Kurosawa and Mifune A Partnership That Redefined Japanese Cinema
Mifune’s Path from Rival to Icon Under Kurosawa’s Direction
Today, I will examine the relationship between Akira Kurosawa, a representative figure of post-war Japanese cinema, and actor Toshiro Mifune, from the perspective of hospitality.
In the relationship between host and guest, as previously discussed in the context of hospitality, it is the host’s role to prepare an environment conducive to mutual growth. However, the guest must possess the skill to independently elevate themselves while fully appreciating the host’s hospitality without becoming complacent. Otherwise, they risk being metaphorically “cut down.”
In the post-war era, when everything had changed drastically, the relationship between Akira Kurosawa, a leading director of Japanese cinema, and Toshiro Mifune, a prominent actor, embodied the creation of a film culture rooted in hospitality.
A director who welcomes an adversarial guest and an actor who introduces the absence of a host—within this dynamic, Kurosawa, as the host, thoroughly crafted an equal relationship with Mifune, the guest.
This equality is palpable even within the tension present in their films. At the same time, to prevent the young Mifune from becoming disheartened, Kurosawa strategically placed another key actor to mediate their relationship. This actor was Takashi Shimura, an indispensable presence in Kurosawa’s films.
During an era when many directors looked down on actors, Kurosawa never demeaned them. Like a samurai duel, he regarded actors as equal partners, mutually trusting in their shared love of cinema, elevating each other, and even shaping the actors’ lives beyond the films. This was the essence of Kurosawa’s filmmaking.
Kurosawa imposed numerous trials on Mifune—not out of a gentle, parental relationship, but as part of a constant, tension-filled host-guest dynamic. For the young Mifune, who had experienced war, Kurosawa designed trials in each film to prevent him from losing himself amidst the changing times.
Mifune, in turn, engaged with these trials with all his might.
When Mifune shone as an actor in Kurosawa’s films, it marked the moment a protagonist was created within Kurosawa’s domain. In fact, Kurosawa persistently grappled with nullifying the concept of the protagonist in his films, reflecting his deep understanding of the uneasy issues surrounding the modern individual in post-war Japanese society.
Mifune first appeared in a Kurosawa film in the 1948 work Drunken Angel, followed by The Quiet Duel and Stray Dog in 1949. However, during this period, Mifune was subsumed under the presence of Takashi Shimura, a highly skilled actor, and did not yet embody a protagonist.
Shimura, who appeared in a variety of works, possessed exceptional skills for his time, enabling him to play roles that appeared to be protagonists while nullifying their protagonist status.
In the 1950 films Scandal and Rashomon, Kurosawa refined his technique, dispersing and nullifying Mifune’s burgeoning spirit as an inevitable protagonist in response to post-war Japanese expectations. By the time of the 1951 film The Idiot and the subsequent Ikiru (1952)—where Mifune does not appear—Kurosawa took a pause. Finally, in the 1954 masterpiece Seven Samurai, Kurosawa reached a mature technique for nullifying the era’s trend toward protagonist-making.
This film became a turning point. After honing his techniques to enable Mifune to become a protagonist in the 1955 film I Live in Fear, Kurosawa began casting rivals to match Mifune, who had grown stronger after overcoming numerous trials, as Japan entered its period of post-war recovery.
This approach mirrored the relationship between Musashi Miyamoto and Kojiro Sasaki in the Sengoku period. In every era, encountering a worthy rival becomes a turning point in life.
In the 1957 film Throne of Blood, Mifune surpassed Minoru Chiaki to become a protagonist. In the same year’s The Lower Depths, his presence as a protagonist grew, and in the 1958 film The Hidden Fortress, he achieved a new level of protagonist status beyond his earlier roles.
By the end of the 1950s, Mifune and Kurosawa’s relationship had become autonomous. This development granted them the momentum to move into the radically changing 1960s—a transition other outstanding directors of their time could not make.
In 1960, Kurosawa released The Bad Sleep Well. In this film, he cast a stellar ensemble of actors while deliberately restraining Mifune’s role from standing out. Even within such constraints, Kurosawa imposed trials to enable Mifune to achieve overwhelming protagonist status.
Having successfully overcome these difficult trials, Mifune established an unshakable trust with Kurosawa. This led to the 1961 Yojimbo and 1962 Sanjuro, marking the first attempts to position Mifune as a protagonist in samurai films.
At this time, Kurosawa introduced Tatsuya Nakadai as Mifune’s rival. Nakadai, a top-tier actor capable of performing both period and contemporary roles, became an uncompromising adversary for Mifune.
From Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962) to High and Low (1963), Mifune and Nakadai co-starred for three consecutive years, with Mifune overcoming rigorous trials.
Kurosawa, respecting Mifune’s unyielding character, prepared the ultimate stage for him after this long passage of trials: the 1965 masterpiece Red Beard.
Mifune’s overwhelming presence in this film needs no further elaboration.
Having accepted Kurosawa’s hospitality as a guest and never forgetting his gratitude, Mifune overcame every trial to become both Japan’s leading actor and a paragon of integrity for his era. Following Red Beard, Mifune no longer appeared in Kurosawa’s films.
Ultimately, Mifune transcended Kurosawa’s trials to become a globally renowned actor.
Today, the tension-filled relationships between directors and actors that once existed in Japan have vanished. However, during the 1950s, when Japanese cinema produced truly remarkable works, such relationships were commonplace.