Battle of the Japan Sea

Budget
 Gross revenue
 Country
 Language

***Battle of the Japan Sea*** (日本海大海戦,   *Nihonkai daikaisen*?, Lit. Naval Battle of the Sea of ​​Japan) is a 1969 Japanese History film produced by Toho, and loosely based on a True Story. It was released to Japanese theaters on August 13, 1969. it was later featured in the documentary *Toho Unused Special Effects Complete Collection.*

## Plot

After the Boxer Rebellion , the British, American, French, German, Japanese, Italian, and Austria countries withdrew their troops, but only Russia retained 50,000 troops in Manchuria and further strengthened them. Japan's repeated protests were unsuccessful, and negotiations were finally cut off. On January 12, 1904, the Emperor Meiji stated that he would send a telegram directly to the Russian emperor , saying, "The severance of diplomatic relations is unfortunate for both countries," following the inclination to the Russo-Japanese War at the Gozen Kaigi in the Imperial Palace . However, there was no reply from the Russian government.

The Navy Minister , Gonnohye Yamamoto , advised Hirobumi Ito on the immediate action of the Navy . February 5, diplomatic relations of Japan and Russia are severed, the Combined Fleet Commander-in-Chief, Heihachiro Togo the Baltic Sea comes from the Baltic fleet in preparation for the confrontation with, was working on capture of Port Arthur.

## Cast

* Toshiro Mifune ( Admiral Togo Heihachiro, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Fleet)
* Yuzo Kayama ( Major Takeo Hirose )
* Tatsuya Nakadai ( Colonel Akashi Motojiro )
* Toshio Kurosawa ( First Class Soldier Miyoshi Maeyama )
* Atsushi Oshika ( Magoshichi Sugino )
* Keiji Higashiyama (Lieutenant Surgeon Fujimoto)
* Akira Kubo (Captain Kikuisami Matsui [ *citation needed* ] ) --Captain Kikuisami Matsumura in historical facts ?
* Makoto Sato ( Kiyokazu Abo )
* Susumu Fujita ( Lt. Gen. Hikonosuke Uemura )
* Akihiko Hirata ( Koreshige Tsunoda, Chief of Staff)
* Yoshio Tsuchiya ( Staff, Akiyama Saneyuki )
* Jun Funato ( Staff, Kumaji Yamaoka )
* Kenji Sahara ( Deputy Director of Shinano Maru , Hikosaburo Maruhashi )
* Yoshifumi Tajima ( Colonel Tomohiko Jiro Ichi )
* Hiroshi Koizumi ( Minister Shinichiro Kurino )
* Jun Tazaki ( Miyakojima , Tsukasa Hashiguchi )
* Eijiro Yanagi ( Hirofumi Ito )
* Takeshi Kato ( Colonel Kato Yuzaburo , Chief of Staff)
* Toru Abe ( Lt. Col. Genjiro Suji, 1st Regiment of Konoe Infantry)
* Masao Shimizu ( Director, Tamaki Totsuka )
* Hajime Shimizu ( Narukawa揆Colonel)
* Ryuji Kita ( Lt. Gen. Shichiro Kataoka )
* Kanta Mori ( Chief of Staff, Tomoyuki Iji )
* Toshiyuki Takahashi ( Major Taijiro Nagata )
* Haruo Nakajima (Sergeant Master Sergeant Morishita, NCO) \* Non-credit
* Seiji Matsuyama (Miyakojima youth, pine)
* Shin Tatsuoka ( Inoue Kaoru )
* Takamaru Sasaki ( Adviser Ryuichi Kuki )
* Kiyoshi Kodama ( Captain Shinjiro Yamamoto )
* Yoshio Inaba ( Staff Chief of Staff Hayao Shimamura )
* Ken Mitsuda ( Yamagata Aritomo )
* Kose Itaru (Lt. Col. Hunting Ground)
* Junichiro Mukai (Staff of the 1st Fleet)
* Naoya Kusakawa (Staff of the 1st Fleet)
* Yasuo Araki (Major Yamagata)
* Yutaka Sada (Fisherman of Hayafune)
* Koji Iwamoto (Hitachi Maru officer)
* Yasuzo Okawa (Young man of Hayafune)
* Kazuo Suzuki (Fisherman of Miyakojima)
* Chotaro Gin (gunner)
* Seishiro Kuno (Lieutenant Tsukamoto)
* Kensaburo Osawa (gunner)
* Ken Echigo (Mikasa officer)
* Yutaka Oka ( Commander of the White Fellow Corps )
* Yoko Yano (Matsu's wife)
* Noriko Honma (old woman at a candy store)
* Ted Gunther (Shriax)
* Jacob Japiro ( Informant )
* Harold Conway (Captain John Campbell)
* Osman Yusuf (officer)
* Peter Williams (Commander Nebogatov)
* Andrew Hughes ( Commander-in-Chief Rozhestvensky )
* Ryutaro Tatsumi ( Navy Minister Gonbei Yamamoto )
* Mitsuko Kusabue (Tetsu Togo)
* Chishu Ryu ( Maresuke Nogi )
* Koshiro Matsumoto ( Emperor Meiji )
* Masaaki Yajima (Narrator) \* Non-credit

## Staff

* Production: Tomoyuki Tanaka
* Director: Seiji Maruyama
* Special skill director: Eiji Tsuburaya
* Screenplay: Toshio Yasumi
* Photo: Hiroshi Murai
* Music: Masaru Sato
* Sound adjustment: Hisashi Shimonaga
* Model Illuminations: Akinori Takagi
* Edited by: Yoshitami Kuroiwa
* Cooperation: Mikasa Preservation Society

## Titles

* The Great Sea of ​​Japan (Japanese title)

## Overview

It is said to be the third work of the "Toho 8/15 series"  , but unlike the previous two works, it is based on the Russo-Japanese War . From the Russo-Japanese War outbreak, Maresuke Nogi due to Lushun Cheats, Battle of Tsushima in Heihachiro Togo led coalition fleet is the Baltic Fleet draw until the defeat.

### Tokusatsu

This work was the last movie in which Eiji Tsuburaya participated as a special skill director.

The miniature of the ship mobilized 60 art staff to prepare 107 ships . In addition, the miniature of the battleship Mikasa was made as large as 13 meters .

In the naval battle scene, considering that the power of shells is weaker at the time of the Russo-Japanese War than at the time of the Pacific War, the water column is represented by Freon gas  .

### Commentary

Veteran Toshio Yasumi wrote the scenario, and Seiji Maruyama of "Allied Fleet Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto 56" took a megaphone. The special skill director was Eiji Tsuburaya of "Destroy All Monsters", and Hiroshi Murai of "Nikudan" was in charge of shooting.

## DVD

* From Toho video on June 21, 2001 DVD was released.

## External Links

* Battle of the Japan Sea on IMDb
* Battle of the Japan Sea on Eiga.com
* Battle of the Japan Sea on JMDB