Akira Kurosawa: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Akira Kurosawa fused Hollywood action grammar, Russian literature and Japanese painting into a style that reshaped world cinema. This mix traces the silent-era masters and mentors behind him, the Tokyo studio world he grew up in, and the generations of directors from Rome to Hollywood who remade his films outright.

The Kynda mix for Akira Kurosawa

• Key Influence · The Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith (1915). Kurosawa repeatedly named Griffith among the directors he revered, and his father took him to Western silent films as a boy. Griffith's cross-cutting, scale of crowd staging and last-minute-rescue construction underpin the fortress assaults of Kurosawa's period films. The epic-battle grammar of American silent cinema, absorbed in Tokyo picture houses, sits directly behind 'Seven Samurai' and 'Kagemusha'.
• Influencia Obscura · Humanity and Paper Balloons by Sadao Yamanaka (1937). Yamanaka died at 29 on the Chinese front, and only three of his films survive; he was the great lost jidaigeki modernizer, treating Edo commoners as poor, bored and doomed rather than heroic. Kurosawa entered the industry the year before this film and admired the sensibility. The grimy tenement realism and anti-romantic swordplay prefigure 'Yojimbo' and 'Sanjuro' more than any samurai spectacle does.
• Local Roots · Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu (1953). Ozu was the senior figure of the same Tokyo studio system — Shochiku to Kurosawa's Toho — and the two were the poles of 1950s Japanese cinema abroad: Ozu the static domestic miniaturist, Kurosawa the kinetic epic-maker. Both were working in a bombed-out capital rebuilding itself, and both films of 1953 anatomize a Japan where prewar hierarchies had collapsed. Essential counterweight to the samurai frame.
• Beyond the Medium · The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1869). Kurosawa called Dostoevsky the writer he loved most, praising his compassion for suffering, and he filmed 'The Idiot' in 1951 with Masayuki Mori as the Myshkin figure. Dostoevsky's structure of moral extremity — the innocent among predators, guilt as illness — drives 'Drunken Angel', 'Ikiru' and 'The Bad Sleep Well'. Reading the novel explains why his heroes are so often diagnosed rather than judged.
• Peer · Twenty-Four Eyes by Keisuke Kinoshita (1954). Kinoshita was Kurosawa's exact contemporary and rival within the postwar humanist cinema, sharing the same critics' polls and the same subject: ordinary Japanese absorbing the cost of militarism. Where Kurosawa dramatized action, Kinoshita worked in tears and pastoral duration. Both were the studio-era prestige directors against whom the coming Japanese New Wave defined itself in the late 1950s.
• From the Canon · Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa (1954). A year-long shoot, a budget that alarmed Toho, and the invention of a template — recruit specialists, train villagers, defend against raiders — copied ever since. Multiple cameras with long lenses, telephoto compression in the final battle, and rain machines in cold mud produced an action syntax later standard worldwide. Takashi Shimura's Kambei and Toshiro Mifune's Kikuchiyo are the two poles of his whole cinema.
• Key Collaborator · Samurai Rebellion by Masaki Kobayashi (1967). Mifune made sixteen films with Kurosawa before their break after 'Red Beard' in 1965; this is the great performance he gave elsewhere, as an aging retainer whose obedience finally snaps. Watching him under Kobayashi's colder, more geometric direction clarifies what Kurosawa's camera actually did with him — the animal restlessness that made Kikuchiyo and Sanjuro, redirected into contained fury.
• Legacy · A Fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone (1964). Leone remade 'Yojimbo' as a Spaghetti Western without securing rights; Toho and Kurosawa sued and won a settlement including distribution revenue. Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name is Mifune's masterless drifter playing two gangs against each other, poncho for kimono. The lawsuit is the most literal proof in cinema history of how directly Kurosawa's structures passed into the Western he had drawn from.

What influenced Akira Kurosawa

• Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1606). Macbeth (William Shakespeare) — culture for Akira Kurosawa (also via Throne of Blood) “Akira Kurosawa adapted Macbeth and King Lear as Throne of Blood and Ran” (Wikipedia)
• William Shakespeare (1564). Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa) — legacy for William Shakespeare (via Throne of Blood, Macbeth, King Lear) “Shakespeare has been a rich source for filmmakers; Akira Kurosawa adapted Macbeth and King Lear as Throne of Blood and Ran.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard. Kurosawa named Breathless among his favorite films. “Akira Kurosawa listed Breathless as one of his 100 favourite films” (Wikipedia)
• Kajirō Yamamoto. Kurosawa trained under mentor director Kajirō Yamamoto. “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.” (Wikipedia)
• Macbeth by Shakespeare. Kurosawa's film 'El castillo de telaraña' is stated to be inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth. “última producción, “El castillo de telaraña”, film inspirado en la obra “Macbeth”, de Shakes peare, que lleva guión del propio Kurosawa.” (Diario Las AméRicas (Miami, Fla.;Miami Springs, Fla.))
• King Lear by William Shakespeare. Kurosawa's Ran adapts Shakespeare's King Lear. “Akira Kurosawa adapted Macbeth and King Lear as Throne of Blood and Ran” (Wikipedia)
• La Strada by Federico Fellini. Kurosawa named La Strada as one of his favorite films. “International film directors who have named La Strada as one of their favorite films include Stanley Kwan , Anton Corbijn , Gillies MacKinnon , Andreas Dresen , Jiří Menzel , Adoor Gopalakrishnan , Mike Newell , Rajko Grlić , Spike Lee ,…” (Wikipedia)
• Humanity and Paper Balloons by Sadao Yamanaka (1937). Humanity and Paper Balloons (Sadao Yamanaka) — ghost for Akira Kurosawa “Viewers and critics (notably, Donald Richie and Tadao Sato in pioneering studies of Japanese cinema) note in his surviving films the genesis of ideas later explored by the internationally successful Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasuj…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• In a Grove by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Rashomon is based on Akutagawa's short story In a Grove. (via Rashomon) “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.” (Wikipedia)
• John Ford. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa) — legacy for John Ford (via Seven Samurai) “Ford's work was held in high regard by his contemporaries, with Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, Frank Capra, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Ingmar Bergman naming him one of the greatest directors of all time.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith (1915). The Birth of a Nation (D. W. Griffith) — titan for Akira Kurosawa (themoviedb.org)
• The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1869). The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky) — culture for Akira Kurosawa “Kurosawa's next film, for Shochiku, was The Idiot, an adaptation of the novel by the director's favorite writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein (1925). Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein) — titan for Akira Kurosawa (themoviedb.org)
• Sanshiro Sugata Part II by Kazuo Hasegawa (1945). Sanshiro Sugata Part II (Kazuo Hasegawa) — ghost for Akira Kurosawa

Peers and kindred spirits

• Kumonosu Djo. Kumonosu Djo directed by Akira Kurosawa. “Japón: “Kumonosu Djo” (El Trono de Oro), dirigida por el famoso Akira Kurosawa” (El Sol (Phoenix, Ariz.))
• Samurai Rebellion by Masaki Kobayashi (1967). Samurai Rebellion (Masaki Kobayashi) — collaborator for Akira Kurosawa “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).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Film Art Association. Kurosawa co-founded the Film Art Association production company. “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).” (Wikipedia)
• Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu (1953). Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu) — geography for Akira Kurosawa “Occupation of Japan: The Cases of Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Ugetsu by Kenji Mizoguchi (1953). Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi) — geography for Akira Kurosawa “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, …” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Kurosawa Production Company. Kurosawa established his own production company. “the Kurosawa Production Company was established in April 1959, with Toho as the majority shareholder.” (Wikipedia)
• Club of the Four Knights. Kurosawa co-founded the Club of the Four Knights with three fellow directors. “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 ).” (Wikipedia)
• Twenty-Four Eyes by Keisuke Kinoshita (1954). Twenty-Four Eyes (Keisuke Kinoshita) — peer for Akira Kurosawa “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).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Burmese Harp by Kon Ichikawa (1956). The Burmese Harp (Kon Ichikawa) — peer for Akira Kurosawa “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).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Toshiro Mifune. Toshiro Mifune starred as an actor in Seven Samurai. (via Seven Samurai) “the critics and fans broke into spontaneous applause for the performance of an actor—Toshiro Misune, who portrayed a Samurai killed in the last moments of the film.” (Evening Star (Washington, D.C.))

Who Akira Kurosawa influenced

• Star Wars by George Lucas (1977). Star Wars (George Lucas) — legacy for Akira Kurosawa (also via The Hidden Fortress) “Star Wars was significantly influenced by samurai films of Akira Kurosawa , Spaghetti Westerns , as well as classic sword and sorcery fantasy stories.” (Wikipedia)
• George Lucas (1944). George Lucas revered Kurosawa and considered him a role model. (also via The Hidden Fortress, Star Wars) “Lucas, like many other New Hollywood directors, revered Kurosawa and considered him a role model” (Wikipedia)
• A Fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone (1964). A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone) — legacy for Akira Kurosawa (also via Yojimbo) “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.” (Wikipedia)
• My Neighbor Totoro. Kurosawa praised My Neighbor Totoro as one of his favorite films. “Akira Kurosawa said the film moved him, naming it among his hundred favorite films—one of few Japanese films to be named.” (Wikipedia)
• Paul Thomas Anderson. The article says Anderson cited Kurosawa as an influence. “He has cited Robert Altman , Martin Brest , Jonathan Demme , Robert Downey Sr. , Alfred Hitchcock , John Huston , Alex Cox , Stanley Kubrick , Akira Kurosawa , Mike Leigh , David Mamet , Anthony Mann , Max Ophüls , Martin Scorsese , Stev…” (Wikipedia)
• Roman Polanski (1933). Polanski also named Kurosawa as one of his favorite filmmakers. “Roman Polanski considered Fellini to be among the three film-makers he favored most, along with Akira Kurosawa and Orson Welles .” (Wikipedia)
• Guy Ritchie (1968). Ritchie praised Seven Samurai. (via Seven Samurai) “He has complimented several films including The Long Good Friday (1980), The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Seven Samurai (1954) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).” (Wikipedia)
• Andrei Tarkovsky. Seven Samurai appears in Tarkovsky’s list of favorite films. (via Seven Samurai) “City Lights by Charlie Chaplin ; Ugetsu by Kenji Mizoguchi ; Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa” (Wikipedia)
• Francis Ford Coppola. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa) — titan for Francis Ford Coppola (via Rashomon) “=== Whisky advertisement === Coppola appeared in a commercial for Suntory Reserve in 1980 alongside Akira Kurosawa; the commercial was filmed while Kurosawa was making Kagemusha, which Coppola produced with George Lucas.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Zhang Yimou (1950). Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa) — titan for Zhang Yimou (via Rashomon) (themoviedb.org)
• Yojimbo by Walter Hill (1996). Yojimbo (Walter Hill) — legacy for Akira Kurosawa