Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945) User Reviews

Not As Bad As They Say...(Spoilers Galore!)

[Lilcount · 6/10 · 19 January 2010]

WARNING! If you haven't seen this film yet, or the prequel for that matter, you will NOT want to read this review.

This film may be an artistic failure, but it is a very intriguing one.

Thematically, there is little that is new. It's a thinly disguised remake of "Sugata Sanshiro." The intrigue lies in the way Kurosawa disguises that fact. It's a window into his creative process.

Kurosawa adds only two elements to the plot: the young rikishaman Daisaburo and (important) the crazed Higaki brother Gensaburo. More on these later.

Visually the film is quite appealing. Instead of his trademark wipes AK uses dissolves to good effect on a few occasions, as when Sanshiro and the priest engage in zazen (sitting meditation.) The dissolve shows the priest still upright and Sugata sprawled on his back, fast asleep. of course there is also the famed series of multiple exposures showing without words the increasing confidence and skill of Daisaburo (well played by the unknown Ko Ishida.) The scene in which Gennosuke and Tesshin (both played by Ryonosuke Tsukigata) meet is well handled by doubles and precise editing, without split screen or multiple exposure.

Susumu Fujita's performance is superior to his effort in the original. And this time he displays real judo ability, in the series of throws he applies to Ishida in the training scene, and a well-executed ukemi (breakfall)while he is studying Gennosuke's karate manuscript.

The fight scenes are uneven at best, and the climactic fight between Sanshiro and Tesshin drags on far too long. (Compare it with the concise end fight in Part One - a couple of rolls in the grass, and suddenly Gennosuke has our hero in a lapel choke.) But the first sequence in the American embassy, showing Sanshiro's disgust with the spectacle of Western boxing, is superb from start to finish.

Now back to the plot. It's hard to "get" this film if you haven't seen the first one, as every event in this film refers to the first one, except for the final scene in the cabin. A few examples: the rickshaw, Sugata's question "What is boxing?" (last time it was "What is Judo?"), the opening throw into water, the final throw down a hill, etc. The only change to speak of is Sugata's tokui-waza (favorite technique.) In the first film it was "yama-arashi", mountain storm in English, as its name implies a very violent throw. (Look what happened to all who received it in the first film!) This time it's "kata guruma", or shoulder wheel, a more controlled technique since the thrower need not release his grasp of the receiver. (This is the technique with which Hansuke Murai nearly beat Sugata in the first film.) Sugata uses this throw at least four times: on the American sailor, twice on Daisaburo, and on Tesshin in their duel. He uses the more potent yama-arashi only against the champion boxer nicknamed the "Killer", and therein lies the point. After killing several men in matches, he doesn't want to kill any more. (He warns the sailor, "you might get hurt" and looks for a place to dump him without permanent damage.) Daisaburo is a plot device to get the story moving, true, but the fact that Sanshiro agrees to teach him is a sign of maturity.

What of Gensaburo? First he is a visual reminder that this is a sequel (two Higakis as foes instead of one.) Above all, Sanshiro defeats him with his spirit, without resorting to violence. As Lao Tzu put it, "to win without fighting is the acme of skill."

This analysis may seem far-fetched. It is after all only one man's opinion. Kurosawa himself thought little of this film, and his biographers dismiss it as well. But an unprejudiced viewing unearths a lot of ideas here.

And who knows? Perhaps the notion of telling the same story more than once led to Akutagawa's short stories and "Rashomon" - and all that came in its wake.

A final thought: While this film touting the superiority of Judo over boxing was being made in Japan, a film touting boxing over Judo was made in the USA. It's called "Blood on the Sun" and starred James Cagney, a legitimate Judo black belt. A curious coincidence.

Preserving the purity of martial arts

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 8 November 2008]

Sugata and Yano have established the dominance of Judo over jujitsu by defeating all comers, but Sugata is not satisfied. Yes, he is the best Judo practitioner in the land, but he is plagued by his victories and is not sleeping.

Judo is also facing competition from boxing and karate. Yes, boxing has come to Japan with the occupation. The anti-American sentiment is strong in this film as the top boxer is a drunken sailor who pick on poor rickshaw drivers until Sugata manages to cool him off - laterally. They will meet again.

Sugata finally comes to terms with who he is and dispatches the boxer in the first round. Now, the karate thugs have been injuring many to get Sugata to fight.

The actual fight is a letdown. It is staged to look almost like those shadow puppets. The calm and cool Sugata is facing a grimacing overly loud competitor.

It should not be a surprise who wins, but there are more demons on the horizon. Five years after this film, I will have arrived. What will happen then? The only distraction was the poor quality of the film. One would hope that a better copy would have survived. Of course, we have to wait until the arrival of Toshiro Mifune before Akira Kurosawa perfects his Samurai films and becomes the great master that he was.

Kurosawa's propaganda film

[Get_your_azz_to_Mars · 6/10 · 25 April 2014]

'Sanshiro Sugata Part II', unlike the first film from 1943, is essentially a propaganda film, but don't let that dissuade you from seeing it as there are sequences in the film that display Kurosawa's growing strengths as a filmmaker.

The story line is rather muddled but basically Sugata feels as if the traditional Japanese forms of martial arts are facing extinction with the emerging popularity of American boxing. Sugata aims to preserve that by defeating a notorious American boxer while extinguishing threats from two karate masters obsessed with destroying him. In the end, Sugata easily crushes his American opponent and brings the two karate masters into his fold.

Clearly the film is about uniting the Japanese people and culture against the American menace and its potential to destroy the Japanese people and their way of life. When the film was shot in early 1945 the war was going horribly for Japan and bombs were raining down upon their cities. The Japanese government ordered Kurosawa to make this film to help shore up domestic support for the Japanese cause and to also suggest that the coming Americans may spell doom for their people and way of life.

Now Kurosawa created two very interesting sequences in this picture. One is where Sugata is watching the first fight between the American and Japanese and how disgusted he was with how things unfolded. Kurosawa does a series of close-ups of Sugata and then cuts to his point-of-view as he observes people cheering at the violence, laughing, etc...and with each reverse to Sugata you can feel his disgust. It's a very well done montage without any dialogue except for the noise of the fight and the cheers.

The other is the final battle between Sugata and the karate master atop a mountain with wind and snow blasting all around them. This is one of the earliest examples of Kurosawa using extreme weather elements in the midst of a battle or confrontation, and it is very well done. This notion of extreme weather during a battle or struggle occurs in a number of his pictures including 'The Seven Samurai', 'Dreams', and 'Yojimbo'. As in those later pictures, the extreme weather heightens the tension, creates dynamic images, and visuals expresses the rage and confusion and frustration of the characters, much like earlier German Expressionism.

So while 'Sanshiro Sugata Part II' is not a classic Kurosawa picture with its choppy story line and overt propaganda, it still is an interesting film that shows his growing prowess as a filmmaker. Give a look Kurosawa fans.

A great disappointment

[matt-803 · 6 April 2004]

I searched for this film for many years after having seen and loved the original. After living in Japan for a while I came across a Japanese language version.

This movie was a great disappointment to me and I'm sorry to say that Donald Ritchie's observation that Akira did not seem to take this project seriously seems to hold true. It has none of the visual or dramatic impact of the first Sanshiro film leaving only a standard Japanese propaganda film with little in the way of new scenarios,characterization or concepts.

Unfortunately, even for fans like myself of Kurosawa this film is hardly worth watching.

Second Not Quite Up to the First

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 20 March 2015]

The martial arts are so dominant in Asian cultures. Kurosawa uses them in most of his films. This is the sequel to his first film, starring the same actor and character. It is rather talky. For some reason there are American sailors all over the place (I haven't had the time to investigate why so many were there in the time period shown). They have brought their great boxer, I suppose, to make them look idiotic, using fighting for profit rather than as a spiritual endeavor. Sugata is a folk hero and carries a lot of weight. When he sees a fellow martial arts expert beaten to a pulp, he feels he must do something to bring respect. Along the way, he becomes so famous (like a successful gunfighter) that the negative element wants a piece of him. There is just something lacking in this and is not the best Kurosawa (although he certainly was learning).

"Boxing is not fighting."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 22 May 2021]

Recently watching Sanshiro Sugata (1943-also reviewed) ,I was interested to find a sequel to the title in the Criterion AK 100 box set, leading to me meeting Sugata again.

View on the film:

Kicking off his loose adaptation of Tsuneo Tomita's novel with Sugata beating up an American sailor, the screenplay by editor /writer/directing auteur Akira Kurosawa dodges the coming of age sports drama of the first film, to instead deliver full-on propaganda punches, unleashed in quick-fire dialogue about how boxing is a dirty American invention, and that Sugata must protect the purity of his judo mastery.

Completed just 18 days before he got married to Yoko Yaguchi, (co-star of his earlier film The Most Beautiful (1944-also reviewed) and later stating he only made the movie because the studio were demanding a sequel, (some parts of the film industry never change!) Kurosawa reunites with cinematographer of this era Takeo Ito, and slices pass a surprising lack of screen-wipes, with lively action set-pieces.

Continuing to expand of his eye for shooting in real locations, Kurosawa & Ito give the boxer V judo match a fight night atmosphere of whip-pans round the ring,and swift wide-shots of the crowd on their feet watching the match.

Kurosawa spills out this white-hot mood to the great frosty final duel against a snow-covered back-drop,where Sugata's screams cut through the cold air like a knife, ( Susumu Fujita did the fight under mountains of real snow barefooted, leading to his feet going numb during filming) as Kurosawa closes his first sequel.

2.14.2024

[EasonVonn · 6/10 · 13 February 2024]

Akira Kurosawa's third film, released a year after The Most Beautiful (which he made for his wife) (actually, if it weren't for the lousy search function of Douban, there'd be no need to repeat this sort of objective reality in a review).

Akira Kurosawa himself, in his autobiography "Toad's Oil", doesn't seem to recognize much of the cinematic value of this "sequel to Zizan Sanshiro", which coincides with the popular aesthetic, the biggest criticism being the lyrical patriotism, similar to that in the modern-day Ip Man, an element that was loathed in the movies 60 years ago, and is still the case 60 years later. It's just obvious that the director, who has influenced Western cinema many times over in terms of casting and dramatization, naturally has his own insights. In the "Zi San Shiro sequel" will rarely see so involved, Kurosawa has shot, so low mobilization of nerves of film and television subject matter, at this point, I think the domestic film and television industry is still worth looking back at history to learn.

But the master is a master, after all, in the "Zi San Shiro sequel" we did not see colorful on that bad bridge too much continuation, but is point to the end, in the end oriented to the benevolence of the evil of revenge on the ending. It's as if when countless critics were giddy as if they were watching this talented Japanese director have some cracks in him, Akira Kurosawa once again backtracked on the theme of human kindness so that his early style wouldn't be so clearly labeled as patriotic.

Even now, as a director who has just made two movies, in his early work has revealed extremely artistic light and composition, in dealing with multiple people standing, not only makes people wonder if Antonioni has come here to steal the division.

Kurosawa's First Sequel

[boblipton · 7/10 · 24 August 2022]

"So, Akira, you've done a propaganda movie for the war effort. How about another Judo movie? "But I've already done it." "Have him do the same thing, only with more evil karate masters!"

Zoku Sugata Sanshirô: By the numbers sequel

[Platypuschow · 4/10 · 28 July 2018]

Though not impressed with the original Sanshiro Sugata I did consider it a noteworthy film in Japanese movie history and certainly had its charm.

The sequel see's our judo fighter hero presented with further foes he must vanquish and more moral dilemmas. Ontop of this he finds himself pressured into participating in an east vs west/boxing vs judo bout.

This sequel was heavily criticized and considered a propaganda film (Of which there were many around this time coming out of Japan). Truth be told I don't understand why or how this could be considered such, there was no military/political motivation to be found.

Inferior to the original? Yes, but not by much. The Sanshiro Sugata movies have their merits but don't deserve (In my opinion) the critical acclaim they recieved. I'm curious what happened with the sequels and quite look forward to finding out.

The Good:

Follows on from the original well

The Bad:

Looks dated even for its time

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Susumu Fujita was reincarnated as Mark Dacascos

Fighting barefoot in the snow for real, there should be an oscar category for such feats!

A great companion piece to the first film

[rawisnwo · 7/10 · 21 September 2021]

I did not review the first film but think it is necessary to review the second because of the way the two compliment one another.

Two years have passed since the events of the first movie and we get Sugata immediately getting into a scuffle with an American sailor who is abusive towards a young rickshaw driver. This leads to one of the main plots of the story: eastern martial arts (judo, jujitsu, karate) against western prizefighting.

The other main plot in the story is Sugata coming to terms with his judo, skills, wins and the effects it has on other people. Including an overwhelming sense of guilt for winning matches against Murai and Higaki. We find out Murai has died, although it is not clear if their match in the first film was connected to his death. Higaki's character, much like the first film, is one of the most interesting. He has gone from being the arrogant antagonist of Sugata to a mere shell of his former self, willing to help Sugata defeat his own misguided brothers.

One of the more disappointing aspects of this film is the marginalization of Sugata and Sayo's romance. While they do touch on it, they barely develop it as I (and surely others) would have liked to see. Especially considering how pure and vital it is in the first film.

The best aspect of the film is Sugata's realization of self and merging his path of who he wants to be with who he is. The last moments of the film really reflect that and you feel as content as Sugata does in the end.

The Kurosawa Sanshiro Sugata films watched together as a whole make both films better as they really add depth and expand on the characters (outside of Sayo). And while each individual movie I gave 7 stars, if they were one complete movie I would give it 9 stars because of how some aspects, plots and characters are better known between the two films.

a poor follow-up to part one

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 30 June 2005]

There were many reasons I was unimpressed by this film, though one had was certainly not the fault of anyone connected with the movie. Because this it is rarely seen, and it's hard to come by. I finally found both part one and two as an import from MEI AH Laser Disc Company--and boy did THAT leave a lot to be desired. The quality of the print was very poor (though MUCH worse on this sequel--the final fight sequence almost looks like it was a fight between two shadows) and the captioning was beyond abominable! When my daughter saw part of it, she immediately recognized the problem. It seems that many Japanese movies are released by Chinese companies, so the movie is translated from Japanese to Chinese and finally to English--and so much was lost in the translation it practically ruined the experience. For example, "JUDO" is translated as either "Karate" or "Kung Fu" in the movie. For two movies about Judo, the word NEVER appears in the subtitled version! Also, countless sentences simply make no sense--it's as if the words are almost random at times.

Part two sacrifices some of the quality seen in part one because the movie obviously is intended as a propaganda flick. Instead of a struggle between rival judo studios, at times, it is a rivalry between judo and stupid Americans. Particularly at the beginning of the movie, the American shown is quite a pig and intended to stir the audience. Now some of this can be forgiven, after all, Americans made many propaganda films as well in which the enemy was seen as almost subhuman. However, it is disturbing to think that the extras used in this film were almost certainly POWs forced to act! My advice is to see any of Kurasawa's post ww2 films--they are indeed masterpieces!

Where the way of the Martial Artist is paramount.

[RJBurke1942 · 8/10 · 19 December 2007]

I saw the Kurosawa's first film, Sugata Sanshiro (1943), many years ago and was much impressed by the story and the spirit of martial arts, thus portrayed. It wasn't my introduction to Kurosawa, however, having already seen Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961).

Now, having seen the sequel to Sugata Sanshiro, one thing is certain: full appreciation for the story within the first film and this sequel is only possible, in my opinion, if you are, in fact, a practitioner of martial arts also – which I am, and have been for thirty years. Note that I'm not excluding appreciation of Kurosawa's skill as a director; that's something that everyone can recognize and applaud. Even with these early films, Kurosawa's trademarks are clear: long silences, tightly framed sets where action moves across and around it, long close-ups of faces, objects and such like, much face-to-face dialog, and music that is generally muted.

This sequel is ostensibly about Japanese-American relationships in 1887, when Sugata is finally seduced into a match-up between himself and an American boxing champion. The film was made in 1945, soon after the Japanese surrender. Hence, the reason for that part of the story line is clear: even in the defeat of war, the Japanese martial spirit remains supreme. It is an understandable need on the part of Japan, and Kurosawa, at that time.

However, Kurosawa, and others involved no doubt, must have realized that there was a problem: the essence of martial arts is defense, not offense. So, it's entirely uncharacteristic for a true martial arts student to actively search out a contest that he knows has usually one outcome only: death for one of the competitors. Hence, Sugata must be shown as weak and indecisive at first so that he falls from grace, in his own eyes, when he defeats the American, who, fortunately, is not killed.

Sugata's salvation, however, as a true follower of the martial way, only comes when he meets the challenge of a karate champion in a fight to the death, during a winter storm on the side of a mountain. That fight scene is so realistic it's almost sublime: Kurosawa has captured exactly how two indomitable spirits stand and wait for the other to make the first move – because the first mistake means death for one of them. Instead, the elements defeat both of them, with the karate master falling down a steep incline when Sugata tosses him over his shoulder. Honor for both, however, is assuaged: they spend the night in a hut together, where both recover from their efforts while the karate master's brother keeps watch.

There's a crucial sub-plot with that brother that I'll leave you to discover because it's a turning point in Sugata's life that actually saves him from death. See this and you'll know why. And savor that final scene when Sugata wakes from his sleep to face a new day and, for him, a new beginning as a judo ka (judo student) and as human being. It's pure Kurosawa as only he could do...

My only puzzlement with this story is the presence of karate students and practitioners in Japan in the 19th century. From the history I've read, karate was introduced into Japan only in 1922 when Funakoshi Gichin of Okinawa was invited to provide a demonstration in Tokyo. However, I'll bow to Kurosawa's better knowledge about his own country and society.

If you practice martial arts, you should enjoy this film. If you're curious, I'd recommend you try to see both.

A film beneath the standards of excellence of Kurosawa but that will satisfy the completists...

[ElMaruecan82 · 6/10 · 10 June 2022]

I ended my recent review of "Sanshiro Sugata" by a sneaky remark. I alleged that the lead actor Susumu Fujita was no Toshiro Mifune... and I wish I could have found a more pleasant way to put it.

Now, let me reformulate. As true as it might be that Fujita doesn't have the same range, charisma or 'magnitude' than international icon Mifune, it is as unfair as comparing Harry Carey Jr. To John Wayne. And after that weird and rather corny opening, his appearance was quite a welcome sight. Indeed, something about the first minutes of the sequel of "Sanshiro Siguta" (which I prefer to refer to as "The Legend of the Great Judo") really set me off. The drunken Yankee sailor (played by Osman Yusuf!) kept blabbering some American slang with a rather convincing accent but the rickshaw was playing it it (no pun intended) as if he was playing in a Mac Senntt film.

Fujita's entrance changes the tone. He looks stern, menacing, and oddly intimidating. The confrontation did not leave much for suspense; it was obvious that for his opening fight scene would be an easy win. Still, whatever is wrong with the sequel has nothing to do with Fujita, who delivers a memorable performance as the young, idealistic and well-meaning martial arts student. It is a good thing because Siguta is in such a perpetual self-doubt that his quest could have taken a trilogy. I doubt it would have helped Kurosawa's career and I am sure he was more than glad to change this after the war. Therefore, at the end Siguta reaches his personal nirvana after Kurosawa stretched his arc as far as he could.

For the rest, it takes a while for the film to find its tone as it keeps being entangled in the necessity to make a point about the art of judo's superiority over boxing, the decadent export of US. Apparently Kurosawa was somewhat forced into making the film a propaganda by underlining without any attempt at subtitlity that boxing incarnates a failure of civilization that is so opposed to the quest of Judo... but for that, Americans are barely present and are replaced by a Japanese manager who's a caricatural sellout. While the film is by no means mediocre, it is not the master's finest hour and you can tell that if it wasn't for that propaganda subtext, it could have made for a better experience. It doesn't help that the image and sound quality (obviously not restored) make it difficult to appreciate.

Now the film is slightly better when it makes connections with the previous one and shows Sigita struggling to forgive himself for the death of Yono's father (played by Shimura in the first film) and when all of sudden, two strange long-haired characters who look like coming from a fantasy horror film and with expressionnist shadows decide to come to revenge their brothers, leading to a climax set in the snow-covered mountains. Iy is so magnificent you'd think it was borrowed from another film... and come way too late in the film.

Overall, it is a decent film but, the result is so beneath the standards of excellence of Kurosawa and of intelligence, that it will probably satisfy some history buffs looking for expressions of propaganda Japanese film and naturally the completists. Apart from that, it is a warmup before Toshiro Mifune who was certainly the muse Kurosawa needed (with Shimura being the touchstone)

A slightly weaker follow-up to the original

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 26 May 2017]

SANSHIRO SUGATA, PART II is Akira Kurosawa's slightly weaker follow-up to the original movie, continuing the adventures of the martial arts expert. This one starts in an arresting fashion, featuring a bout between Sugata and an American sailor on the docks, and it goes on from there. I found the film to be slightly disappointing in the way it drags between the staged action bits, despite the short running time. However, the big set-pieces still continue to impress, with the big ring bout influencing the likes of FEARLESS and IP MAN 2 while the final snow-bound battle is classically staged and seems to have influenced the likes of THE Chinese BOXER and LADY SNOWBLOOD. Watch out for the wild-haired opponent, whose whoops and yells make him an early precursor to Bruce Lee.

Interesting rarity for Kurosawa buffs

[bymarkclark.com · 26 April 2000]

Due to its anti-American content, this film was never released in the US. Released in late 1945, in the early days of the American occupation of Japan, the movie has a strong anti-American slant. One of the two parallel plots of the film involves the young judo hero, Chee, and his battle to preserve the sanctity of the Japanese arts against the encroaching, brutish influence of American boxing. Americans are portrayed as a bunch of creeps. Eventually, Chee vanquishes the American champion to the wild cheers of his countrymen. This is by far the most interesting material in the film.

The judo vs boxing plot runs alongside a more pedestrian story: Chee is challenged by the brother of the karate master he vanquished at the finale of the original film. This story is a virtual carbon copy of the original, but with few of the original's charming nuances. The climactic final battle -- which takes place on a snow-covered moutainside -- is a pale imitation of the original's finale, which took place in a field of high grass.

The film also suffers from some of the same choppiness and fuzziness of narrative line that affected the original film, and a few other of Kurosawa's early works. Still, it's an entertaining effort. And it's remarkable as one of only two sequels Kurosawa ever filmed (the other being SANJURO, his follow-up to YOJIMBO). It appears Kurosawa learned from the experience of making SSP2 -- SANJURO is much more different from YOJIMBO than SSP2 is from its original, and a far more effective film than SSP2.

Censorship

[davidmvining · 5/10 · 7 March 2022]

The first film about the titular judo hero was such a success that Toho demanded a sequel from its director, Akira Kurosawa while also dealing with intensified wartime pressure from the Imperial government of Japan to produce material conducive to the Japanese cultural efforts to win the fight against America. What we end up getting is essentially just a repeat of the final conflict of the first film along with a shoehorned (but well-told, in a certain way, I must say) bit of anti-American propaganda. It's a package that doesn't really work overall, but it has moments of entertainment along with Kurosawa's already well-practiced eye for strong compositions.

Sanshiro Sugata (Susumu Fujita) returns home after two years wandering Japan in the late 19th century. When he first arrives in town he encounters an American sailor (boorish, loud, obnoxious, and ready to swing a punch at the slightest of provocations because of course) who gets really mad at his rickshaw driver, Toda (Soji Kiyokawa), and tries to fight him. Sugata intervenes, drawing the sailor to the water's edge where he easily throws his opponent in the water. Word of the event reaches the American embassy, and they invite Sugata to fight the American boxer William Lister (Roy James) at a public event, pitting the American boxing style against the new Japanese martial art judo. When Sugata witnesses an actual boxing match, he's disgusted by the brutality of the style and is prepared to leave, begging the jiujitsu fighter who replaced him to not fight at all. He tries to get away, but he cannot help but watch the outmatched jiujitsu adherent get pummeled mercilessly, and to callus cheering from the mostly Western audience as it happens. I thought this was going to be the thrust of the film, but, surprisingly, the American boxer gets forgotten for a good while.

Instead, when Sugata returns to the dojo and his master Yano (Denjiro Okochi), he's consumed by...something. And I think this is where the movie doesn't really hold up all that well. There's something going on about the friction between what Sugata thinks is the right course of action and the rules of the dojo that limit his actions. There are three: don't drink in the dojo, do not fight in competitions, and do not fight without your master's permission. What is the right thing? The movie treats this, much like the details of the Japanese martial arts, in a very generic manner to the point where I'm not sure beyond some opaque sense of honor. It also never gives any real time to Yano to discuss why he won't allow the fight (it's literally never brought up to him). Instead, he does deny Sugata a fight with Higaki's two younger brothers.

Higaki (Ryunosuke Tsukigata) was defeated by Sugata at the end of the previous film, and that defeat broke him. His two younger brothers, most prominently Genzaburo (Akitake Kono), who waltzes into Yano's dojo, showing no respect for the place or the men in it, and demands a fight with Sugata that Yano refuses because of their disrespect. The adherents of Higaki karate begin attacking the students of the judo school outside, beating them with their new style. Sugata makes a visit to Higaki, a broken man who has let hate leave his heart and who watches his younger brothers' descent into madness with sadness. He gives Sugata details of the karate techniques, and Sugata has a choice. He will either use the information he has received to defeat Higaki, or he will follow Yano's orders to stay in the dojo. Again, why is this a giant moral quandary? Without Yano's strong presence to offer a counterpoint to Sugata's desires, it becomes an emotional effort against air. It feels light in terms of content but is treated heavily tonally. That's a conflict that doesn't really work.

And then Sugata decides to fight William Lister. Remember that guy? This American boxer subplot is so obviously an element of Imperial propaganda that it's kind of amazing that it actually does sort of fit with the (underwritten) idea that seems to be the core of the film. Preservation of the traditional Japanese way of life and heritage is something of a central idea (though since judo replaced jiujitsu in the previous film, this is where this sort of message gets muddled). The fight, of course, goes Sugata's way (with a single throw that makes Lister pretty much just pass out), and Sugata encounters the jiujitsu fighter that Lister had defeated earlier, giving him the prize money from the fight. In a scene that feels out of place for the rest of the film and is obvious propaganda, it's a surprisingly sweet moment.

The finale of the film is the strongest part of the whole movie simply because of the visual aesthetics. Sugata treks up into the mountains to fight Genzaburo, and the two have a duel in the snow. The contrast of the dark figures on the bright white snow along with the expert compositions is really beautiful. The emotion of the fight feels light because of the wane nature of the overarching conflict between dueling martial arts schools, but it sure is great to look at.

It's fine. It's nothing special. There's a muddle of an idea at play that never gets the attention it needs. The main character doesn't have much of an emotional journey. It has some nice moments and some beautiful shots, showcasing Kurosawa's technical talents but also the limits of creative output under a failing Imperial regime with a censorship board.

The best

[andrepbarros · 10/10 · 21 March 2019]

Very good film Akira kurosawa always.One yours first movies and very good.

Better Than First

[Michael_Elliott · 14 November 2008]

Sanshiro Sugata 2 (1945)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Kurosawa's sequel has Sugata (Susumu Fujita) still growing in the world of judo but outsiders are wanting to make the fighting style a sport and put it up against American boxing. This is a rather strange film but I do think it's better than the original just because of how out there it is. I've read that the government forced Kurosawa into making this and you can tell because that plays a part in the film. American boxing is really looked down upon and fighting as a sport is shown to be evil and this really translates to Kurosawa being unhappy as he was forced to make this just like the characters here are being forced to do something they see as morally wrong. Seeing the different fighting styles mixed up together was pretty fun as was the ending, which takes place during a snow storm. Fujita is a lot better here than he was in the previous film and really delivers a strong performance and makes his character quite memorable with the difficulties that he faces. The film's biggest problem comes in form of some rather choppy storytelling that has the film wonder off from its main goal way too many times and this is certainly true in the final fifteen-minutes before the final showdown. The low-budget nature of the film also shines through in a negative way but I'm sure the fans of the director will want to watch this at least once.

Kurosawa by Committee...

[poe426 · 8/10 · 24 March 2010]

From frame one, it's clear that SANSHIRO SUGATA II is pure propaganda: the sound splashing of the arrogant American (a boxer who picks on poor, defenseless rickshaw drivers) is about as subtle as a knee to the groin. The detachment with which this movie is directed is truly mind-boggling: there's absolutely no room whatsoever for any kind of balanced assessment of it as anything BUT propaganda. As someone who learned to box by watching and then emulating the likes of Muhammad Ali and Roberto Duran (I would bust my hands up working out on a duffle bag filled with cinderblocks and old clothes, then walk down the street carrying two pair of boxing gloves in a neighborhood notorious for gang fights), I took exception to the portrayal of the fistfighter(s) in this movie. (Though, to be fair, I also took exception to Paul Newman's performance in SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME and Sylvester Stallone's ROCKY sequels.) To this very day, judoka and karateka have had a hard time of it in full contact martial arts while "strikers" (i.e.; cage fighters who primarily use their fists, more often than not after training under boxing coaches) or grapplers (wrestlers or jujitsu players) have fared better. In SANSHIRO SUGATA II, Fujita manages to defeat the Western boxer- referred to as "the greatest boxer in the world"- with a single throw. One throw, and the guy's finished... Not in the Real World. One can't help but recall the way the leaders of the Boxer Rebellion prepared their Faithful for their assault on the bastions of the West- by firing blanks at them to reassure them that the Western weapons wouldn't give them a moment's pause... So much for propaganda. That's not to say that there's nothing of value here: there are some genuinely funny moments (Fujita falling asleep while meditating, only to awaken and find his sensei still upright but also asleep and his exit from his dojo, as he pauses every few feet to look back at his ever-bowing lady love, etc.) and the series of dissolves showing his rickshaw driver from the opening sequence as he evolves into a hardened judoka and the two crazy karateka and and... There's more, of course (this being, after all, an Akira Kurosawa movie, with all that that entails), but the heavy-handed politics get in the way of the storytelling. Kurosawa dealt effectively with politics in other films, but only when the grip wasn't so tight.

Did Kurosawa really direct this?

[hiebert77 · 4 September 2004]

I have seen every Akira Kurosawa movie available on VHS or DVD and this is the first "bad" one among them. In fact, I will be so bold as to say I doubt he really directed it. His name is on the credits but I don't see a shred of him in the work. No environmentally framed shots, no contrasts of light and dark, no horizon dividing the frames. He must have done this one with a week of shooting time or a budget of 50 Yen. The comical fight between the Judo stylist and Karate stylist literally made me laugh out loud. It looked like parody. Nothing like the climatic fight in the first Sugata Sanshiro. Also the subtitles were apparently done by someone in China who could speak a little Japanese and a little English. They use the word "karate" for both karate and judo, and since the main conflict is between the two styles, you'd better pay attention to who's doing the the talking or you'll never follow the plot. The movie just about "braked" me.

The theme of this movie has been used time and time again, leaving the question whether this was the first movie to do it

[jordondave-28085 · 9/10 · 13 October 2023]

(1945) Sanshiro Sugata II (In Japanese with English subtitles) ADVENTURE/ ACTION

High ranking Judo fighter "Sanshiro Sugata" returns to his original dojo after two years in hiatus of the first film only to come across more ethical and moral dilemmas about the purpose of just learning Japanese martial arts in the first place. Throughout the story, he comes across old foes who gave up on fighting, who then must prepare to face a rather aggressive two older brothers who're trained as karate experts with it's purpose is it to avenge the brother Sugata defeated at the end of the first film. He also have to settle a score with a boxer supposedly from the US who has an English accent. If this plot device seems familiar, than that's because it is, when different opponents want to fight the best or take the title for bragging rights, used on a lot of westerns such as Henry King's 1950 film "The Gunfighter" and two of my favorites 1956 "The Fastest Gun Alive" starring Glenn Ford and another Sergio Leone whose credited as executive producer called "My Name Is Nobody" starring Henry Fonda and countless others. Director Akira Kurosawa's trademarks are still evident on this film except that the last fight occurs on a snowy bankment on top of a hill which is somewhat a peculiar thing to watch.

Middling, Not Classic Kurosawa

[crossbow0106 · 7 August 2011]

At first I was surprised by the opening scene in which an American sailor gets thrown into the river by the title character, in that it was just after the war. What follows is fairly pedestrian, the title character agrees to fight the American, who is a champion boxer, There are parts in this film about honor and being true to yourself and, while its a watchable film, it just barely holds up. You do not get hardly any character development, and no buildup that is interesting enough to sustain. Even in the Rocky films (except Rocky 5) Stallone made you anticipate the big event. So, what you have here is passable, but it in no way points to the amazing brilliance of his later films. Check it out without expecting too much.