Japan Synopsis
笛吹川
In a time of continuous civil wars ravaging the fields of feudal Japan, the eldest son of a very poor peasant family, living alongside the bridge over the Fuefuki river, decides to serve a warlord to escape his miserable condition, being soon followed by his younger brothers. Although not all the men of the family take this tragic path of death, women of the family will be doomed to endure the pain of loss during the next five generations.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with The River Fuefuki. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Shochiku
War + Drama in Japan
59 Japan titles in our catalog blend the War and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding The River Fuefuki itself).
The 1959–1961 Japan Window
The River Fuefuki holds position #15 of 36 Japan films in the 1959–1961 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
#1Hero of the Red Light District
★ 8.6 · 1960
#2The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
★ 8.4 · 1961
#3The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
★ 8.2 · 1959
#4Yojimbo
★ 8.1 · 1961
#5The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
★ 8.0 · 1959
#6When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
★ 8.0 · 1960
#7Hiroshima Mon Amour
★ 7.8 · 1959
#8Good Morning
★ 7.7 · 1959
The 1960s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1960s in Japan, 202 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The River Fuefuki premiered alongside 15 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 15 other Japan films in 1960.
The 139th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
10 audience reviews — more than 6% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 14th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on The River Fuefuki, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- bridge · 3
- feudal japan · 26
- river · 10
- civil war · 8
- peasant · 7
- feudal lord · 6
- based on novel or book · 288
- samurai · 128
- family relationships · 57
- period drama · 37
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #1,901 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (58th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.3 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan War productions specifically: #61 of 105 (top 58%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Shochiku |
| Runtime | 1h 57m |
| Release Date | October 19, 1960 |
| IMDb | tt0053842 |