Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior

Kagemusha was Akira Kurosawa’s famous return to the samurai genre. While he first gained attention with more modern, film-noir dramas in the 1940s, his breakout hit was Rashomon (1950) set in feudal Japan. His next samurai picture, Seven Samurai, would be his opus, with many more samurai pictures to following including: Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro. However, Kurosawa retreated from filmmaking in the mid-1960s, only completing two films between 1965 and 1980. For his big-budget 1980 return, Kurosawa created one of the most epic films ever created in Japan. The scale was so large that Toho Studios ran over budget and the film was only able to be completed after George Lucas and Francis For Coppola convinced 20th Century Fox to step in and fill the shortfall. It is said that over 5000 extras were used in the final battle scene! Kagemusha went on to become the No. 1 film in Japan in 1980 and convinced the studios to pony up for his even bigger follow-up, 1984’s Ran!

There were many great country-of-origin posters produced for this epic film, but perhaps none so mysterious as this advance, special poster printed in glorious black and white inks. The title effect is the most subtle element, having been printed in glossy black over the matte black figure — a wonderful effect that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. Don’t miss this rare poster, only several have surfaced and this is the nicest copy I’ve ever seen.