Editing Throne of Blood (section)

===Set design===
[[File:Making of Throne of Blood Scan10020-1.jpg|thumb|upright|Cast and crew members on the open set of ''Throne of Blood'', published in the early September 1956 issue of ''[[Kinema Junpo]]''. (from left to right) Shinjin Akiike, Fumio Yanoguchi, Kuichirō Kishida, Samaji Nonagase, [[Takao Saito (cinematographer)|Takao Saito]], [[Toshiro Mifune]] (in the jeep), [[Minoru Chiaki]], [[Takashi Shimura]], [[Teruyo Nogami]] (scripter), [[Yoshirō Muraki]], [[Akira Kurosawa]], Hiroshi Nezu, [[Asakazu Nakai]], and [[Sōjirō Motoki]].]]
The castle exteriors were built and shot on the volcanic slopes of [[Mount Fuji]].{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2002|p=233}} The castle courtyard was constructed at Toho's Tamagawa studio, with volcanic soil brought from Fuji so that the ground matched.{{sfn|Richie|1998|p=123}} The interiors were shot in a smaller studio in Tokyo. The forest scenes were a combination of actual Fuji forest and studio shots in Tokyo. Washizu's mansion was shot in the [[Izu Peninsula]].{{sfn|Richie|1998|p=123}}{{sfn|Richie|1964|p=}}

In Kurosawa's own words: {{quote|"It was a very hard film to make. We decided that the main castle set had to be built on the slope of Mount Fuji, not because I wanted to show this mountain but because it has precisely the stunted landscape that I wanted. And it is usually foggy. I had decided that I wanted lots of fog for this film... Making the set was very difficult because we didn't have enough people and the location was so far from Tokyo. Fortunately, there was a  [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marine Corps]] base nearby, and they helped a great deal; also a whole MP battalion helped us out. We all worked very hard indeed, clearing the ground, building the set. Our labor on this steep fog-bound slope, I remember, absolutely exhausted us; we almost got sick."{{sfn|Richie|1998|p=123}}{{sfn|Richie|1964|p=}}}}

Production designer [[Yoshirō Muraki]] said the crew opted to employ the color black in the set walls, and a lot of armor, to complement the mist and fog effects. This design was based on ancient scrolls depicting Japanese castles.{{sfn|Richie|1998|p=122}}