Battle of the Japan Sea (film)
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| Battle of the Japan Sea | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | 日本海大海戦 | ||||
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| Directed by | Seiji Maruyama | ||||
| Written by | Toshio Yasumi | ||||
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka | ||||
| Starring | |||||
| Cinematography | Hiroshi Murai | ||||
| Edited by | Yoshitami Kuroiwa | ||||
| Music by | Masaru Sato | ||||
Production company | |||||
| Distributed by | Toho | ||||
Release date |
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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.
Special effects
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
Cast
- 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
