jitsu masters he also fights a battle with his inner self. Heroic







Sanshiro, a strong stubborn youth, comes to the city to apprentice at a jujitsu school. His first night, he sees Yano in action, a master of judo, a more spiritual art, and he begs to be Yano’s student. As the youth learns technique, he must also learn “satori,” the calm acceptance of Nature’s law. If he can balance strength and control, then judo may become the training regimen for the city’s police, Sanshiro can gain respect from an old teacher in a jujitsu school, and he can win the hand of Sayo, that teacher’s daughter, who is also sought by jujitsu’s finest master, the implacable Higaki, who vows to kill Sanshiro in a midnight fight on a windswept mountainside. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0036400/plotsummary)







This film, Sanshiro Sugata (sometimes called Judo Saga in the West), is the first film where he’s credited as director, and you can clearly see the beginnings of the precision, style and eye for composition that made him so celebrated a director later on. Heroic







The story’s a very simple, almost minimalist one. It’s 1882, in Japan. Sanshiro Sugata (Susumu Fujita) is a young man seeking training in the martial arts — he’s big, but wide-eyed and untrained. He seeks out some jujitsu masters, only to be swept along as they go to challenge an upstart who’s threatening their appointment as police trainers. This upstart, Shogoro Yano (Denjiro Okochi), is a master of the new art of judo, which is looked upon with derision (and a touch of fear) by the established jujitsu schools. Sanshiro looks on in wonder as Yano rather effortlessly throws each of the jujitsu masters into a river, and at once decides to become Yano’s pupil and learn judo. Heroic







Sanshiro Sugata is a very old film — it was shot in 1943, during the war, and as such has been unfortunately cut by the Japanese censors of the time.Though it’s not the masterpiece some of Kurosawa’s later works were, it’s got some standout scenes: in particular, the climactic battle with Higaki, filmed on the Sengokuhara plain during an enormous windstorm. Clouds race across the sky and the long grass is bent almost double as the two men face each other. Higata’s a lovely character, all quiet venom and dressed to the nines in Western clothing. A suitably corrupt villain for the Japanese wartime censors, no doubt. Takashi Shimura (who would become the actor who most frequently worked with Kurosawa in major roles) is also in there and very good as the older jujitsu master who befriends Sanshiro even as he’s beaten by him in a match. Heroic