Editing Akira Kurosawa (section)

== Biography ==
=== Childhood to war years (1910–1945) ===
==== Childhood and youth (1910–1935) ====
Kurosawa was born on March 23, 1910,<ref>{{Harvnb|San Juan|2018|p=11}}</ref> in [[Ōimachi Station|Ōimachi]] in the [[Ōmori]] district of Tokyo. His father Isamu (1864–1948), a member of a [[samurai]] family from [[Akita Prefecture]], worked as the director of the Army's Physical Education Institute's [[Secondary education in Japan#Middle school|lower secondary school]], while his mother Shima (1870–1952) came from a merchant's family living in [[Osaka]].<ref name="Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=14–15">{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=14–15}}</ref> Akira was the eighth and youngest child of the moderately wealthy family, with two of his siblings already grown up at the time of his birth and one deceased, leaving Kurosawa to grow up with three sisters and a brother.<ref name="Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=14–15" /><ref name="Kurosawa 1983 17">{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|p=17}}</ref>

In addition to promoting physical exercise, Isamu Kurosawa was open to [[Western world|Western traditions]] and considered theatre and motion pictures to have educational merit. He encouraged his children to watch films; young Akira viewed his first movies at the age of six.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=5–7}}</ref> An important formative influence was his [[Elementary schools in Japan|elementary school]] teacher Mr. Tachikawa, whose progressive educational practices ignited in his young pupil first a love of drawing and then an interest in education in general.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=12–13}}</ref> During this time, Akira also studied [[calligraphy]] and [[Kendo]] swordsmanship.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=16}}</ref>

Another major childhood influence was Heigo Kurosawa (1906–1933), Akira's older brother by four years. In the aftermath of the [[1923 Great Kantō earthquake|Great Kantō earthquake]] and the subsequent [[Kantō Massacre]] of 1923, Heigo took the thirteen-year-old Akira to view the devastation. When Akira wanted to look away from the corpses of humans and animals scattered everywhere, Heigo forbade him to do so, encouraging Akira instead to face his fears by confronting them directly. Some commentators have suggested that this incident would influence Kurosawa's later artistic career, as the director was seldom hesitant to confront unpleasant truths in his work.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=51–52}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|p=302}}</ref>

Heigo was academically gifted, but soon after failing to secure a place in Tokyo's foremost [[Secondary education in Japan#Upper secondary school|high school]], he began to detach himself from the rest of the family, preferring to concentrate on his interest in foreign literature.<ref name="Kurosawa 1983 17" /> In the late 1920s, Heigo became a [[benshi]] (silent film narrator) for Tokyo theaters showing foreign films and quickly made a name for himself. Akira, who at this point planned to become a painter,<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=70–71}}</ref> moved in with him, and the two brothers became inseparable.<ref name="Galbraith IV 2002 19">{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=19}}</ref> With Heigo's guidance, Akira devoured not only films but also theater and circus performances,<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=72–74, 82}}</ref> while exhibiting his paintings and working for the left-wing Proletarian Artists' League. However, he was never able to make a living with his art, and, as he began to perceive most of the proletarian movement as "putting unfulfilled political ideals directly onto the canvas", he lost his enthusiasm for painting.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|p=77}}</ref>

With the increasing production of [[Sound film|talking pictures]] in the early 1930s, film narrators like Heigo began to lose work, and Akira moved back in with his parents. In July 1933, Heigo died by suicide. Kurosawa has commented on the lasting sense of loss he felt at his brother's death<ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|p=11}}</ref> and the chapter of ''[[Something Like an Autobiography]]'' that describes it—written nearly half a century after the event—is titled, "A Story I Don't Want to Tell".<ref name="story">{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|p=84}}</ref> Only four months later, Kurosawa's eldest brother also died, leaving Akira, at age 23, the only one of the Kurosawa brothers still living, together with his three surviving sisters.<ref name="Galbraith IV 2002 19" /><ref name="story" />

==== Director in training (1935–1941) ====
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 | image1 = Akira Kurosawa, Ishiro Honda, Senkichi Taniguchi, and Kajiro Yamamoto.jpg
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 | caption1 =  From the left: Kurosawa, [[Ishirō Honda]], and [[Senkichi Taniguchi]] with their mentor [[Kajirō Yamamoto]], late 1930s
 | image2 = Akira Kurosawa and Mikio Naruse during the shooting of Nadare, 1937.jpg
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 | caption2 =  Kurosawa (left) and [[Mikio Naruse]] (right) during the production of ''Avalanche'' (1937)
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In 1935, the new film studio Photo Chemical Laboratories, known as P.C.L. (which later became the major studio [[Toho]]), advertised for assistant directors. Although he had demonstrated no previous interest in film as a profession, Kurosawa submitted the required essay, which asked applicants to discuss the fundamental deficiencies of Japanese films and find ways to overcome them. His half-mocking view was that if the deficiencies were fundamental, there was no way to correct them. Kurosawa's essay earned him a call to take the follow-up exams, and director [[Kajirō Yamamoto]], who was among the examiners, took a liking to Kurosawa and insisted that the studio hire him. The 25-year-old Kurosawa joined P.C.L. in February 1936.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=89–93}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=25}}</ref>

During his five years as an assistant director, Kurosawa worked under numerous directors, but by far the most important figure in his development was Yamamoto. Of his 24 films as [[Assistant director|A.D.]], he worked on 17 under Yamamoto, many of them comedies featuring the popular actor [[Ken'ichi Enomoto]], known as "Enoken".<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=652–658 }}</ref> Yamamoto nurtured Kurosawa's talent, promoting him directly from third assistant director to chief assistant director after a year.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=29–30}}</ref> Kurosawa's responsibilities increased, and he worked at tasks ranging from stage construction and film development to location scouting, script polishing, rehearsals, lighting, dubbing, editing, and second-unit directing.<ref>{{Harvnb|Goodwin|1994|p=40}}</ref> In the last of Kurosawa's films as an assistant director for Yamamoto, ''[[Horse (1941 film)|Horse]]'' (1941), Kurosawa took over most of the production, as his mentor was occupied with the shooting of another film.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=35}}</ref>

Yamamoto advised Kurosawa that a good director needed to master screenwriting.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|p=103}}</ref> Kurosawa soon realized that the potential earnings from his scripts were much higher than what he was paid as an assistant director.<ref>{{Harvnb|Goodwin|1994|p=42}}</ref> He later wrote or co-wrote all his films and frequently penned screenplays for other directors such as [[Satsuo Yamamoto]]'s film, ''[[Tsubasa no gaika|A Triumph of Wings]]'' (''Tsubasa no gaika'', 1942). This outside scriptwriting would serve Kurosawa as a lucrative sideline lasting well into the 1960s, long after he became famous.<ref name="Akira Kurosawa" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=658–707}}</ref>

==== Wartime films and marriage (1942–1945) ====
In the two years following the release of ''Horse'' in 1941, Kurosawa searched for a story he could use to launch his directing career. Towards the end of 1942, about a year after the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]], novelist Tsuneo Tomita published his [[Musashi (novel)|Musashi Miyamoto]]-inspired judo novel, ''Sanshiro Sugata'', the advertisements for which intrigued Kurosawa. He bought the book on its publication day, devoured it in one sitting, and immediately asked Toho to secure the film rights. Kurosawa's initial instinct proved correct as, within a few days, three other major Japanese studios also offered to buy the rights. Toho prevailed, and Kurosawa began pre-production on his debut work as director.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=39}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=121–123}}</ref>

Shooting of ''[[Sanshiro Sugata]]'' began on location in Yokohama in December 1942. Production proceeded smoothly, but getting the completed film past the censors was an entirely different matter. The censorship office considered the work to be objectionably "British-American" by the standards of wartime Japan, and it was only through the intervention of director [[Yasujirō Ozu]], who championed the film, that ''Sanshiro Sugata'' was finally accepted for release on March 25, 1943. (Kurosawa had just turned 33.) The movie became both a critical and commercial success. Nevertheless, the censorship office would later decide to cut out some 18 minutes of footage, much of which is now considered lost.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=43, 45–46}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=124–128, 130–131}}</ref>

He next turned to the subject of wartime female factory workers in ''[[The Most Beautiful]]'', a propaganda film which he shot in a semi-documentary style in early 1944. To elicit realistic performances from his actresses, the director had them live in a real factory during the shoot, eat the factory food and call each other by their character names. He would use similar methods with his performers throughout his career.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=132–135 }}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=46–51 }}</ref>

[[File:Photo during the shooting of The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail 2, 1945.jpg|thumb|right|Filming of ''[[The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail]]'', 1945]]
During production, the actress playing the leader of the factory workers, [[Yōko Yaguchi]], was chosen by her colleagues to present their demands to the director. She and Kurosawa were constantly at odds, and it was through these arguments that the two paradoxically became close. They married on May 21, 1945, with Yaguchi two months pregnant (she never resumed her acting career), and the couple would remain together until her death in 1985.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=137–139}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=55–57}}</ref> They had two children, both surviving Kurosawa {{as of|2018|lc=y}}: a son, Hisao, born December 20, 1945, who served as producer on some of his father's last projects, and [[Kazuko Kurosawa|Kazuko]], a daughter, born April 29, 1954, who became a costume designer.<ref name="Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=64, 191">{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=64, 191}}</ref>

Shortly before his marriage, Kurosawa was pressured by the studio against his will to direct a sequel to his debut film. The often blatantly propagandistic ''[[Sanshiro Sugata Part II]]'', which premiered in May 1945, is generally considered one of his weakest pictures.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=135–137}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=51–55}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=24–25}}</ref>

Kurosawa decided to write the script for a film that would be both censor-friendly and less expensive to produce. ''[[The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail]]'', based on the [[Kabuki]] play ''[[Kanjinchō]]'' and starring the comedian Enoken, with whom Kurosawa had often worked during his assistant director days, was completed in September 1945. By this time, Japan had surrendered and the [[occupation of Japan]] had begun. The new American censors interpreted the values allegedly promoted in the picture as overly "feudal" and banned the work. It was not released until 1952, the year another Kurosawa film, {{lang|ja-latn|Ikiru}}, was also released. Ironically, while in production, the film had already been savaged by Japanese wartime censors as too Western and "democratic" (they particularly disliked the comic porter played by Enoken), so the movie most probably would not have seen the light of day even if the war had continued beyond its completion.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=660–661}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|2001|p=106}}</ref>

=== Early postwar years to ''Red Beard'' (1946–1965) ===
==== First postwar works (1946–1950) ====
After the war, Kurosawa, influenced by the democratic ideals of the Occupation, sought to make films that would establish a new respect towards the individual and the self{{Citation needed|reason=Not mentioned in his Autobiography, "Something Like And Autobiography" contrarily he mentioned struggling with occupation as an influence for the post-war period. Needs supporting evidence|date=September 2022}}. The first such film, ''[[No Regrets for Our Youth]]'' (1946), inspired by both the 1933 [[Takigawa incident]] and the [[Hotsumi Ozaki]] wartime spy case, criticized Japan's prewar regime for its political oppression.{{refn|group=note|In 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with his mentor, Kajiro Yamamoto, and Hideo Sekigawa, the feature ''[[Those Who Make Tomorrow]]'' (''Asu o tsukuru hitobito''). Apparently, he was commanded to make this film against his will by [[Toho]] studios, to which he was under contract at the time. (He claimed that his part of the film was shot in only a week.) It was the only film he ever directed for which he did not receive sole credit as director and the only one that has never been released on home video in any form. The movie was later repudiated by Kurosawa and is often not counted with the 30 other films he made, though it is listed in some filmographies of the director.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=65–67}}</ref><ref name="Akira Kurosawa">{{cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/akira-kurosawa-9370236|title=Akira Kurosawa |publisher=A&E Television Networks |date=April 21, 2016 |access-date=June 8, 2017 }}</ref>}} Atypically for the director, the heroic central character is a woman, Yukie ([[Setsuko Hara]]), who, born into upper-middle-class privilege, comes to question her values in a time of political crisis. The original script had to be extensively rewritten and, because of its controversial theme and gender of its protagonist, the completed work divided critics. Nevertheless, it managed to win the approval of audiences, who turned variations on the film's title into a postwar [[catchphrase]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=70–79}}; {{Harvnb|Richie|1999|p=37}}; {{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|p=150}}; {{Harvnb|Yoshimoto|pp=114–134}}</ref>

His next film, ''[[One Wonderful Sunday]]'', premiered in July 1947 to mixed reviews. It is a relatively uncomplicated and sentimental love story dealing with an impoverished postwar couple trying to enjoy, within the devastation of postwar Tokyo, their one weekly day off. The movie bears the influence of [[Frank Capra]], [[D. W. Griffith]] and [[F. W. Murnau]], each of whom was among Kurosawa's favorite directors.<ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=43–46}}; {{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=87–91}}</ref><ref name="Kurosawa Top 100">{{cite web|url=http://www.openculture.com/2015/01/akira-kurosawas-list-of-his-100-favorite-movies.html|title=Akira Kurosawa's Top 100 Films |publisher=Open Culture |last=Crow|first=Jonathan|date=January 9, 2015 |access-date=August 8, 2017 }}</ref> Another film released in 1947 with Kurosawa's involvement was the action-adventure thriller, ''[[Snow Trail]]'', directed by [[Senkichi Taniguchi]] from Kurosawa's screenplay. It marked the debut of the intense young actor [[Toshiro Mifune]]. It was Kurosawa who, with his mentor Yamamoto, had intervened to persuade Toho to sign Mifune, during an audition in which the young man greatly impressed Kurosawa, but managed to alienate most of the other judges.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=159–161}}</ref>

[[File:Shimura Takashi.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Takashi Shimura]] played a dedicated doctor helping an ailing gangster in ''[[Drunken Angel]]''. Shimura performed in over 20 of Kurosawa's films.|alt=Publicity still of Shimura cleanly shaven and wearing glasses.]]
''[[Drunken Angel]]'' is often considered the director's first major work.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Morris|first1=Gary|title=Three Early Kurosawas: Drunken Angel, Scandal, I Live in Fear|url=http://brightlightsfilm.com/three-early-kurosawas-drunken-angel-scandal-live-fear/|website=Bright Lights Film Journal|date=October 1, 2000|access-date=June 8, 2017}}</ref> Although the script, like all of Kurosawa's occupation-era works, had to go through rewrites due to American censorship, Kurosawa felt that this was the first film in which he was able to express himself freely. A gritty story of a doctor who tries to save a gangster ([[yakuza]]) with [[tuberculosis]], it was also the first time that Kurosawa directed Mifune, who went on to play major roles in all but one of the director's next 16 films (the exception being {{lang|ja-latn|Ikiru}}). While Mifune was not cast as the protagonist in ''Drunken Angel'', his explosive performance as the gangster so dominates the drama that he shifted the focus from the title character, the alcoholic doctor played by [[Takashi Shimura]], who had already appeared in several Kurosawa movies. However, Kurosawa did not want to smother the young actor's immense vitality, and Mifune's rebellious character electrified audiences in much the way that [[Marlon Brando]]'s defiant stance would startle American film audiences a few years later.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Warren|first1=Richard|title=Brando and Eliot in shadows|url=https://richardawarren.wordpress.com/tag/toshiro-mifune/|publisher=Richard Warren Review|date=February 2, 2015|access-date=August 8, 2017}}</ref> The film premiered in Tokyo in April 1948 to rave reviews and was chosen by the prestigious ''[[Kinema Junpo]]'' critics poll as the best film of its year, the first of three Kurosawa movies to be so honored.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=161–164}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Bock|1978|p=169}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=94–97}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=47–53}}</ref>

After the completion of ''Drunken Angel'', Toho became embroiled in a months-long [[Toho strikes#Third Toho strike|labor strike]], in which the Toho [[labor union|union]] occupied the grounds of the studio. When Toho management ceased paying workers' salaries, Kurosawa formed a touring [[acting troupe]] to raise funds, directing [[Anton Chekhov]]'s ''[[A Marriage Proposal|The Proposal]]'', and an adaptation of ''Drunken Angel'' starring Mifune and Shimura.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hirano |first1=Kyoko |title=Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation, 1945–1952 |date=1992 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OsKAQAAMAAJ |location=Washington and London |isbn=1560981571 |pages=225–226}}</ref> Disillusioned by the division and violence between employees at Toho, the underhanded tactics of Toho leadership, and the breaking of the occupation by [[Siege#Police sieges|police and military standoff]], Kurosawa left Toho, later recalling "I had come to understand that the studio I had thought was my home actually belonged to strangers".<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=166–168}}</ref>

Kurosawa, with producer Sōjirō Motoki and fellow directors and friends Kajiro Yamamoto, [[Mikio Naruse]] and Senkichi Taniguchi, formed a new independent production unit called Film Art Association (Eiga Geijutsu Kyōkai). For this organization's debut work, and first film for [[Kadokawa Pictures|Daiei studios]], Kurosawa turned to a contemporary play by Kazuo Kikuta and, together with Taniguchi, adapted it for the screen. ''[[The Quiet Duel]]'' starred Toshiro Mifune as an idealistic young doctor struggling with [[syphilis]], a deliberate attempt by Kurosawa to break the actor away from being [[Typecasting (acting)|typecast]] as gangsters. Released in March 1949, it was a box office success, but is generally considered one of the director's lesser achievements.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=168–169}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=54–57}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=100–104}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimoto|pp=140–146}}</ref>

[[File:Toshiro Mifune 1954 Scan10003 160913.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Toshiro Mifune]], a frequent lead in Kurosawa's films, in 1954]]
His second film of 1949, also produced by Film Art Association and released by [[Shintoho]], was ''[[Stray Dog (film)|Stray Dog]]''. It is a [[Mystery film|detective movie]] (perhaps the first important Japanese film in that genre)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Broe|first1=Dennis|title=Class, Crime and International Film Noir: Globalizing America's Dark Art|date=2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-1-137-29013-7|pages=162–167|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BbyuAwAAQBAJ|access-date=June 9, 2017}}</ref> that explores the mood of Japan during its painful postwar recovery through the story of a young detective, played by Mifune, and his fixation on the recovery of his handgun, which was stolen by a penniless war veteran who proceeds to use it to rob and murder. Adapted from an unpublished novel by Kurosawa in the style of a favorite writer of his, [[Georges Simenon]], it was the director's first collaboration with screenwriter [[Ryuzo Kikushima]], who would later help to script eight other Kurosawa films. A famous, virtually wordless sequence, lasting over eight minutes, shows the detective, disguised as an impoverished veteran, wandering the streets in search of the gun thief; it employed actual documentary footage of war-ravaged Tokyo neighborhoods shot by Kurosawa's friend, [[Ishirō Honda]], the future director of ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=172–177}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=108–115}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=58–64}}</ref> The film is considered a precursor to the contemporary [[police procedural]] and [[buddy cop film]] genres.<ref>{{cite journal|title=FilmInt|journal=Film International|year=2006|volume=4|issue=1–6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y50qAQAAIAAJ|access-date=June 9, 2017|page=163|quote=In addition to being a masterful precursor to the buddy cop movies and police procedurals popular today, Stray Dog is also a complex genre film that examines the plight of soldiers returning home to post-war Japan.|publisher=Kulturrådet|location=Sweden}}</ref>

''[[Scandal (1950 film)|Scandal]]'', released by [[Shochiku]] in April 1950, was inspired by the director's personal experiences with (and anger towards) Japanese [[yellow journalism]]. The work is an ambitious mixture of courtroom drama and social problem film about free speech and personal responsibility, but even Kurosawa regarded the finished product as dramatically unfocused and unsatisfactory, and almost all critics agree.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=177–180}};
 {{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=65–69}}; {{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=118–126}}; {{Harvnb|Yoshimoto|pp=180–181}}</ref> However, it would be Kurosawa's second film of 1950 that would ultimately win him (and Japanese cinema) a whole new international audience.

==== International recognition (1950–1958) ====
After finishing ''Scandal'', Kurosawa was approached by [[Daiei Film|Daiei studios]] to make another film for them. Kurosawa picked a script by an aspiring young screenwriter, [[Shinobu Hashimoto]], who would eventually work on nine of his films. Their first joint effort was based on [[Ryūnosuke Akutagawa]]'s experimental short story "[[In a Grove]]", which recounts the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife from various different and conflicting points of view. Kurosawa saw potential in the script and, with Hashimoto's help, polished and expanded it and then pitched it to Daiei, who were happy to accept the project due to its low budget.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=127–138}}</ref>

The shooting of ''[[Rashomon (film)|Rashomon]]'' began on July 7, 1950, and, after extensive location work in the primeval forest of [[Nara, Nara|Nara]], wrapped on August 17. Just one week was spent in hurried post-production, hampered by a studio fire, and the finished film premiered at Tokyo's [[Imperial Theatre (Japan)|Imperial Theatre]] on August 25, expanding nationwide the following day. The movie was met by lukewarm reviews, with many critics puzzled by its unique theme and treatment, but it was nevertheless a moderate financial success for Daiei.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|pp=180–187}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Nogami|pp=82–99}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=132}}</ref>

[[File:Vasily Perov - Портрет Ф.М.Достоевского - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Fyodor Dostoevsky]] wrote ''[[The Idiot]]'', which Kurosawa adapted into a [[The Idiot (1951 film)|Japanese film of the same name]] in 1951. [[Vasily Perov|Perov's]] portrait from the 1800s]]
Kurosawa's next film, for Shochiku, was ''[[The Idiot (1951 film)|The Idiot]]'', an adaptation of the novel by the director's favorite writer, [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]. The story is relocated from Russia to [[Hokkaido]], but otherwise adheres closely to the original, a fact seen by many critics as detrimental to the work. A studio-mandated edit shortened it from Kurosawa's original cut of 265 minutes to just 166 minutes, making the resulting narrative exceedingly difficult to follow. The severely edited film version is widely considered to be one of the director's least successful works and the original full-length version no longer exists. Contemporary reviews of the much shortened edited version were very negative, but the film was a moderate success at the box office, largely because of the popularity of one of its stars, [[Setsuko Hara]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=144–147}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=135–142}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimoto|pp=190–193}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=81–85}}</ref>

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kurosawa, ''Rashomon'' had been entered in the [[Venice Film Festival]], due to the efforts of [[Giuliana Stramigioli]], a Japan-based representative of an Italian film company, who had seen and admired the movie and convinced Daiei to submit it. On September 10, 1951, ''Rashomon'' was awarded the festival's highest prize, the [[Golden Lion]], shocking not only Daiei but the international film world, which at the time was largely unaware of Japan's decades-old cinematic tradition.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=136}}</ref>

After Daiei briefly exhibited a subtitled print of the film in Los Angeles, [[RKO Pictures|RKO]] purchased distribution rights to ''Rashomon'' in the United States. The company was taking a considerable gamble. It had put out only one prior subtitled film in the American market, and the only previous Japanese talkie commercially released in New York had been Mikio Naruse's comedy, ''[[Wife! Be Like a Rose!]]'', in 1937: a critical and box-office flop. However, ''Rashomon''{{'}}s commercial run, greatly helped by strong reviews from critics and even the columnist [[Ed Sullivan]], earned $35,000 in its first three weeks at a single New York theatre, an almost unheard-of sum at the time.

This success in turn led to a vogue in America and the West for Japanese movies throughout the 1950s, replacing the enthusiasm for [[Italian neorealism|Italian neorealist]] cinema.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=137–142}}</ref> By the end of 1952 ''Rashomon'' was released in Japan, the United States, and most of Europe. Among the Japanese film-makers whose work, as a result, began to win festival prizes and commercial release in the West were [[Kenji Mizoguchi]] (''[[The Life of Oharu]]'', ''[[Ugetsu]]'', ''[[Sansho the Bailiff]]'') and, somewhat later, [[Yasujirō Ozu]] (''[[Tokyo Story]]'', ''[[An Autumn Afternoon]]'')—artists highly respected in Japan but, before this period, almost totally unknown in the West.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bock|1978|pp=35, 71}}</ref> Kurosawa's growing reputation among Western audiences in the 1950s would make Western audiences more sympathetic to the reception of later generations of Japanese film-makers ranging from [[Kon Ichikawa]], [[Masaki Kobayashi]], [[Nagisa Oshima]] and [[Shohei Imamura]] to [[Juzo Itami]], [[Takeshi Kitano]] and [[Takashi Miike]].

His career boosted by his sudden international fame, Kurosawa, now reunited with his original film studio, Toho (which would go on to produce his next 11 films), set to work on his next project, {{lang|ja-latn|[[Ikiru]]}}. Based on [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s ''[[The Death of Ivan Ilyich]]'', the movie stars Takashi Shimura as a cancer-ridden Tokyo bureaucrat, Watanabe, on a final quest for meaning before his death.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Simone |first=R. Thomas |date=1975 |title=The Mythos of "The Sickness Unto Death" Kurosawa's "Ikiru" and Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43795380 |journal=Literature/Film Quarterly |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=2–12 |jstor=43795380 |access-date=April 27, 2024}}</ref> For the screenplay, Kurosawa brought in Hashimoto as well as writer [[Hideo Oguni]], who would go on to co-write twelve Kurosawa films. Despite the work's grim subject matter, the screenwriters took a satirical approach, which some have compared to the work of [[Berthold Brecht|Brecht]], to both the bureaucratic world of its hero and the U.S. cultural colonization of Japan. (American pop songs figure prominently in the film.) Because of this strategy, the filmmakers are usually credited with saving the picture from the kind of sentimentality common to dramas about characters with terminal illnesses. {{lang|ja-latn|Ikiru}} opened in October 1952 to rave reviews—it won Kurosawa his second Kinema Junpo "Best Film" award—and enormous box office success. It remains the most acclaimed of all the artist's films set in the modern era.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=155–167}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=86–96}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=99–113}}</ref>

In December 1952, Kurosawa took his {{lang|ja-latn|Ikiru}} screenwriters, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni, for a forty-five-day secluded residence at an inn to create the screenplay for his next movie, ''[[Seven Samurai]]''. The [[ensemble cast|ensemble]] work was Kurosawa's first proper [[samurai cinema|samurai film]], the genre for which he would become most famous. The simple story, about a poor farming village in [[Sengoku period]] Japan that hires a group of samurai to defend it against an impending attack by bandits, was given a full epic treatment, with a huge cast (largely consisting of veterans of previous Kurosawa productions) and meticulously detailed action, stretching out to almost three-and-a-half hours of screen time.<ref name="seven">{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=170–171}}</ref>

Three months were spent in pre-production and a month in rehearsals. Shooting took up 148 days spread over almost a year, interrupted by production and financing troubles and Kurosawa's health problems. The film finally opened in April 1954, half a year behind its original release date and about three times over budget, making it at the time the most expensive Japanese film ever made. (However, by Hollywood standards, it was a quite modestly budgeted production, even for that time.) The film received positive critical reaction and became a big hit, quickly making back the money invested in it and providing the studio with a product that they could (and did) market internationally—though with extensive edits. Over time—and with the theatrical and home video releases of the uncut version—its reputation has steadily grown. It is now regarded by some commentators as the greatest Japanese film ever made, and in 1999 a poll of Japanese film critics also voted it the best Japanese film ever made.<ref name="seven" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Mellen|2002|p=6}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=97–108}}</ref> In the most recent (2022) version of the widely respected [[British Film Institute]] (BFI) ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' "Greatest Films of All Time" poll, ''Seven Samurai'' placed 20th among all films from all countries in the critics' and tied at 14th in the directors' polls, receiving a place in the Top Ten lists of 48 critics and 22 directors.<ref>{{cite web|title=Seven Samurai (1954)|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/01391b07-5940-5d02-aa47-1158142f2b64/seven-samurai|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218162901/https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/01391b07-5940-5d02-aa47-1158142f2b64/seven-samurai|archive-date=December 18, 2023|website=BFI Film Forever|publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=December 18, 2023}}</ref>

In 1954, nuclear tests in the Pacific were causing radioactive rainstorms in Japan and one particular [[Daigo Fukuryū Maru|incident]] in March had exposed a Japanese fishing boat to [[nuclear fallout]], with disastrous results. It is in this anxious atmosphere that Kurosawa's next film, ''[[I Live in Fear]]'', was conceived. The story concerned an elderly factory owner (Toshiro Mifune) so terrified of the prospect of a nuclear attack that he becomes determined to move his entire extended family (both legal and extra-marital) to what he imagines is the safety of a farm in Brazil. Production went much more smoothly than the director's previous film, but a few days before shooting ended, Kurosawa's composer, collaborator, and close friend [[Fumio Hayasaka]] died (of tuberculosis) at the age of 41. The film's score was finished by Hayasaka's student, [[Masaru Sato]], who would go on to score all of Kurosawa's next eight films. ''I Live in Fear'' opened in November 1955 to mixed reviews and muted audience reaction, becoming the first Kurosawa film to lose money during its original theatrical run. Today, it is considered by many to be among the finest films dealing with the psychological effects of the global nuclear stalemate.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=214–223}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Goodwin|1994|p=125}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=159–170}}</ref>

Kurosawa's next project, ''[[Throne of Blood]]'', an adaptation of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth]]''—set, like ''Seven Samurai'', in the Sengoku Era—represented an ambitious transposition of the English work into a Japanese context. Kurosawa instructed his leading actress, [[Isuzu Yamada]], to regard the work as if it were a cinematic version of a ''Japanese'' rather than a European literary classic. Given Kurosawa's appreciation of traditional Japanese stage acting, the acting of the players, particularly Yamada, draws heavily on the stylized techniques of the [[Noh]] theater. It was filmed in 1956 and released in January 1957 to a slightly less negative domestic response than had been the case with the director's previous film. Abroad, ''Throne of Blood'', regardless of the liberties it takes with its source material, quickly earned a place among the most celebrated Shakespeare adaptations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=230–239}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=115–124}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa (WNET)|loc=bonus materials: Isuzu Yamada interview}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=142–149}}</ref>

Another adaptation of a classic European theatrical work followed almost immediately, with production of ''[[The Lower Depths (1957 film)|The Lower Depths]]'', based on [[The Lower Depths|a play]] by [[Maxim Gorky]], taking place in May and June 1957. In contrast to the Shakespearean sweep of ''Throne of Blood'', ''The Lower Depths'' was shot on only two confined sets, in order to emphasize the restricted nature of the characters' lives. Though faithful to the play, this adaptation of Russian material to a completely Japanese setting—in this case, the late [[Edo period]]—unlike his earlier ''The Idiot'', was regarded as artistically successful. The film premiered in September 1957, receiving a mixed response similar to that of ''Throne of Blood''. However, some critics rank it among the director's most underrated works.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=239–246}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=149–154}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Bock|1978|pp=171, 185–186}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=125–133}}</ref>

Kurosawa's three next movies after ''Seven Samurai'' had not managed to capture Japanese audiences in the way that that film had. The mood of the director's work had been growing increasingly pessimistic and dark even as Japan entered a boom period of [[Japanese economic miracle|high-speed growth]] and rising standards of living. Out of step with the prevailing mood of the era, Kurosawa's films questioned the possibility of redemption through personal responsibility, particularly in ''Throne of Blood'' and ''The Lower Depths''. He recognized this and deliberately aimed for a more light-hearted and entertaining film for his next production while switching to the new [[widescreen]] format that had been gaining popularity in Japan. The resulting film, ''[[The Hidden Fortress]]'', is an action-adventure comedy-drama about a medieval princess, her loyal general, and two peasants who all need to travel through enemy lines in order to reach their home region. Released in December 1958, ''The Hidden Fortress'' became an enormous box-office success in Japan and was warmly received by critics both in Japan and abroad. Today, the film is considered one of Kurosawa's most lightweight efforts, though it remains popular, not least because it is one of several major influences on [[George Lucas]]'s 1977 [[space opera]], ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=253–264}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=134–139}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Star Wars|loc=George Lucas com1mentary}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Conrad|2022|pp=123–128}}</ref>

==== Birth of a company and ''Red Beard'' (1959–1965) ====
Starting with ''Rashomon'', Kurosawa's productions had become increasingly large in scope and so had the director's budgets. Toho, concerned about this development, suggested that he might help finance his own works, therefore making the studio's potential losses smaller, while in turn allowing himself more artistic freedom as co-producer. Kurosawa agreed, and the Kurosawa Production Company was established in April 1959, with Toho as the majority shareholder.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=264}}</ref>

Despite risking his own money, Kurosawa chose a story that was more directly critical of the Japanese business and political elites than any previous work. ''[[The Bad Sleep Well]]'', based on a script by Kurosawa's nephew Mike Inoue, is a revenge drama about a young man who is able to infiltrate the hierarchy of a corrupt Japanese company with the intention of exposing the men responsible for his father's death. Its theme proved topical: while the film was in production, the massive [[Anpo protests]] were held against the new [[Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan|U.S.–Japan Security treaty]], which was seen by many Japanese, particularly the young, as threatening the country's democracy by giving too much power to corporations and politicians. The film opened in September 1960 to positive critical reaction and modest box office success. The 25-minute opening sequence depicting a corporate wedding reception is widely regarded as one of Kurosawa's most skillfully executed set pieces, but the remainder of the film is often perceived as disappointing by comparison. The movie has also been criticized for employing the conventional Kurosawan hero to combat a social evil that cannot be resolved through the actions of individuals, however courageous or cunning.<ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=140–146}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimoto|p=274}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=286–293}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=175–188}}</ref>

''[[Yojimbo (film)|Yojimbo]]'' (''The Bodyguard''), Kurosawa Production's second film, centers on a masterless samurai, Sanjuro, who strolls into a 19th-century town ruled by two opposing violent factions and provokes them into destroying each other. The director used this work to play with many genre conventions, particularly the [[Western (genre)|Western]], while at the same time offering an unprecedentedly (for the Japanese screen) graphic portrayal of violence. Some commentators have seen the Sanjuro character in this film as a fantasy figure who magically reverses the historical triumph of the corrupt merchant class over the samurai class. Featuring [[Tatsuya Nakadai]] in his first major role in a Kurosawa movie, and with innovative photography by [[Kazuo Miyagawa]] (who shot ''Rashomon'') and [[Takao Saito (cinematographer)|Takao Saito]], the film premiered in April 1961 and was a critically and commercially successful venture, earning more than any previous Kurosawa film. The movie and its [[Black comedy|blackly comic]] tone were also widely imitated abroad. [[Sergio Leone]]'s ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'' was a virtual (unauthorized) scene-by-scene remake with Toho filing a lawsuit on Kurosawa's behalf and prevailing.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=301–313}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimoto|pp=289–292}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=147–155}}</ref>

[[File:Evan Hunter 5312.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Kurosawa based his 1963 crime film ''High and Low'' on [[Ed McBain]]'s novel ''[[King's Ransom (novel)|King's Ransom]]''. Image of McBain c. 1953]]
Following the success of ''Yojimbo'', Kurosawa found himself under pressure from Toho to create a sequel. Kurosawa turned to a script he had written before ''Yojimbo'', reworking it to include the hero of his previous film. ''[[Sanjuro]]'' was the first of three Kurosawa films to be adapted from the work of the writer [[Shūgorō Yamamoto]] (the others would be ''Red Beard'' and ''Dodeskaden''). It is lighter in tone and closer to a conventional period film than ''Yojimbo'', though its story of a power struggle within a samurai clan is portrayed with strongly comic undertones. The film opened on January 1, 1962, quickly surpassing ''Yojimbo''{{'}}s box office success and garnering positive reviews.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=324–329}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimoto|pp=293–296}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=156–162}}</ref>

Kurosawa had meanwhile instructed Toho to purchase the film rights to ''[[King's Ransom (novel)|King's Ransom]]'', a novel about a kidnapping written by American author and screenwriter [[Evan Hunter]], under his pseudonym of Ed McBain, as one of his [[87th Precinct]] series of crime books. The director intended to create a work condemning kidnapping, which he considered one of the very worst crimes. The suspense film, titled ''[[High and Low (1963 film)|High and Low]]'', was shot during the latter half of 1962 and released in March 1963. It broke Kurosawa's box office record (the third film in a row to do so), became the highest grossing Japanese film of the year and won glowing reviews. However, his triumph was somewhat tarnished when, ironically, the film was blamed for a wave of kidnappings which occurred in Japan about this time (he himself received kidnapping threats directed at his young daughter, Kazuko). ''High and Low'' is considered by many commentators to be among the director's strongest works.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=341–361}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=163–170}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=188–189}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Mellen|2002|p=28}}</ref>

Kurosawa quickly moved on to his next project, ''[[Red Beard]]''. Based on a short story collection by Shūgorō Yamamoto and incorporating elements from Dostoevsky's novel ''[[Humiliated and Insulted|The Insulted and Injured]]'', it is a period film, set in a mid-nineteenth century clinic for the poor, in which Kurosawa's humanist themes receive perhaps their fullest statement. A conceited and materialistic, foreign-trained young doctor, Yasumoto, is forced to become an intern at the clinic under the stern tutelage of Doctor Niide, known as "Akahige" ("Red Beard"), played by Mifune. Although he resists Red Beard initially, Yasumoto comes to admire his wisdom and courage and to perceive the patients at the clinic, whom he at first despised, as worthy of compassion and dignity.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=372–374}}</ref>

[[Yūzō Kayama]], who plays Yasumoto, was an extremely popular film and music star at the time, particularly for his "Young Guy" (''Wakadaishō'') series of musical comedies, so signing him to appear in the film virtually guaranteed Kurosawa strong box-office. The shoot, the filmmaker's longest ever, lasted well over a year (after five months of pre-production) and wrapped in spring 1965, leaving the director, his crew and his actors exhausted. ''Red Beard'' premiered in April 1965, becoming the year's highest-grossing Japanese production and the third (and last) Kurosawa film to top the prestigious ''[[Kinema Jumpo]]'' yearly critics poll. It remains one of Kurosawa's best-known and most-loved works in his native country. Outside Japan, critics have been much more divided. Most commentators concede its technical merits and some praise it as among Kurosawa's best, while others insist that it lacks complexity and genuine narrative power, with still others claiming that it represents a retreat from the artist's previous commitment to social and political change.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=374–389}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=171–183}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimoto|pp=332–333}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=235–249}}</ref>

The film marked something of an end of an era for its creator. The director himself recognized this at the time of its release, telling critic [[Donald Richie]] that a cycle of some kind had just come to an end and that his future films and production methods would be different.<ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|p=183}}</ref> His prediction proved quite accurate. Beginning in the late 1950s, television began increasingly to dominate the leisure time of the formerly large and loyal Japanese cinema audience. And as film company revenues dropped, so did their appetite for risk—particularly the risk represented by Kurosawa's costly production methods.<ref>{{Harvnb|Prince|pp=4–5}}</ref>

''Red Beard'' also marked the midway point, chronologically, in the artist's career. During his previous twenty-nine years in the film industry (which includes his five years as assistant director), he had directed twenty-three films, while during the remaining twenty-eight years, for many complex reasons, he would complete only seven more. Also, for reasons never adequately explained, ''Red Beard'' would be his final film starring Toshiro Mifune. [[Yū Fujiki]], an actor who worked on ''The Lower Depths'', observed, regarding the closeness of the two men on the set, "Mr. Kurosawa's heart was in Mr. Mifune's body."<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=242}}</ref> Donald Richie has described the rapport between them as a unique "symbiosis".<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa (WNET)|loc=Donald Richie interview}}</ref>

=== Hollywood ambitions to last films (1966–1998) ===
==== Hollywood detour (1966–1968) ====
When Kurosawa's exclusive contract with Toho came to an end in 1966, the 56-year-old director was seriously contemplating change. Observing the troubled state of the domestic film industry and having already received dozens of offers from abroad, the idea of working outside Japan appealed to him as never before.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=440–441}}</ref>

For his first foreign project, Kurosawa chose a story based on a [[Life (magazine)|''Life'' magazine]] article. The [[Embassy Pictures]] action thriller, to be filmed in English and called simply ''Runaway Train'', would have been his first in color. But the language barrier proved a major problem, and the English version of the screenplay was not even finished by the time filming was to begin in autumn 1966. The shoot, which required snow, was moved to autumn 1967, then canceled in 1968. Almost two decades later, another foreign director working in Hollywood, [[Andrei Konchalovsky]], finally made ''[[Runaway Train (film)|Runaway Train]]'' (1985), though from a new script loosely based on Kurosawa's.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=440–448}}</ref>

The director meanwhile had become involved in a much more ambitious Hollywood project. ''[[Tora! Tora! Tora!]]'', produced by [[20th Century Fox]] and Kurosawa Production, would be a portrayal of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor from both the American and the Japanese points of view, with Kurosawa helming the Japanese half and an Anglophonic film-maker directing the American half. He spent several months working on the script with Ryuzo Kikushima and Hideo Oguni, but very soon the project began to unravel. The director of the American sequences turned out not to be [[David Lean]], as originally planned, but American [[Richard Fleischer]]. The budget was also cut, and the screen time allocated for the Japanese segment would now be no longer than 90 minutes—a major problem, considering that Kurosawa's script ran over four hours. After numerous revisions with the direct involvement of [[Darryl Zanuck]], a more or less finalized cut screenplay was agreed upon in May 1968.

Shooting began in early December, but Kurosawa would last only a little over three weeks as director. He struggled to work with an unfamiliar crew and the requirements of a Hollywood production, while his working methods puzzled his American producers, who ultimately concluded that the director must be mentally ill. Kurosawa was examined at [[Kyoto University]] Hospital by a neuropsychologist, Dr. Murakami, whose diagnosis was forwarded to Darryl Zanuck and [[Richard Zanuck]] at Fox studios indicating a diagnosis of [[neurasthenia]] stating that, "He is suffering from disturbance of sleep, agitated with feelings of anxiety and in manic excitement caused by the above mentioned illness. It is necessary for him to have rest and medical treatment for more than two months."<ref>Hiroshi Tasogawa. ''All the Emperor's Men'', Hardcover: 337 pp Publisher: Applause; 1 edition (2012). {{ISBN|1-55783-850-X}}. p. 255.</ref> On Christmas Eve 1968, the Americans announced that Kurosawa had left the production due to "fatigue", effectively firing him. He was ultimately replaced, for the film's Japanese sequences, with two directors, [[Kinji Fukasaku]] and [[Toshio Masuda (director)|Toshio Masuda]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=448–468}}</ref>

''Tora! Tora! Tora!'', finally released to unenthusiastic reviews in September 1970, was, as Donald Richie put it, an "almost unmitigated tragedy" in Kurosawa's career. He had spent years of his life on a logistically nightmarish project to which he ultimately did not contribute a foot of film shot by himself. (He had his name removed from the credits, though the script used for the Japanese half was still his and his co-writers'.) He became estranged from his longtime collaborator, writer Ryuzo Kikushima, and never worked with him again. The project had inadvertently exposed corruption in his own production company (a situation reminiscent of his own movie, ''The Bad Sleep Well''). His very sanity had been called into question. Worst of all, the Japanese film industry—and perhaps Kurosawa himself—began to suspect that he would never make another film.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa: The Last Emperor|loc=Donald Richie interview}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=458–471}}</ref>

==== A difficult decade (1969–1977) ====
Knowing that his reputation was at stake following the much publicised ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' debacle, Kurosawa moved quickly to a new project to prove he was still viable. To his aid came friends and famed directors [[Keisuke Kinoshita]], [[Masaki Kobayashi]] and [[Kon Ichikawa]], who together with Kurosawa established in July 1969 a production company called the Club of the Four Knights (Yonki no kai). Although the plan was for the four directors to create a film each, it has been suggested that the real motivation for the other three directors was to make it easier for Kurosawa to successfully complete a film and therefore find his way back into the business.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=437–474}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Yojimbo|loc=DVD featurette: ''It Is Wonderful to Create'' – Crew Interview}}</ref>

The first project proposed and worked on was a period film to be called ''[[Dora-heita]]'', but when this was deemed too expensive, attention shifted to ''[[Dodesukaden]]'', an adaptation of yet another Shūgorō Yamamoto work, again about the poor and destitute. The film was shot quickly (by Kurosawa's standards) in about nine weeks, with Kurosawa determined to show he was still capable of working quickly and efficiently within a limited budget. For his first work in color, the dynamic editing and complex compositions of his earlier pictures were set aside, with the artist focusing on the creation of a bold, almost surreal palette of primary colors, in order to reveal the toxic environment in which the characters live. It was released in Japan in October 1970, but though a minor critical success, it was greeted with audience indifference. The picture lost money and caused the Club of the Four Knights to dissolve. Initial reception abroad was somewhat more favorable, but ''Dodesukaden'' has since been typically considered an interesting experiment not comparable to the director's best work.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=474–486}}</ref>

After struggling through the production of ''Dodesukaden'', Kurosawa turned to television work the following year for the only time in his career with ''Song of the Horse'', a documentary about thoroughbred race horses. It featured a voice-over narrated by a fictional man and a child (voiced by the same actors as the beggar and his son in ''Dodesukaden''). It is the only documentary in Kurosawa's filmography; the small crew included his frequent collaborator Masaru Sato, who composed the music. ''Song of the Horse'' is also unique in Kurosawa's oeuvre in that it includes an editor's credit, suggesting that it is the only Kurosawa film that he did not cut himself.<ref>{{cite web |title=Song of the Horse |url=https://akirakurosawa.info/song-of-the-horse/|publisher=Akirakurosawa.info |access-date=December 13, 2020}}</ref>

Unable to secure funding for further work and allegedly having health problems, Kurosawa apparently reached the breaking point: on December 22, 1971, he slit his wrists and throat multiple times. The suicide attempt proved unsuccessful and the director's health recovered fairly quickly, with Kurosawa now taking refuge in domestic life, uncertain if he would ever direct another film.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=487–489, 522}}</ref>

In early 1973, the Soviet studio [[Mosfilm]] approached the film-maker to ask if he would be interested in working with them. Kurosawa proposed an adaptation of Russian explorer [[Vladimir Arsenyev]]'s autobiographical work ''[[Dersu Uzala (book)|Dersu Uzala]]''. The book, about a [[Nani people|Goldi]] hunter who lives in harmony with nature until destroyed by encroaching civilization, was one that he had wanted to make since the 1930s. In December 1973, the 63-year-old Kurosawa set off for the Soviet Union with four of his closest aides, beginning a year-and-a-half stay in the country. Shooting began in May 1974 in Siberia, with filming in exceedingly harsh natural conditions proving very difficult and demanding. The picture wrapped in April 1975, with a thoroughly exhausted and homesick Kurosawa returning to Japan and his family in June. ''[[Dersu Uzala (1975 film)|Dersu Uzala]]'' had its world premiere in Japan on August 2, 1975, and did well at the box office. While critical reception in Japan was muted, the film was better reviewed abroad, winning the Golden Prize at the [[9th Moscow International Film Festival]],<ref name="Moscow1975">{{cite web|url=http://akirakurosawa.info/2015/07/23/40-years-ago-today-dersu-uzala-wins-at-the-moscow-international-film-festival/ |title=9th Moscow International Film Festival (1975) |publisher=Akira Kurosawa info |date=July 23, 2015 |access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> as well as an [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]]. Today, critics remain divided over the film: some see it as an example of Kurosawa's alleged artistic decline, while others count it among his finest works.<ref>{{Harvnb|Nogami|pp=127–155}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=518–522}}</ref>

Although proposals for television projects were submitted to him, he had no interest in working outside the film world. Nevertheless, the hard-drinking director did agree to appear in a series of television ads for [[Suntory]] whiskey, which aired in 1976. While fearing that he might never be able to make another film, the director nevertheless continued working on various projects, writing scripts and creating detailed illustrations, intending to leave behind a visual record of his plans in case he would never be able to film his stories.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=513–514, 522–523, 544–546}}</ref>

==== Two epics (1978–1986) ====
In 1977, George Lucas released ''Star Wars'', a wildly successful science fiction film influenced by Kurosawa's ''The Hidden Fortress''. Lucas, like many other [[New Hollywood]] directors, revered Kurosawa and considered him a role model and was shocked to discover that the Japanese film-maker was unable to secure financing for any new work. The two met in San Francisco in July 1978 to discuss the project Kurosawa considered most financially viable: {{lang|ja-latn|[[Kagemusha]]}}, the epic story of a thief hired as the double of a medieval Japanese lord of a great clan. Lucas, enthralled by the screenplay and Kurosawa's illustrations, leveraged his influence over 20th Century Fox to coerce the studio that had fired Kurosawa just ten years earlier to produce {{lang|ja-latn|Kagemusha}}, then recruited fellow fan [[Francis Ford Coppola]] as co-producer.<ref name="Lucas">{{Harvnb|Galbraith|p=547}}</ref>

Production began the following April, with Kurosawa in high spirits. Shooting lasted from June 1979 through March 1980 and was plagued with problems, not the least of which was the firing of the original lead actor, [[Shintaro Katsu]]—known for portraying the popular character [[Zatoichi]]—due to an incident in which the actor insisted, against the director's wishes, on videotaping his own performance. (He was replaced by Tatsuya Nakadai, in his first of two consecutive leading roles in a Kurosawa movie.) The film was completed only a few weeks behind schedule and opened in Tokyo in April 1980. It quickly became a massive hit in Japan. The film was also a critical and box office success abroad, winning the coveted {{lang|fr|[[Palme d'Or]]|italic=no}} at the [[1980 Cannes Film Festival]] in May, though some critics, then and now, have faulted the film for its alleged coldness. Kurosawa spent much of the rest of the year in Europe and America promoting {{lang|ja-latn|Kagemusha}}, collecting awards and accolades and exhibiting as art the drawings he had made to serve as storyboards for the film.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=547–558}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie|1999|pp=204–213}}</ref>

[[File:SidneyLumet07TIFF.jpg|thumb|[[Sidney Lumet]] (pictured) successfully requested that Kurosawa be nominated as Best Director for his film {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}} at the [[58th Academy Awards]]; the award was won by [[Sydney Pollack]].]]
The international success of {{lang|ja-latn|Kagemusha}} allowed Kurosawa to proceed with his next project, {{lang|ja-latn|[[Ran (film)|Ran]]}}, another epic in a similar vein. The script, partly based on Shakespeare's ''[[King Lear]]'', depicted a ruthless, bloodthirsty ''[[daimyō]]'' (warlord), played by Tatsuya Nakadai, who, after foolishly banishing his one loyal son, surrenders his kingdom to his other two sons, who then betray him, thus plunging the entire kingdom into war. As Japanese studios still felt wary about producing another film that would rank among the most expensive ever made in the country, international help was again needed. This time it came from French producer [[Serge Silberman]], who had produced [[Luis Buñuel]]'s final movies. Filming did not begin until December 1983 and lasted more than a year.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=569–576}}</ref>

In January 1985, production of {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}} was halted as Kurosawa's 64-year-old wife Yōko fell ill. She died on February 1. Kurosawa returned to finish his film and {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}} premiered at the Tokyo Film Festival on May 31, with a wide release the next day. The film was a moderate financial success in Japan, but a larger one abroad and, as he had done with {{lang|ja-latn|Kagemusha}}, Kurosawa embarked on a trip to Europe and America, where he attended the film's premieres in September and October.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=576–583}}</ref>

{{lang|ja-latn|Ran}} won several awards in Japan, but was not quite as honored there as many of the director's best films of the 1950s and 1960s had been. The film world was surprised, however, when Japan passed over the selection of {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}} in favor of another film as its official entry to compete for an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category, which was ultimately rejected for competition at the [[58th Academy Awards]]. Both the producer and Kurosawa himself attributed the failure to even submit {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}} for competition to a misunderstanding: because of the academy's arcane rules, no one was sure whether {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}} qualified as a ''Japanese'' film, a ''French'' film (due to its financing), or both, so it was not submitted at all. In response to what at least appeared to be a blatant snub by his own countrymen, the director [[Sidney Lumet]] led a successful campaign to have Kurosawa receive an Oscar nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] that year ([[Sydney Pollack]] ultimately won the award for directing ''[[Out of Africa (film)|Out of Africa]]''). {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}}{{'}}s costume designer, [[Emi Wada]], won the movie's only Oscar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/ran-v40236/awards |title=Ran (1985) – Awards |work=AllMovie|access-date=June 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=582–586}}</ref>

{{lang|ja-latn|Kagemusha}} and {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}}, particularly the latter, are often considered to be among Kurosawa's finest works. After {{lang|ja-latn|Ran}}{{'}}s release, Kurosawa would point to it as his best film, a major change of attitude for the director who, when asked which of his works was his best, had always previously answered "my next one".<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=580–586}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Richie1999|p=214}}</ref>

==== Final works and last years (1987–1998) ====
For his next movie, Kurosawa chose a subject very different from any that he had ever filmed before. While some of his previous pictures (for example, ''Drunken Angel'' and {{lang|ja-latn|Kagemusha}}) had included brief dream sequences, ''[[Dreams (1990 film)|Dreams]]'' was to be entirely based upon the director's own dreams. Significantly, for the first time in over forty years, Kurosawa, for this deeply personal project, wrote the screenplay alone. Although its estimated budget was lower than the films immediately preceding it, Japanese studios were still unwilling to back one of his productions, so Kurosawa turned to another famous American fan, [[Steven Spielberg]], who convinced [[Warner Bros.]] to buy the international rights to the completed film. This made it easier for Kurosawa's son, Hisao, as co-producer and soon-to-be head of Kurosawa Production, to negotiate a loan in Japan that would cover the film's production costs. Shooting took more than eight months to complete, and ''Dreams'' premiered at Cannes in May 1990 to a polite but muted reception, similar to the reaction the picture would generate elsewhere in the world.<ref name="Spielberg">{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=604–608}}</ref> In 1990, he accepted the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for [[Academy Honorary Award|Lifetime Achievement]]. In his acceptance speech, he famously said "I'm a little worried because I don't feel that I understand cinema yet."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=qbe_query&TN=AAtrans&RF=WebReportPermaLink&MF=oscarsmsg.ini&NP=255&BU=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/index.htm&QY=find+acceptorlink+%3D062-25 |title=Search Results |work=Academy Award Acceptance Speech Database |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=June 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217234929/http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=qbe_query&TN=AAtrans&RF=WebReportPermaLink&MF=oscarsmsg.ini&NP=255&BU=http%3A%2F%2Faaspeechesdb.oscars.org%2Findex.htm&QY=find+acceptorlink+%3D062-25 |archive-date=February 17, 2010 }}</ref> At the time, Bob Thomas of ''[[The Spectrum (Utah)|The Daily Spectrum]]'' noted that Kurosawa was "considered by many critics as the greatest living filmmaker."<ref>{{cite news |title=Oscars 'a fine night for the Irish' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/288377867/ |access-date=April 19, 2022 |work=[[The Spectrum (Utah)|The Daily Spectrum]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=March 28, 1990 |page=14 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[File:Steven Spielberg Masterclass Cinémathèque Française 2 cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Steven Spielberg]] helped finance the production of several of Kurosawa's final films. Spielberg at his masterclass at the [[Cinémathèque Française]] in 2012]]
Kurosawa now turned to a more conventional story with ''[[Rhapsody in August]]''—the director's first film fully produced in Japan since ''Dodeskaden'' over twenty years before—which explored the scars of the nuclear bombing which destroyed Nagasaki at the very end of World War II. It was adapted from a [[Kiyoko Murata]] novel, but the film's references to the Nagasaki bombing came from the director rather than from the book. This was his only movie to include a role for an American movie star: [[Richard Gere]], who plays a small role as the nephew of the elderly heroine. Shooting took place in early 1991, with the film opening on May 25 that year to a largely negative critical reaction, especially in the United States, where the director was accused of promulgating naïvely anti-American sentiments,<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=612–618}}</ref><ref name="Gere">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/01/movies/kurosawa-still-finding-unfamiliar-seas-to-sail.html |last=Weisman|first=Steven R.|title=Kurosawa Still Finding Unfamiliar Seas to Sail |access-date=June 9, 2017 | work=The New York Times | date=October 1, 1990}}</ref> though Kurosawa rejected these accusations.

Kurosawa wasted no time moving onto his next project: ''[[Madadayo]]'', or ''Not Yet''. Based on autobiographical essays by [[Hyakken Uchida]], the film follows the life of a Japanese professor of German through the Second World War and beyond. The narrative centers on yearly birthday celebrations with his former students, during which the protagonist declares his unwillingness to die just yet—a theme that was becoming increasingly relevant for the film's 81-year-old creator. Filming began in February 1992 and wrapped by the end of September. Its release on April 17, 1993, was greeted by an even more disappointed reaction than had been the case with his two preceding works.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=622–627}}</ref>

Kurosawa nevertheless continued to work. He wrote the original screenplays ''[[The Sea Is Watching]]'' in 1993 and ''[[After the Rain (film)|After the Rain]]'' in 1995. While putting finishing touches on the latter work in 1995, Kurosawa slipped and broke the base of his spine. Following the accident, he would use a wheelchair for the rest of his life, putting an end to any hopes of him directing another film.<ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=636–639}}</ref> His longtime wish—to die on the set while shooting a movie<ref name="Gere" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Kurosawa|1983|p=viii}}</ref>—was never to be fulfilled.

After his accident, Kurosawa's health began to deteriorate. While his mind remained sharp and lively, his body was giving up, and for the last half-year of his life the director was largely confined to bed, listening to music and watching television at home. On September 6, 1998, Kurosawa died of a stroke in [[Setagaya, Tokyo]], at the age of 88.<ref name="indy">{{cite news |last1=Adair |first1=Gilbert |title=Obituary: Akira Kurosawa |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-akira-kurosawa-1196526.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821192706/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-akira-kurosawa-1196526.html |archive-date=August 21, 2019 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |access-date=August 21, 2019 |work=The Independent |date=September 7, 1998}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=639–640}}</ref><ref name=NYTObit>{{cite news| title=Akira Kurosawa, Film Director, Is Dead at 88| last=Lyman| first=Rick| date=September 7, 1998| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/07/movies/akira-kurosawa-film-director-is-dead-at-88.html| work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> At the time of his death, Kurosawa had two children, his son Hisao Kurosawa (who married [[Hiroko Hayashi (singer)|Hiroko Hayashi]]) and his daughter Kazuko Kurosawa (who married Harayuki Kato), along with several grandchildren.<ref name="Harvnb|Galbraith|pp=64, 191" /> One of Kazuko Kurosawa's children, Takayuki Kato, became a supporting actor in two films posthumously developed from screenplays written by Kurosawa, [[Takashi Koizumi]]'s ''After the Rain'' (1999) and [[Kei Kumai]]'s ''The Sea Is Watching'' (2002).<ref name="Arnold">{{cite news|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/Sea-is-Watching-an-absorbing-slice-of-a-bygone-1119532.php |last=Arnold|first=William |title='Sea is Watching' an absorbing slice of a bygone Japan |access-date=July 2, 2017 | work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer | date=July 17, 2003}}</ref>