Details
HITORICA FOCUS
Who will emerge victorious, the oni or humans? A romantic-fantastic sword play brings back the legacies of Edo theater and Kyoto films to life!
The story begins in an imaginary version of Edo where humans and oni (demons) fight against each other. Wakuraba Izumo, a strong yet masterless samurai who left the shogunate’s oni task force to become a kabuki actor, fatefully encounters Tsubaki, a beautiful thief who thrives in the dark, and falls in love. In this romantic-fantastic sword play, which successfully modernizes the legacies of Edo theater culture and Kyoto films, “Ashura” reigns as the king of all oni. Izumo ventures into Ashura’s celestial castle and is intercepted by Abe no Jaku, his former colleague from the oni task force. Kabuki actor Tsuruya Nanboku IV silently observes the events unfold. Yet the mystery remains – who is Ashura?
Director Yojiro Takita
Actor Somegoro Ichikawa VII, Rie Miyazawa, Atsuro Watabe, Kanako Higuchi
Japan｜ 2005｜ 119min｜ ｜
- Love romance
director
Yojiro Takita [Film Director]
Born in Toyama. Debuted as director in 1981. “Comic Magazine” (1986) was a great success at the New York Film Festival. “When the Last Sword is Drawn” (2003) won Best Film at the Japan Academy Prize, and with “Departures” (2008), Best Film and Best Director at the Japan Academy Awards. He was also awarded Best International Feature Film by the Academy Awards, for the first time as Japan. It received high praise domestically and internationally. He continues to produce film enthusiastically, with “Sanpei the Fisher Boy(2009) , “Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer” (2012), “The Last Recipe”(2017) and “Sakura Guardian in the North” (2018). He has been awarded the Medal of Honour with Purple Ribbon in 2014.
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