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.
The 1979–1981 Japan Window
65 Japan films released in this three-year window, ranked here by audience rating. Kagemusha sits at position #7.
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
The 1980s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year in the 1980s. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Kagemusha premiered. 280 total titles in this decade from Japan.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 3h 0m runtime, production spent $33K per minute on screen and earned $22K per minute back.
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 |