Sanshiro Sugata
The film is seen as an early example of Kurosawa's immediate grasp of the film-making process, and includes many of his directorial trademarks, such as the use of wipes, weather patterns as reflections of character moods, and abruptly changing camera speeds. The film itself was quite influential at the time, and has been remade on no fewer than five occasions. It spawned a sequel, "Sanshiro Sugata Part II", which was released in 1945 and also directed by Kurosawa. Plot. In 1883, Sanshiro is a talented though willful youth who wishes to become a jujutsu master by  becoming a student at one of the city's martial arts schools. His first attempts to find a suitable instructor fail, until he finally finds an accomplished master, Shogoro Yano from the Shudokan Judo school. Initially, Sanshiro is physically capable though he lacks any type of poise or reflection concerning his self-control and demeanor, and gets involved with brawls. However, after a grueling punishment set by his instructor to test his endurance by leaving him in a cold swamp overnight, Sanshiro begins to recognize the error in his ways and starts to appreciate that there is more to his  life and to his art than simple muscle and brawn. Sanshiro becomes a leading student in his school. The city is looking to employ one of the local martial arts schools to guide the training of its local police force, and the school of Sanshiro becomes a leading candidate along with its rival, the local school of Ryōi Shintō-ryū jujutsu led by Hansuke Murai. In a scheduled competition between the two schools, Sanshiro is chosen to represent his school in a public match against Murai himself to determine which school is best to train the local police in the  martial arts. The scheduled bout gets off to a slow start, but Sanshiro soon comes into his own and begins executing devastating throws which cause internal physical damage to his opponent. Although Murai tries to stand every time, energized by the memory of his daughter Sayo, he is forced to give up after the third time he is violently sent to the ground by Sanshiro. After the match, Sanshiro makes friends with his defeated opponent and is attracted to Sayo. Sayo is a local beauty, and another Ryōi Shintō-ryū jujutsu master, Higaki, competes with Sanshiro for her affections. When  he challenges Sanshiro to a duel to the death, Sanshiro accepts and defeats him by inflicting permanent crippling damage to Higaki. After emerging victorious from his duel, Sanshiro prepares for his next assignment in Yokohama while being escorted on the local train by Sayo. He promises to return to her after he finishes his journey. Production. Following five years of second unit director work on films such as "Uma" and "Roppa's Honeymoon", Kurosawa was finally given the go-ahead to direct his first film, even though he himself claimed that, in films like "Uma", "I had been so much  in charge of production I had felt like the director". After hearing of a new novel from the writer Tomita Tsuneo, Kurosawa decided the project was for him and asked film producer Iwao Mori to buy the rights for him. According to Japanese cinema scholar Donald Richie, the reason Kurosawa was allowed to direct the film was because he had had two film scripts printed, including one of which had won the education minister's prize. However, his work was too far away from the government requirements for a wartime film. Tomita's novel, on the other hand, was considered  safe, dealing, as it did, with a Japanese subject such as the martial rivalry between judo and jujitsu; being a period piece; and having a popular subject. Kurosawa deliberately went out to make a "movie-like movie", as he knew he would not be able to insert any particularly didactic qualities in the film. After the initial release, Japanese censors reportedly trimmed the film by 17 minutes. Some of this footage was later recovered and added to a DVD release, and the original script with the missing material still exists. The 1952 re-release (from which the 2009 Criterion DVD  is made) opens with (translated from the original Japanese text): Paul Anderer emphasized Kurosawa's attention to the character of Gennosuke Higaki in the film. Higaki, created by Tsuneo Tomita for the novel and inspired by real life jujutsu master Mataemon Tanabe, is the film's central villain. Anderer stated: Themes. The central theme of the film is the education and initiation of Sugata and the way in which, whilst learning the ways of Judo, he also learns about himself. The film's central scene concerning this theme is when, after being accosted by Yano for getting involved in a  streetfight, Sugata leaps into the cold waters near Yano's temple and stays there in order to show his master his dedication, and the fact that he is neither afraid to live nor to die. However, the resident monk chides him for this self-serving display, and he emerges from the pond a humbler man after witnessing the blooming of a lotus blossom, a Buddhist symbol of purity. Remakes. Films. "Sanshiro Sugata" has been remade five times since it was initially released, although these versions are even harder to find in the west than the original. The 1955 and 1965  versions share the script of the original versions, whereas the subsequent three releases are all based on the novel rather than Kurosawa's screenplay.