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Akira Kurosawa's extraordinary first feature concerns the genesis of the martial art, judo, in 1882. The film feels ancient, as though it were made long before the existence of cinema. Deceptively primitive and simple, it also has a starkly modern quality. Austere, mano a mano battle sequences shot in the shadow of night have a dreamlike aura. We are presented with one craggy, fearsome warrior's face after another. An eerie soundtrack adds another layer to the film's distinctive ancient/modern tone.
Sugata (the excellent Susumu Fujita) is an overeager young man anxious to learn the art of judo under the tutelage of great warrior Shogoro Yano (Denjiro Okochi). The formidable Yano feels that Sugata has betrayed the art by fighting brashly and frivolously: "Teaching judo to such a man is like giving a knife to a lunatic!" Mortified, Sugata shouts, "I can die!" and jumps into the canal, where he stays all night, stewing. (As always, there is a sly humor in Kurosawa's exploration of these weighty matters that sets his work apart.) Sugata then has his obligatory mythic epiphany: a beautiful water lily blooming at dawn inspires him to go on living and fighting, but now with a pure heart. (Can there be anything more quintessentially Japanese than this?) These scenes echo down through the years, all the way to George Lucas and the Star Wars movies: Sugata is Luke Skywalker; Yano is Yoda; judo is "the Force."
The film's stunning climax is a fight to the death between good and evil: Sugata versus Gennosuke Higaki (Ryunosuke Tsukigata--menace personified). There are few cinematic sequences more shockingly gorgeous than this: shot in black and white on a mountaintop in ghostly half-light, two men roll over and over in the tall, wind-whipped grass. It brings tears to the eyes. --Laura Mirsky
Product Description
Akira Kurosawa (
Seven Samurai,
Ikiru), perhaps the best known of all Japanese directors, made his extraordinary debut with this thrilling martial arts film. Though filming during World War II, Kurosawa avoided patriotic and propagandistic elements to create a judo saga as visually stunning as it is exciting. The story of Sanshiro Sugata, a talented yet headstrong judo student, chronicles the struggle to establish judo, rather than jujitsu, as Japan's premiere martial art. Wartime censors ordered many cuts, but could not destroy the power of Kurosawa's vision. With its strong emphasis on discipline,
Sanshiro Sugata anticipates later Kurosawa masterpieces that focus on the difficult path to spiritual enlightenment. The violent yet beautiful showdown, shot on a windswept mountainside, set the standard for all Japanese action films to follow.
