The Birth of Japan

Nippon tanjō
1959 Japanese movie poster
Directed by	Hiroshi Inagaki
Produced by	Sanezumi Fujimoto Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by	Ryuzo Kikushima Toshio Yasumi
Starring	Toshiro Mifune Yoko Tsukasa Akihiko Hirata
Music by	Akira Ifukube
Cinematography	Kazuo Yamada
Edited by	Kazuji Taira
Release dates	1959
Running time	182 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Eiji Tsuburaya and his crew work with the Orochi prop.

The Birth of Japan (日本誕生 Nippon Tanjō), also called The Three Treasures, is a 1959 Japanese tokusatsu fantasy epic film. Telling the story of the creation of Japan according to Japanese mythology, specifically the Shinto religion, it is considered Japan's answer to The Ten Commandments.^[1] Produced by legendary studio Toho, the film was directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya and the musical score by Akira Ifukube. Heading the huge all-star cast is Toshirō Mifune as the god Susanoo and Koji Tsuruta as younger brother of Kumaso Takeru. One of the film's highlights is Mifune's Susanoo fighting the ominous eight-headed dragon, Orochi, one of the most ferocious monsters in Japanese myth. The "Three Treasures" referred to are the Imperial Regalia of Japan.

The film was remade in 1994 as Yamato Takeru, which was released in the English-speaking countries as Orochi the Eight-Headed Dragon.

References

• The Birth of Japan at the Internet Movie Database
• The Three Treasures at Toho Kingdom.
• Ragone, August (2007, 2014) Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-6078-9.

Footnotes

1. The Other Side of Toho

External links

• Nippon tanjo at the Internet Movie Database