Battle of the Japan Sea (film)

1969 Japanese film

Battle of the Japan Sea

Theatrical release poster

Japanese name
Kanji| 日本海大海戦
| Transcriptions

Revised Hepburn| Nihonkai Daikaisen
Directed by| Seiji Maruyama
Written by| Toshio Yasumi
Produced by| Tomoyuki Tanaka
Starring|

* Toshiro Mifune
* Yūzō Kayama
* Tatsuya Nakadai
* Toshio Kurosawa
* Makoto Satō
* Ryutaro Tatsumi
* Chishū Ryū
* Matsumoto Kōshirō VIII

Cinematography| Hiroshi Murai
Edited by| Yoshitami Kuroiwa
Music by| Masaru Sato

Production
company

Toho

Distributed by| Toho

Release date

* August 1, 1969 (1969-08-01) (Japan)

Running time

| 127 minutes
Country| Japan
Language| Japanese
Budget| ¥350 million[1]
Box office| ¥360 million[2]

Battle of the Japan Sea (Japanese: 日本海大海戦, Hepburn: Nihonkai Daikaisen, lit. 'The Great Battle in the Japan Sea') is a 1969 Japanese epic war film directed by Seiji Maruyama, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.[3][4] The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Yūzō Kayama, Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshio Kurosawa, Makoto Satō, Ryutaro Tatsumi, Chishū Ryū, and Matsumoto Kōshirō VIII.[4] In the film, the Imperial Japanese Navy and army fail in their attempts to seize Port Arthur, and the Russian Pacific Fleet bears down on the Japan Sea during the Russo-Japanese War.

The film was theatrically released in Japan by Toho on August 1, 1969 and earned ¥360 million, against a production budget of ¥350 million, during its theatrical run, making it the second-highest-grossing Japanese film of 1969.

## Production

[edit]

### Special effects

[edit]

Battle of the Japan Sea was the last film for special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya before his death.[3][5][a] A dedicated team of 60 artists worked on the 107 miniature ships created for the film.[7] In addition, the miniature of the battleship Mikasa was made up to 13 meters long.[7] Due to the weaker shell power during the Russo-Japanese War in the Pacific War, Freon gas was used to represent water column in the naval battle scene.[7]

## Release

[edit]

Battle of the Japan Sea was distributed theatrically in Japan by Toho on August 1, 1969.[4][8][9] During its theatrical release, the film earned ¥360 million.[2] It was released on DVD in Japan on June 21, 2001, by Toho Home Video.[10]

## Cast

[edit]

[4][11]

* Toshiro Mifune as Tōgō Heihachirō
* Yūzō Kayama as Hirose Takeo
* Tatsuya Nakadai as Akashi Motojiro
* Makoto Satō as Abo Kiyokazu
* Akira Kubo as Kikuisami Matsui
* Susumu Fujita as Kamimura Hikonojō
* Eijiro Yanagi as Itō Hirobumi
* Akihiko Hirata as Tsunoda Koreshige
* Yoshifumi Tajima as Ijichi Hikojirō
* Kenji Sahara as Maruhashi Hikosaburo
* Jun Tazaki as Shimaji Hashiguchi
* Masao Shimizu as Totsuka Tamaki
* Ryuji Kita as Admiral Kataoka Shichirō
* Toru Abe as Lieutenant Colonel Suji Genjiro
* Kiyoshi Kodama as Captain Yamamoto Shinjiro
* Yoshio Inaba as Shimamura Hayao
* Yoshio Tsuchiya as Akiyama Saneyuki
* Chishū Ryū as Nogi Maresuke
* Matsumoto Kōshirō VIII as Emperor Meiji
* Ken Mitsuda as Yamagata Aritomo
* Shin Tatsuoka as Inoue Kaoru
* Takamaru Sasaki as Kuki Ryūichi
* Ryutaro Tatsumi as Yamamoto Gonnohyōe
* Toshio Kurisawa as Pfc. Maeyama
* Takeshi Katō as Chief of Staff Officer Katō
* Andrew Hughes as Zinovy Rozhestvensky
* Harold Conway as John Campbell
* Hans Horneff as Nikolai Kolomeitsev
* Peter Williams as Admiral Nebogatov
* Jacob Shapiro as Informant
* Ted Gunther as Shuriakusu
* Osman Yusuf as a Russian officer
* Mitsuko Kusabue as Mrs. Tōgō
* Haruo Nakajima as Staff of the First Fleet (uncredited)
* Robert Dunham as Aide to Admiral Alekseyev (uncredited)
* Ralph Jesser as Staff Officer of the Baltic Fleet (uncredited)
* Arthur Stark as Captain Svarov (uncredited)
* Akio Kusama as Minister, Resident who sees off the Hitachi Maru
* Jun Funato as Staff Officer Yamaoka

## Notes

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1. ^ Tsuburaya's credit on All Monsters Attack was honorary; he was not involved in that film's production.[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Large Special Effects: Japanese Tokusatsu Film History (in Japanese). Asahi Sonorama. 1985. p. 267\. ISBN 9784257031888.
2. ^ a b Kinema Junpo Best Ten 85th Complete History 1924-2011. Kinema Junpo. May 2012. p. 260\. ISBN 978-4873767550.
3. ^ a b Ryfle 1998, p. 47.
4. ^ a b c d "日本海大海戦 : 作品情報". 映画.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-10-02.
5. ^ "VFXのルーツを知る！ 須賀川特撮アーカイブセンター訪問記と「特撮の街」須賀川市の取り組み（1） | 特集 | CGWORLD.jp". CG・映像の専門情報サイト | CGWORLD.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-10-02.
6. ^ Ryfle 1998, p. 157.
7. ^ a b c Nihon tokusatsu gensō eiga zenshū (Shohan ed.). Tōkyō: Keibunsha. 1997. p. 205\. ISBN 978-4-7669-2706-1.
8. ^ "日本海大海戦". www.jmdb.ne.jp. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
9. ^ allcinema, 映画 日本海大海戦 (1969)について 映画データベース - allcinema (in Japanese), retrieved 2021-10-02
10. ^ 「綴込特別付録 宇宙船 YEAR BOOK 2002」『宇宙船』Vol.100（2002年5月号）、朝日ソノラマ、2002年5月1日、 170頁、 雑誌コード：01843-05。
11. ^ Galbraith IV 2008, p. 259.

Bibliography

* Galbraith IV, Stuart (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-1461673743.
* Ryfle, Steve (1998). Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G. ECW Press. ISBN 1-55022-348-8.

## External links

[edit]

* Battle of the Japan Sea at IMDb
* Battle of the Japan Sea at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)

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