Three Lost Kurosawa Scripts Discovered

The Sankei Sports newspaper reports that three scripts from legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) have recently been rediscovered. All three date from the director’s early career, before he achieved international fame.

The movie script Kanokemaru no Hitobito was discovered at the Shinobu Hashimoto Memorial Hall in Ichikawa, Hyogo, Japan. The script was written by screenwriter and Kurosawa collaborator Shinobu Hashimoto based on an original idea by Kurosawa. The script was planned for a 1951 adaptation starring Toshiro Mifune, but the movie was never shot.

The script for Toho’s collaboratively directed 1946 film Asu wo Tsukuru Hitobito has been rediscovered. Since the film had multiple directors, Kurosawa refused to accept credit for the script during his lifetime.

A script for Kurosawa’s 1942 radio drama Youki na Koujou was discovered in Waseda University’s Tsubochi Memorial Theatre Museum. Kurosawa wrote the play while he was still working as an assistant director.

Source: Tokyograph