The Birth of Judo
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Kunio Watanabe
Shoichi Hirai
Yoko Matsuyama
Shintaro Kuraoka
Ryohei Uchida
Takeo Kawarazaki
Film Details
Synopsis
In late 19th-century Japan, Shogoro Yano, a young student of jujitsu, attempts unsuccessfully to unite the competing schools of the newest form of martial arts. His sister, Suga, is engaged to the son of Viscount Seikanji, an influential politician who has helped Yano obtain a position at the Imperial Academy. The viscount, opposed to jujitsu, orders Yano to give it up or leave the university. Yano refuses to abandon his study of jujitsu, and the viscount cancels his son's engagement with Suga. A rich businessman attempts to arrange a marriage with the viscount's son for his daughter, Sanae, a friend of both Suga and Yano, but Sanae refuses to go through with the marriage, and she offers her apologies to Suga and Yano. While on an errand, Toda, Yano's only disciple, is attacked and nearly killed by Kakefuda, an undisciplined student of jujitsu. Later, when an anonymous politician offers a new gymnasium to anyone who can beat Yano in a match, Toda substitutes for his teacher and gains revenge by overcoming Kakefuda. Yano, who has gained two more followers, decides to develop a purer form of jujitsu and name it judo, or "the way of nature."
Director
Kunio Watanabe
Cast
Shoichi Hirai
Yoko Matsuyama
Shintaro Kuraoka
Ryohei Uchida
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Released in Japan in March 1965 as Yawara sempu.
