黒帯三国志 / Kuro-obi sangokushi / Rainy Night Duel (1956)

Release date: January 29, 1956
Director: Senkichi Taniguchi
Studio: Toho
Cast: Toshirō Mifune, Shin Saburi, Akio Kobori, Kyōko Kagawa, Mariko Okada, Asami Kuji, Akihiko Hirata, Hideo Saeki, Yū Fujiki, Haruo Tanaka, Shōsaku Sugiyama et al.
Availability: No availability on home media. Infrequent screenings and television broadcasts.

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This is a film that has multiple English titles (and no English release). I've decided to go with the title that the film is listed under on Letterboxd, but it's not a literal translation - not even close, actually. A literal translation would be Black Belt Sangokushi, which is sometimes elaborated into Black Belt Romance of the Three Kingdoms, since that's what "sangokushi" means. ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong which is set during the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of China's Three Kingdoms period.)

Got all that? Okay.

A promo still from this movie has been the header image on my blog since I created it, but you may have noticed that said image has changed from a small, low-resolution photo to a large, high-quality scan. This is because I now own this promo still. It currently sits in a frame on my desk. Unfortunately I haven't seen the film, but maybe someday I'll get that lucky.

fun fact: it took me 11 months to notice Toshirō Mifune was in this photo

I have to continue talking about the title for a moment longer, because now that we know the historical context that it implies, I must disabuse you of the notion that this movie takes place in ye olde ancient times. It takes place at the end of the Meiji period (early 1910s). The movie is in fact bookended by shots of trains. I have read that the "Three Kingdoms" in the title is an allusion to Kyūshū, Honshū, and Hokkaido, but I'm not sure about that, due to not having seen the film.

On the surface, this may look like a samurai movie due to the way everyone is dressed, but it's actually about judo and karate. The story was written by Akira Shimomura and serialized in Novels and Readings magazine; I can't find out much about the story or the author, but it seems like Shimomura may have written other works about judo. The film was directed by Senkichi "No Way In Hell Am I Directing Godzilla" Taniguchi, and the music was done by our favorite, Akira Ifukube. You can actually find his score for the film on CD here and there, but the movie itself remains elusive. Kihachi Okamoto also served as assistant director. It would be a few years before he would make his solo directorial debut.

I don't own this, unfortunately

eiga.com and a translator will give you a decent summary of the film. Be sure to check out reviews on kinenote as well for much more plot detail. Toshirō Mifune plays what sounds like a righteous dojo member who is excommunicated from his former dojo and repeatedly pitted against human traffickers, people from rival dojo, and other opponents, while attempting to romantically pursue a woman who isn't allowed to be with him. 

I didn't start this blog to talk about Toshirō Mifune, though. Hirata's character is one of two sons of the head of a rival dojo who, as I understand it, does get some one-on-one fight scenes with Mifune. I must also mention that, yes, that is him with long hair in those photos up there. I don't know what to make of it either. Hirata seems to have the primary antagonist role here, which is interesting, and I'm hearing a lot of people express surprise to see him playing a karateka - get good and watch you some Tetsuwan Namida Ari!

extremely crusty poster

There are some more stills here, but whatever print this person was watching is so bad it looks like something made by the Lumiere brothers. There's been a handful of reviews from people who have seen it in theaters or on pay-per-view television over the years, so, as with many things, this could easily be released to home media, but it just isn't. Now is the time to be digitizing and releasing movies such as this one - the further the print degrades, the less use there’ll be in producing a home media edition.

It would appear that this was adapted into a manga twice in the same year that it was released. From what I can tell the serialized story came first, then the film and the manga concurrently, as a promotional campaign. (I managed to find some pictures of the actual manga itself and I do find it very amusing that the mangaka has chosen to make Hirata’s character bald.)

I'll end this post with a few miscellaneous impressions I've gleaned from reviews:

• The judo choreography is not good but the karate is alright.
• Some of the tertiary dojo guys use weapons like brass knuckles and chains, which is unusual.
• People don't really know for sure what the "Three Kingdoms" in the title refers to, what I mentioned above is just speculation.
• There's shakuhachi.
• General consensus is Mifune was too old for this role (he was 36 at the time).
• Hirata may have been playing his role comedically or it just came off that way unintentionally.

This is a really interesting movie that remains essentially unknown outside of its home country, and inaccessible even within it aside from the odd theater screening and TV broadcast. But people are seeing it somehow - the last review on Filmarks was from October 2023. Even though I haven't seen it, there are enough reviews of the film that I feel like I know a lot about it. And now you do too!