Skip to main content
Filmarian
All films
Poster for Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior
Sign in to rateBe the first to rate
+ write a review
Released
1980 · FILM

Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior

A lowly thief is forced to become the living double of a dying warlord to protect his clan, but as he must command troops against a ruthless rival, his fragile masquerade becomes a battle for survival and honor.

“The Shadow of a man can never stand up and walk on its own.”

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa
Written by
Masato Ide, Akira Kurosawa
Rated
MPA · PG
Runtime
180 min
Language
JA
DramaHistoryWar

Synopsis

In Akira Kurosawa's acclaimed feudal-era film, a minor thief is chosen to impersonate Shingen, a revered and aging warlord, in an effort to deter attacks from rival clans. After Shingen's death, his generals reluctantly allow the imposter to assume leadership in his place. Initially hesitant, the thief gradually grows into the role and begins to embrace the life of a powerful ruler. However, his ability to maintain the deception is put to the test when he is forced to lead his army into battle against the forces of a formidable rival warlord.

Credits

Actors
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

Related titles

No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.

How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 16

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Shot by Takao SaitoScored by Shinichiro Ikebe

Box Office

1980 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.7× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$4.0M

Budget$6.0M
Worldwide gross$4.0M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $4.0M — 100% of worldwide · International: $1K (0%)

Also known as

  • Kagemusha - Der Schatten des Kriegersde
  • Kagemusha the Shadow Warrioren
  • Kagemusha - L'ombra del guerrieroit

Community tags

Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).