Sanshiro Sugata

Sanshiro Sugata is set in Japan during the early Meiji era, when the country is modernizing and rival martial arts schools compete for official recognition. A young and impulsive man named Sanshiro Sugata arrives in the city to study jujutsu, but after witnessing the skill and restraint of judo master Shogoro Yano, he asks to become Yano's student instead. Under Yano's guidance, Sanshiro must temper his hotheaded nature through both physical training and a strict moral code, a struggle complicated by his feelings for a woman and by a rivalry with a jujutsu master who also desires her.

The film was directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, and it is the first of the 23 films he directed in chronological order, followed by Drunken Angel in 1948. It is based on the novel by Tsuneo Tomita. The main cast includes Denjirō Ōkōchi as Shogoro Yano, Susumu Fujita as Sanshiro Sugata, Yukiko Todoroki as Sayo Murai, Ryūnosuke Tsukigata as Gennosuke Higaki, Takashi Shimura as Sayo's father Hansuke Murai, and Ranko Hanai as Osumi Kodana. Keiji Matsuzaki produced the film for Toho.

The film was released in Japan in 1943 and runs 97 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.7 from around 6,200 votes, while on TMDB its rating is 6.5 from roughly 150 votes, indicating a solid and still-noticed reception decades after its release.