Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for Sanjuro (1962) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Toshirō Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi, Yūzō Kayama, Reiko Dan, Takashi Shimura DIRECTOR: Akira Kurosawa CINEMATOGRAPHY: Fukuzo Koizumi, Takao Saitō MUSIC: Masaru Satō PRODUCTION: TOHO

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for Sanjuro (1962). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

Franchise: Sanjuro is part of the Sanjuro Collection.

Mifune's sword fighting in the film was used in an extensive illustrated example of "samurai virtuosity with his sword" in This Is Kendo, a 1989 kendo manual published in English.

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

The story is primarily based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's short story . Originally Sanjuro was to be a straight adaptation of the story. After the success of Yojimbo the studio decided to resurrect its popular antihero, and Kurosawa reimagined the script accordingly. But despite a certain element of continuity, the eventual film turned out to be more than just a sequel to Yojimbo for the hero goes on to develop in character from the swashbuckling original.

He is, as before, a masterless samurai who preserves his anonymity by the same means. When asked his name in Yojimbo he looks outside and names himself mulberry (Kuwabatake); in Sanjuro he chooses a camellia (Tsubaki). In both cases he gives Sanjūrō (thirty-year-old) as his given name, although in both films he admits to being closer to forty. Having the ronin take the name of a local plant rather than a great house or clan reflects a populist turn in contemporary samurai movies. A crucial difference between Yojimbo and Sanjuro, however, is that there is little connection to the Western genre in the sequel. The original was set in an out-of-the-way border town where the hero deals ruthlessly with local thugs, while in Sanjuro the action centres on a Japanese feudal power struggle in a clan fortress town. There the hero realises that Hanbei, his main opponent, is a man much like himself: a social outsider (an "unsheathed sword" in the words of the chamberlain’s wife) free to pick his own side in a conflict. The difference between them is only in the motives behind their choice.

There is also a greater element of social comedy, with the seasoned fighter constantly hampered by the failure of the young men whom he chooses to help to grasp the reality of the situation. But while he is their superior in tactics, the lady he has just rescued confounds him by insisting that he restrain himself, since killing people is a bad habit.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: 1 win & 1 nomination total

CRITICAL RECEPTION

The film has been positively received by critics. It holds a 100% rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.38/10. The site's consensus reads: "Technically impressive and superbly acted, Sanjuro is a funny, action-packed samurai adventure featuring outstanding cinematography and a charismatic performance from Toshiro Mifune". In 2009 the film was voted at No. 59 on the list of The Greatest Japanese Films of All Time by Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo.