Japan Release: 1962
Running Time: 96 minutes

Sanjuro

Japanese Title

椿三十郎
[Tsubaki Sanjuro]

Distributor: Production:

Toho
Toho / Kurosawa Productions

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Live Action

Box Office - Stock Footage - DVDs - CDs - Pictures - Background - Concept Art - Cut Scenes - Reviews

Titles

International Title

Sanjuro

Initial US Title

Sanjuro
US Distributor: Toho (1963) / Time: 96 Minutes

Alternate Titles

Tsubaki Sanjuro
[Literal translation]

Staff

Cast

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Writing credits Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Shugoro Yamamoto
Produced by Ryuzo Kikushima, Tomoyuki Tanaka
Music by Masaru Sato
Cinematography by Fukuzo Koizumi, Takao Saito
Film Editing by Akira Kurosawa
Production Design by Yoshiro Muraki

Sanjuro Tsubaki Toshiro Mifune
Hanbei Muroto Tatsuya Nakadai
Spy Keiju Kobayashi
Iori Izaka Yuzo Kayama
Chidori, Mutsuta's Daughter Reiko Dan
Kurofuji Takashi Shimura
Takebayashi Kamatari Fujiwara
Mutsuta's Wife Takako Irie
Kikui Masao Shimizu
Mutsuta, Chamberlain Yunosuke Ito
Samurai Akihiko Hirata, Akira Kubo, Kenzo Matsui, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kunie Tanaka, Tatsuyoshi Ehara, Tatsuhiko Hari

Posters

Japan

DVDs and Blu-rays

	Region 1 Sanjuro Criterion (1999)
	Region 1 Sanjuro Criterion (2007)
	Region 2 Tsubaki Sanjuro Toho (2003)
	Region 4 Sanjuro Madman (2004)
	Blu-Ray Tsubaki Sanjuro Toho (2009)

Background and Trivia

Toho submitted the film to the US copyright office on March 21st, 1988 with the registration number PA0000365779 and with the international title Sanjuro and also the Japanese title as "Tsubaki Sanjuro".
A sequel to Yojimbo (1961).
After being silently observed at the Toho Salon, an on studio coffee shop, director Akira Kurosawa and cameraman Asakazu Nakai approached actor Kenji Sahara with the offer to have him play one of the samurai in the Yojimbo (1961) follow up. Flattered that he had been offered the role with no audition, Sahara had to sadly decline due to a conflicting schedule. Noted in Age of the Gods (self-published).
Actor Akira Kubo had a much different experience with Akira Kurosawa on this production versus earlier work. While he found Kurosawa to be very controlling when working on Throne of Blood (1957), he found the director to instead be "very warm and friendly" while working with him on Sanjuro. Mentioned in Age of the Gods (self-published).
Sanjuro required one month of rehearsals, for which director Akira Kurosawa insisted all actors be fully clothed in their costumes for the duration of this. Noted in Age of the Gods (self-published).
Actor Yoshio Tsuchiya recalls being tied up with Yuzo Kayama and Kunie Tanaka for a very long amount of time while they were waiting for the lighting to be fixed. As the setup dragged on, a hungry Tsuchiya eventually snapped and stated he couldn't be made to stand around all day "without some noodles or something!". Director Akira Kurosawa quickly had one of his assistant directors run off and get three bowls. Actor Toshiro Mifune silently observed the incident, and the next day chastised Kurosawa for their mistreatment. Cited in Age of the Gods (self-published).
Was remade 45 years later as Tsubaki Sanjuro (2007).

Reviews
Miles Imhoff January 16, 2006

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