Sanjuro is a rare film for Akira Kurosawa: a sequel. Following the blockbuster success of Yojimbo (1961), a darkly comic jidai-geki (a period film about samurai), Kurosawa dusted off an older script and tailored it to Toshiro Mifune’s gruff, wily samurai. However, although the two films were released only a year apart, Mifune’s character Sanjuro seems to have undergone a radical transformation from amoral dog to altruistic wise man. The disconnect would seem severe, perhaps completely disorienting, if it were not for the pitch-perfect performance by Mifune in both films, which finds connective tissue between the two moral poles. Making the most of his physical prowess and comic sensibilities, Mifune bridges the character gap by making his shaggy demeanor work to both ends—he is simultaneously a lout and a savior.

In Yojimbo he exploited a gang war that was tearing apart a small village to his own advantage; in Sanjuro he helps a group of young, idealistic samurai ferret out corruption in their clan. In both instances, Sanjuro is a perennial outsider, and each film ends with an iconic shot of him walking away from the camera into an unknown future. Whether working for the good of himself or others, he maintains his mythic status.

The difference in the two films is neatly summarized in how Sanjuro is introduced. In Yojimbo we first see him in tight close-ups, following along behind him as he walks down a road, the camera making him appear towering—larger than life. In Sanjuro he emerges sleepily from the shadows of a temple after overhearing the other samurai talking. He seems more like a vagrant than a warrior, and his natty hair and ragged clothes look especially impoverished against the more refined polish of the other samurai. Yet, looks can be and are deceiving, and Sanjuro’s unkempt appearance is just one of the many tricks he uses to disguise his true nature.

Sanjuro includes a number of memorable action sequences, including an early scene in which Sanjuro takes on an entire army of enemy samurai without ever actually drawing his blade (one of the film’s thematic underpinnings is the idea, first uttered by an old woman, that the best swords never need to be removed from their sheaths). The final showdown in Sanjuro, in which Mifune must face off with his chief rival (played by Tatsuya Nakadai, who also played his nemesis in Yojimbo) is legendary for Kurosawa’s over-the-top display of arterial spray, something that had never been seen in a film of this type, but was soon to become a staple of all samurai and kung fu movies (the literal geyser of blood that ends Sanjuro is one of the founding moments of modern cinematic violence).

In addition to being a rousing action movie, Sanjuro is also a biting satire of other samurai movies. By centering the film on such a rough central character, one who constantly undercuts samurai nobility by asking for food and money and having no overt allegiance to anyone, Kurosawa chips away at the foundation of samurai movie lore, one he helped create in his epic masterpiece Seven Samurai (1954). The younger samurai, filled with ideals and honor, are nonetheless silly and misguided, always ready to rush to their own deaths.

Sanjuro, his roughness a sign of his experience, is wise to the ways of the world and the way people think and act; he is brilliant at forecasting others’ actions and designing his own in response. His support of the young samurai is testament to the fact that he is, at heart, an honorable man; his grumling hilarious lines like “Do you ever get tired of being stupid?” is testament to the fact that honor comes in many shapes and sizes.

Yojimbo Criteron Collection 4K UHD + Blu-ray
Sanjuro is available as part of the Criterion Collection’s Yojimbo / Sanjuro: Two Samurai Films by Akira Kurosawa four-disc box set.
Aspect Ratio	2.39:1 (both films)
Audio	Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 surround (both films) Japanese Linear PCM 1.0 monaural (both films)
Subtitles	English
Supplements	Yojimbo Audio commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince Documentary on the making of Yojimbo, part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create Theatrical trailer Teaser trailer Stills gallery of behind-the-scenes photos Insert booklet featuring an essay by critic Alexander Sesonske and notes from Kurosawa and his cast and crew Sanjuro Audio commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince Documentary on the making of Sanjuro, part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create Theatrical trailer Teaser trailer Stills gallery of behind-the-scenes photos Insert booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Sragow and notes and statements from Kurosawa and his cast and crew
Distributor	The Criterion Collection
Release Date	January 7, 2025
COMMENTS
This four-disc set marks the fourth release of Yojimbo and Sanjuro by the Criterion Collection, following severely compromised 1999 nonanamorphic DVDs and then the two-film DVD boxset from 2007 and Blu-ray boxset from 2010, which featured new, anamorphic transfers. Now finally available in high definition, Criterion’s long-awaited new 4K UHD releases of both Yojimbo and Sanjuro boast images that derives from brand-new 4K scans of the original 35mm camera negatives for both films (the previous DVDs and Blu-rays were transferred from 35mm fine-grain master positives and were slightly windowboxed). The resulting images on both films are absolutely superb, with a notable increase in sharpness and excellent detail. The new 4K transfers really emphasize the contrast in the images, with solid blacks and nuanced grays, and digital restoration has removed virtually all signs of age and wear. In terms of sound, the discs offer two options on each film: a Linear PCM monaural soundtrack or a DTS-HD Master Audio three-channel surround mix that beautifully replicates the films’ original aural presentation via Perspecta Stereophonic sound. The Perspecta soundtracks were mastered from the 35mm original soundtrack negatives, while the monaural tracks were remastered from the 35mm optical tracks. All the supplements are the same as we saw on 2007 DVD and 2010 Blu-ray releases. Both films feature individual audio commentaries by the late film scholar Stephen Prince, author of Warrior’s Cinema, one of the preeminent scholarly works on Kurosawa. As he has on several other Criterion commentaries, including Kurosawa’s Red Beard (1964) and Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs (1971), Prince provides lively and deeply informative commentaries on Yojimbo and Sanjuro (few scholars on commentary tracks sound as excited to talk about the film as Prince does). In addition to illuminating Kurosawa’s aesthetics, Prince gives a great deal of background on Japanese culture and history that puts the films into a better context for Western viewers. In addition to the commentary, Criterion has also included episodes from the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create about the productions of the two films. The documentaries feature interviews with Kurosawa and a number of members of the cast and crew, each of whom has an interesting anecdote to tell about making the film. Also on each disc is a stills gallery of behind-the-scenes photos and two theatrical trailers. Each disc also comes with a perfect-bound insert booklet with essays and notes from Kurosawa and his cast and crew.

Copyright © 2025 James Kendrick

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