Hiroshi Inagaki

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Yagyu bugeicho AKA Yagyu Secret Scrolls, Part I (1957)

    1951-1960ActionAdventureHiroshi InagakiJapan

    Quote:
    In the Tokugawa Era, the clan of Lord Yagyu has hidden away three scrolls containing clan secrets which, if revealed, would cause revolution and disaster for the clan. The information is divided among the three scrolls, all of which must be possessed for the secrets to be understood. When Princess Yuhime steals the scrolls, Tasaburo, a samurai with magical powers, and his brother Senshiro are sent to retrieve them.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Chûshingura AKA The 47 Ronin (1962)

    1961-1970AsianClassicsHiroshi InagakiJapan

    The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master’s honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Muhomatsu no issho AKA The Rickshaw Man (1958)

    Hiroshi Inagaki1951-1960ClassicsDramaJapan

    In the turn of the Twentieth Century, the rickshaw driver Matsugoro “Matsu” is a happy man and a troublemaker well-known by everyone in his village. One day, Matsu sees an injured boy, Toshio, and brings him home. His mother Yoshiko Yoshioka asks Matsuo to take the boy to the doctor and then her husband Capt. Kotaro Yoshioka asks her to reward Matsu. However the rickshaw man refuses the money and becomes a friend of the family. When Kotaro unexpectedly dies, Matsuo helps Yoshiko to raise her son. Soon he falls in love with her, but he does not dare to open his heart to Yoshiko since they belong to different social classes.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Muhomatsu no issho AKA The Life of Matsu the Untamed (1943)

    Hiroshi Inagaki1941-1950ClassicsDramaJapan

    Matsugoro is a poor rickshaw driver whose animated spirit and optimistic demeanor make him a favorite of the town. Matsu helps an injured boy, Toshio, and is hired by the boy’s parents, Kotaro and Yoshioko, to transport the boy to and from doctor appointments. Matsu comes to love the boy and his parents. When Toshio’s father dies, Matsu becomes a surrogate father, helping to raise the boy and secretly falling in love with Toshio’s mother Yoshioko. But Matsu knows there is a great gulf between their classes and there seems no hope that Matsu can ever be more than the rickshaw man to the mother and son.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Hiken AKA The Secret Sword (1963)

    1961-1970ActionDramaHiroshi InagakiJapan

    Set in the 17th century when all forms of swordplay were banned, Hiken (Young Swordsman) stars Shogoro Ichikawa as Tenzen – a young swordsman who believes the ban is unfair. By contrast, his brother Chojuro (Hiroyuki Nagato) is a conformist, and keeps his opinions about the law to himself.

    When Tenzen becomes possessed by his own evil sword style and is later banished, it falls to Chojuro to restore the family’s lost honor, and to challenge Tenzen to a death-duel!Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô AKA Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)

    1951-1960ActionHiroshi InagakiJapanMartial Arts

    Synopsis:
    Hiroshi Inagaki’s acclaimed Samurai Trilogy is based on the novel that has been called Japan’s Gone with the Wind. This sweeping saga of the legendary seventeenth-century samurai Musashi Miyamoto (powerfully portrayed by Toshiro Mifune) plays out against the turmoil of a devastating civil war. The Trilogy (whose first part won an Academy Award) follows Musashi’s odyssey from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. In the second and most violent installment, Duel at Ichijoji Temple, Musashi beats a samurai armed with a chain and sickle and is later set upon by eighty samurai disciples—orchestrated by the sinister Kojiro—while the two women who love him watch helplessly.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Miyamoto Musashi kanketsuhen: kettô Ganryûjima AKA Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)

    Hiroshi Inagaki1951-1960ActionJapanMartial Arts

    Synopsis:
    Hiroshi Inagaki’s acclaimed Samurai Trilogy is based on the novel that has been called Japan’s Gone with the Wind. This sweeping saga of the legendary seventeenth-century samurai Musashi Miyamoto (powerfully portrayed by Toshiro Mifune) plays out against the turmoil of a devastating civil war. The Trilogy (whose first part won an Academy Award) follows Musashi’s odyssey from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. In the third installment, Duel at Ganryu Island, Musashi reunites tragically with the women who love him, and battles for samurai supremacy in a climactic confrontation with his lifelong nemesis.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Sengoku burai AKA Sword For Hire (1952)

    1951-1960ActionAsianHiroshi InagakiJapan

    Synopsis:
    Set in the civil wars of the 1570s, the film follows three samurai, Hayate, Jurata, and Yakeiji after the fall of their castle. Jurata escapes by pretending to be Hayate and escorting Hayate’s love Kano to safety, while the other two survive the fighting despite their wounds. Yakeiji becomes the leader of a bandit group while Hayate is saved by Oryo, the daughter of the leader of a different set of bandits. Jurata falls in love with Kano, but she leaves him to search for Hayate, just missing him several times, and Oryo also falls in love with Hayate and tries to track him down after she believes he killed her father. Numerous changes of sides, adventures, and confrontations follow for all.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Muhomatsu no issho AKA The Life of Matsu the Untamed (1943)

    1941-1950AsianDramaHiroshi InagakiJapan

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    This simple human-interest/love story belies the cinematic triumph of its creation. Although shown in 1981 at Japan House in New York, the film dates from 1943 and so was obviously first released in Japan during WWII. Its director, Hiroshi Inagaki remade the same story in 1958 with Toshiro Mifune in the starring role. In both versions of the story, somewhat less sentimental in the first try, the setting is the early 20th c. An unlettered but inwardly noble rickshaw man (Tsumasaburo Bando) has his heart-strings pulled by a little boy whose father, Captain Yoshioka, has been killed in the line of duty. As Muhomatsu (the rickshaw man) gradually assumes the role of surrogate father to the child, he begins to fall in love with the mother (Keiko Sonoi). The mother, however, is far above the illiterate Muhomatsu and their disparate social status offers no encouragement for the realization of his deepest feelings.Read More »

Back to top button