Japan Synopsis
影武者
“The Shadow of a man can never stand up and walk on its own”
Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.
Audience Engagement
574 audience reviews — more than 94% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (94th percentile) outruns trending popularity (79th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Kagemusha. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From TOHO
Action + Drama in Japan
444 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Action and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Kagemusha itself).
The 1979–1981 Japan Window
Among 65 Japan films we catalog from this window, Kagemusha places #7 — near the top of its class.
The 1980s Japan Landscape
Kagemusha premiered in 1980 — a quieter year for Japan cinema with only 17 titles in our catalog. The 1980s overall landed 280 films and series across 10 years of activity.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 3h 0m runtime, production spent $33K per minute on screen and earned $22K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 16 other Japan films in 1980.
The 533rd Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Kagemusha, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- impersonation · 3
- feudal japan · 26
- edo period · 19
- army · 17
- emperor · 16
- sengoku period · 14
- 16th century · 11
- warlord · 7
- doppelgänger · 7
- feudal lord · 6
- japan · 454
- samurai · 128
- jidaigeki · 61
- battle · 34
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #770 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (83rd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.9 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Action productions specifically: #348 of 1,714 (top 20%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Japan, United States of America |
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | TOHO, Kurosawa Production, 20th Century Fox, American Zoetrope |
| Runtime | 3h 0m |
| Release Date | April 26, 1980 |
| IMDb | tt0080979 |