Film Review: Mifune – The Last Samurai

A celebration of the greatest actor from the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema!

Doing the rounds of this year’s film festivals and screened at this year’s British Film Institute’s London Film Festival is ‘Mifune: The Last Samurai’, a new documentary directed by the Oscar winning Director Steven Okazaki (‘Days of Waiting’, ‘Unfinished Business’), produced by Toshiaki Nakazawa (‘13 Samurai’, ‘Hara Kiri: Death of a

WIN The Art Of The Japanese Sword: The Craft Of Swordmaking And Its Appreciation Now Closed!

Hooray! It’s competition time again!

In The Art of the Japanese Sword (Diverse Japan’s review here), master swordsmith Yoshindo Yoshihara offers a detailed look at the entire process of Japanese sword making, including the finishing and appreciation of Japanese blades.

Japanese sword art stands out in many ways: functionality as a weapon, sophisticated metallurgy and metal smithing, the shape of the blade itself—all contribute to the beauty of these remarkable weapons. The Art of the Japanese Sword conveys to the reader Japanese sword history and

Book Review: The Art Of The Japanese Sword: The Craft Of Swordmaking And Its Appreciation

Like people and snowflakes, no two Japanese swords are the same!

Written by Yoshindo Yoshihara (a third generation swordsmith) with Leon and Hiroko Kapp, The Art of the Japanese Sword is a beautiful large format book (effectively printed on glossy black paper with white text) that focuses on the production and understanding of the symbolic steel weapon once used by samurai and now admired by art collectors all round the world as an object of perfection, although many people use them to practice traditional Japanese martial arts like Iaido (the art of drawing the sword).

A True-Life Kabuki Crime Story: An Actor And His Geisha Mistress Murder Her Patron

An historical tale of love and murder that resulted in the death penalty!

Between 1868 – 1869 Kobayashi Kinpei, the boss of a successful money lending business, had prospered as a result of the economic downturn caused by the Boshin Wars between the Imperial and Shōgunate forces which led to the Meiji Restoration and the modernisation of Japan. In 1869 he met and bought the contract of a Geisha, Yoarashi Okinu and set her up in Saruwaka-cho in a shōtaku (a house in which a mistress is kept) and with a haneri (kimono under collar) shop in the

DVD Review: Samurai Warrior – A Film By Kenichiro Nishiumi

A coming-of-age story about a boys journey into manhood!

Learning his trade from Takashi Mike as assistant director, Kenichiro Nishiumi directs this 65 minute martial arts action saga about brotherhood, masculinity and self-discovery during Japan’s Warring States Period.

Three young men, Ryu, Yonesuke and Gon, known collectively as ‘The Devils’, set out to have feudal battles with other like-minded gangs from surrounding villages to see who is the toughest. This they do to create a fearsome reputation for pride and honour, and to win the