List of creative works by Akira Kurosawa

The following is a list of works, both in film and other media, for which the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa made some documented creative contribution. This includes a complete list of films with which he was involved (including the films on which he worked as assistant director before becoming a full director), as well as his little-known contributions to theater, television and literature.

Filmography

As director

Year Title Japanese Romanization
1943 Sanshiro Sugata (Judo Saga) 姿三四郎 Sugata Sanshirō
1944 The Most Beautiful 一番美しく Ichiban utsukushiku
1945 Sanshiro Sugata Part II (Judo Saga 2) 續姿三四郎 Zoku Sugata Sanshirō
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail 虎の尾を踏む男達 Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi
1946 No Regrets for Our Youth わが青春に悔なし Waga seishun ni kuinashi
1947 One Wonderful Sunday 素晴らしき日曜日 Subarashiki nichiyōbi
1948 Drunken Angel 酔いどれ天使 Yoidore tenshi
1949 The Quiet Duel 静かなる決闘 Shizukanaru kettō
Stray Dog 野良犬 Nora inu
1950 Scandal 醜聞 Sukyandaru (Shūbun)
Rashomon 羅生門 Rashōmon
1951 The Idiot 白痴 Hakuchi
1952 Ikiru (To Live) 生きる Ikiru
1954 Seven Samurai 七人の侍 Shichinin no samurai
1955 I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being) 生きものの記録 Ikimono no kiroku
1957 Throne of Blood (Spider Web Castle) 蜘蛛巣城 Kumonosu-jō
The Lower Depths どん底 Donzoko
1958 The Hidden Fortress 隠し砦の三悪人 Kakushi toride no san akunin
1960 The Bad Sleep Well 悪い奴ほどよく眠る Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru
1961 Yojimbo (The Bodyguard) 用心棒 Yōjinbō
1962 Sanjurō 椿三十郎 Tsubaki Sanjūrō
1963 High and Low (Heaven and Hell) 天国と地獄 Tengoku to jigoku
1965 Red Beard 赤ひげ Akahige
1970 Dodesukaden どですかでん Dodesukaden
1975 Dersu Uzala デルス・ウザーラ Derusu Uzāra
1980 Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) 影武者 Kagemusha
1985 Ran 乱 Ran
1990 Dreams (Akira Kurosawa's Dreams) 夢 Yume
1991 Rhapsody in August 八月の狂詩曲 Hachigatsu no rapusodī (Hachigatsu no kyōshikyoku)
1993 Madadayo (Not Yet) まあだだよ Mādadayo

A documentary film about the Noh theater, Gendai no No (Modern Noh), which was begun by the director during a break in the shooting of Ran, but was abandoned after about fifty minutes were filmed, is being completed according to Kurosawa's script and notes.[1][2]

As producer

Note: Data for the remainder of this filmography is derived primarily from the complete filmography created by Kurosawa's biographer, Stuart Galbraith IV,[3] supplemented by IMDB's Kurosawa page.[4]

For the following films that Kurosawa directed, he also received a production credit:

In addition, Kurosawa received a production credit on one film that he himself did not direct: Haru no tawamure (1949) (Spring Flirtation), written and directed by Kajiro Yamamoto, on which he served as an associate producer.

As screenwriter

Kurosawa wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for all the films he himself directed. However, to supplement his income, he also wrote scripts for other Japanese directors throughout the 1940s, and even through the 1950s and part of the 1960s, long after he had become world-famous. He also worked on the scripts for two Hollywood productions he was slated to direct, but which, for complex reasons, were completed by and credited to other directors (although he reportedly did shoot some scenes for Tora tora tora!, the footage from which has apparently not survived). Finally, near the end of his life, he completed scripts he intended to direct but did not live to make, which were then filmed by others. A table of all these screenplays is given below; all titles are Japanese productions unless otherwise noted.

Year Original Title English Title
(International Release Title) 		Director(s) Screenplay Collaborator(s)
1941 Uma (uncredited) Horse Kajirō Yamamoto Kajirō Yamamoto
1942 Seishun no kiryū Wind Currents of Youth Shū Fushimizu None
Tsubasa no gaika The Triumphant Song of the Wings Satsuo Yamamoto Bonhei Sotoyama
1944 Dohyōsai Wrestling-Ring Festival Santaro Marune None
1945 Tenbare Isshin tasuke Bravo! Tenbare Isshin Kiyoshi Saeki None
1947 Yotsu no koi no monogatari (dai ichi-wa Hatsukoi) Four Love Stories (segment First Love) Shirō Toyoda None
Ginrei no hate To the End of the Snow-Capped
Mountains
(Snow Trail)		 Senkichi Taniguchi Senkichi Taniguchi
1948 Shōzō The Portrait Keisuke Kinoshita None
1949 Jigoku no kifujin The Lady from Hell Motoyoshi Oda Motosake Nishikame
Jyakoman to Tetsu Jakoman and Tetsu Senkichi Taniguchi Senkichi Taniguchi
1950 Akatsuki no dassō Escape at Dawn Senkichi Taniguchi Senkichi Taniguchi
Jiruba no Tetsu Tetsu of Jilba Isamu Kosugi Goro Tanada
Tateshi danpei Fencing Master Masahiro Makino None
1951 Ai to nikushimi no kanata e Beyond Love and Hate Senkichi Taniguchi Senkichi Taniguchi
Kedamono no yado The Den of Beasts Tatsuyasu Osone None
1952 Araki Mataemon: Kettô kagiya no tsuji Mataemon Araki – Duel at Keymakers' Corner
(Vendetta for a Samurai)		 Kazuo Mori None
Sengoku burai Vagabonds in a Country at War
(Sword for Hire)		 Hiroshi Inagaki Hiroshi Inagaki
1953 Fukeyo harukaze Blow! Spring Wind
(My Wonderful Yellow Car)		 Senkichi Taniguchi Senkichi Taniguchi
1955 Kieta chūtai Vanished Enlisted Man Akira Mimura Ryuzo Kikushima
Asunaro monogatari Hiba Arborvitae Story
(Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire Tree)		 Hiromichi Horikawa None
1957 Nichiro sensō shōno hishi -
Tekichū ōdan sanbyaku ri		 Three Hundred Miles Through Enemy Lines
(Advance Patrol)		 Kazuo Mori Hideo Oguni[note 1]
1959 Sengoku guntō-den The Story of Robbers of the Civil Wars
(Saga of the Vagabonds)		 Toshio Sugie None
1962 Tateshi danpei[note 2] Fencing Master Harumi Mizuho None
1964 Jyakoman to Tetsu[note 3] Jakoman and Tetsu Kinji Fukasaku Senkichi Taniguchi
1965 Sugata Sanshirō[note 4] Sanshirō Sugata Sei-ichirō Uchikawa None
1970 Tora tora tora! (USA) Tora! Tora! Tora!
(uncredited)[note 5][5]		 Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku Japanese sequences:
Hideo Oguni and Ryuzo Kikushima;
American sequences:
Larry Forrester
1985 Runaway Train (USA) Runaway Train
(uncredited)[note 6][6]		 Andrei Konchalovsky Djordje Milicevic, Paul Zindel
and Edward Bunker
(based on the script by AK,
Hideo Oguni and Ryuzo Kikushima
2000 Ame Agaru[note 7] After the Rain Takashi Koizumi None
Dora-heita Alley Cat Kon Ichikawa Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita
and Masaki Kobayashi
("The Club of the Four Knights")[note 8][7]
2002 Umi wa miteita[note 9] The Sea Was Watching
(The Sea Is Watching)		 Kei Kumai None

In addition, Kurosawa wrote the following unproduced scripts, composed during the pre-war and wartime periods, either when he was still an assistant director or had just graduated to full director. Some of these won prizes in screenwriting contests, establishing his reputation as a promising talent even though they were never filmed.[8]

As assistant director

Year Romanization of Japanese Title English Title Director Kurosawa's Credit
1936
Shojo Hanazono Paradise of the Virgin Flowers Shigeo Yagura Third Assistant Director
Enoken no senman chōja Enoken's Ten Million (The Millionaire
or Enoken the Millionaire)		 Kajirō Yamamoto Third Assistant Director
Zoku Enoken no senman chōja Enoken's Ten Million Sequel Kajirō Yamamoto Third Assistant Director
Tōkyō rapusodi Tokyo Rhapsody Shū Fushimizu Third Assistant Director
1937
Sengoku guntō-den – Dai ichibu Tora-ōkami
(Sengoku guntō-den – Zenpen Tora-ōkami)		 Saga of the Vagabonds – Part One: Tiger-wolf Eisuke Takizawa Third Assistant Director
Sengoku guntō-den – Dai nibu Akatsuki no zenhin
(Sengoku guntō-den – Kōhen Akatsuki no zenhin)		 Saga of the Vagabonds –
Part Two: Forward at Dawn		 Eisuke Takizawa Third Assistant Director
Otto no teisō – Haru kureba
(Otto no teisō – Zenpen Haru kureba)		 A Husband's Chastity – If Spring Comes Kajirō Yamamoto Third Assistant Director
Otto no teisō – Aki futatabi
(Otto no teisō – Kōhen Aki futatabi)		 A Husband's Chastity – Fall Again Kajirō Yamamoto Third Assistant Director
Nihon josei dokuhon Japanese Women's Textbook Kajirō Yamamoto
(Volume I only)		 Third Assistant Director
(Volume I only)
Nadare Avalanche Mikio Naruse Assistant Director
Enoken no chakkiri Kinta – Zenpen
Mamayo sandogasa: Ikiha yoiyoi		 Enoken's Chikiri Kinta Part 1 –
Momma, the Hat: The Nice Way		 Kajirō Yamamoto Third Assistant Director
Enoken no chakkiri Kinta – Kōhen
kaeri wa Kowai mateba hiyori		 Enoken's Chikiri Kinta Part 2 – Returning Is
Scary, but the Weather Will Clear If You Wait		 Kajirō Yamamoto Third Assistant Director
Utsukushiki taka The Beautiful Hawk Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
1938
Chinetsu Subterranean Heat Eisuke Takizawa Chief Assistant Director
Tōjūrō no koi Tojuro's Love Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
Tsuzurikata kyōshitsu Composition Class Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
Enoken no bikkuri jinsei Enoken's Surprising Life Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
1939
Enoken no gatchiri jidai Enoken's Shrewd Period Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
Chūshingura – Kōhen Chushingura Part 2 Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
Nonki Yokochō Easy Alley Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
1940
Roppa no shinkon ryokō Roppa's Honeymoon Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
Enoken no zangiri Kinta Enoken's Cropped Kinta Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
Songokū – Zenpen Songoku Part 1 Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
Songokū – Kōhen Songoku Part 2 Kajirō Yamamoto Chief Assistant Director
1941
Uma Horse Kajirō Yamamoto Second Unit Director
(Also, Editor and
Co-screenwriter (uncredited))

As editor

Kurosawa edited all his own films, though he only occasionally took screen credit for it. There are, however, only a few instances in which he edited the work of others, as listed below.

Theater work

During the mid-to-late 1940s, for the first and apparently the only time in his career, Akira Kurosawa involved himself in a number of theater-related projects.

Television work

Shortly before the theatrical release of Dodesukaden, a TV documentary about horses called Uma no Uta (Song of the Horse), directed by Kurosawa, was broadcast in Japan on August 31, 1970. (Kurosawa otherwise totally avoided working in television.) Almost nothing is known about this documentary and, as of August 2010, it is not available on home video in any form.[2][16]

Books

Prior to writing the screenplay to his film, Stray Dog (Nora Inu, 1949), Kurosawa created, in about six weeks, a novel based on the same story (presumably also called Stray Dog), which he never published. It was written in the style of one of his favorite writers, the French crime author Georges Simenon. Writing it was supposed to help him compose the script as quickly as possible, but he found that writing the screenplay took even longer than usual because of the complex differences between literature and film.[17][18]

In 1980, inspired by the memoir of one of his heroes, Jean Renoir, he began to publish in serial form his autobiography, entitled Gama no abura (An Oily Toad). The book deals with the period from the director's birth to his winning the Golden Lion for Rashomon from the Venice Film Festival in 1951; the period from 1951 through 1980 is not covered. The title of the book is a reference to a legend according to which, if one places a deformed toad in a box full of mirrors, it will become so afraid of its own reflection that it will begin to sweat, and this sweat allegedly had medicinal properties. Kurosawa compared himself to the toad, nervous about having to contemplate, through the process of writing his life story, his own multiple "reflections." It was published as a book in Japan in 1981, and in English translation the following year under the title Something Like an Autobiography. The book's appearance coincided with the revival of interest in Kurosawa's work following the international release of Kagemusha. (ISBN 0394509382)[19][20]

In 1999, his book, Yume wa tensai de aru (A Dream Is a Genius) was published posthumously. It has not been translated into English, except for Chapter 3. This chapter consists of a selection of 100 of the director's favorite films, listed in chronological order, with detailed commentaries on each film, all given at the request of Kurosawa's daughter, Kazuko. (Since he deliberately limits himself to one film per director, however, the list emerges as more of a "favorite directors" list than a "greatest films" list.) This chapter, but not the remainder of the book, can be found in English on the Internet. (ISBN 4163555706)[21]

Complete Drawings (with text in Japanese) was published by Shogakukan in 1999. (ISBN 4096996114)

The screenplays of many of Kurosawa's films have been published in English. For further information, consult the Wikipedia articles relating to the individual films.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Oguni and AK based this script on an unproduced screenplay they had written near the end of World War II.
  2. ↑ Remake of the 1950 film of the same name.
  3. ↑ Remake of the 1949 film of the same name.
  4. ↑ Remake of Kurosawa's own films, Sanshiro Sugata and Sanshiro Sugata Part II.
  5. ↑ AK was hired as director of the Japanese sequences of this film, but left the project; his name was taken off the credits at his request, but the screenplay he co-wrote was still used.
  6. ↑ AK was originally slated to direct this project in 1966-67 but dropped out; neither Oguni nor Kikushima were credited in the final film.
  7. ↑ Originally conceived as a project for AK to direct; filmed after his death by Koizumi.
  8. ↑ These three directors and AK wrote this script, allegedly for all four to direct together, around the time of Dodesukaden (1970), but due to the box-office failure of that film, the project was canceled; it was finally directed by the last surviving member of the club, Ichikawa.
  9. ↑ Originally conceived as a project for AK to direct; filmed after his death by Kumai.
  10. ↑ Mifune, directing his first film, was not confident of this suspense thriller's reception, so he hired Kurosawa to travel to the location and re-edit the footage. The latter agreed to do this more as a favor to his favorite actor than because of any belief in the project. The picture was a modest box-office success, but a critical disaster, and Mifune never directed another film.
References
  1. ↑ Jason Gray (2008-03-03). "Unfinished Kurosawa Film to be Unveiled in 2010". Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  2. 1 2 "Other Movies with Kurosawa's Involvement — Akira Kurosawa Information". Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  3. ↑ Galbraith, pp. 651–751
  4. ↑ Akira Kurosawa at the Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ Galbraith, pp. 448–471
  6. ↑ Galbraith, pp. 441–448
  7. ↑ Galbraith, p. 646
  8. ↑ Galbraith, p. 30
  9. ↑ Galbraith, pp. 364–370, 703
  10. ↑ Nogami, pp. 246–247
  11. ↑ Kurosawa 1982, p. 144
  12. ↑ Galbraith, p. 63
  13. ↑ Seven Samurai, DVD featurette: My Life in Cinema (Waga Eiga Jinsei): Interview of Akira Kurosawa by Nagisa Oshima)
  14. 1 2 Galbraith, p. 98
  15. ↑ Drunken Angel, DVD featurette "It Is Wonderful to Create"
  16. ↑ Galbraith, pp. 486–487
  17. ↑ Kurosawa 1982, pp. 172–173
  18. ↑ Galbraith, p. 109
  19. ↑ Kurosawa 1982, p. vi
  20. ↑ Galbraith, p. 561
  21. ↑ Kurosawa 1999, Chapter 3, found at: http://ww.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=7192; translation: Noriyo Hoozawa-Arkenau
Sources
  • Drunken Angel (DVD). Criterion. 
  • Galbraith IV, Stuart (2002). The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. New York-London: Faber and Faber, Inc. ISBN 0-571-19982-8. 
  • Kurosawa, Akira (1982). Something Like an Autobiography. Translated by Audie E. Bock. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-50938-2. 
  • Kurosawa, Akira (1999). Yume wa tensai de aru (A Dream Is a Genius). Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū. ISBN 4-16-355570-6. 
  • Nogami, Teruyo (2006). Waiting on the Weather. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-09-9. 
  • Seven Samurai: 3-disc Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #2) (DVD). Criterion. 
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