Birth Of Japan (1959)/The Three Treasures (1960)

The Three Treasures (日本誕生 Nippon Tanjō, lit. Birth of Japan) is a 1959 Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. The film is based on the legends Kojiki and Nihon Shoki and the origins of Shinto. The film was highest grossing film of 1959 for Toho that year and the second highest grossing domestic production in Japan of the year.

Plot
The Three Treasures retells the story of the Yamata no Orochi legend, and features the great adventure of Susanoo as he fights the legendary serpent Orochi, in order to save the maidens of a village in the newly-formed Japanese country.

The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor Keikoh's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers Ouso's stepbrother Waka, and conspires to have Ouso die on a dangerous mission he has contrived.

​But Ouso prevails in the mission and returns to his father's castle under a new name, Prince Yamato Takeru. Otomo plots to have the Prince sent into even greater danger, but Otomo is unaware that the gods have favored the Prince and the outcome is far from what any of them expected.

Cast

• Toshiro Mifune as Prince Yamato Takeru and Susanoo
• Takashi Shimura as Elder Kumaso
• Kōji Tsuruta as Younger Kumaso
• Ganjirō Nakamura as Emperor Keikō
• Akira Takarada as Prince Wakatarashi
• Kinuyo Tanaka as Princess Yamato
• Yoko Tsukasa as Princess Oto Tachibana
• Kyōko Kagawa as Princess Miyazu
• Setsuko Hara as Amaterasu

Production
Stuart Galbraith IV described the film as a religious epic in the style of director Cecil B. DeMille that featured "virtually every star and bit player on the Toho lot".

Release
The Three Treasures was distributed theatrically in Japan by Toho on November 1, 1959. The film was Toho's most profitable film of the year and second highest grossing domestic film of 1959. The film was released in the United States by Toho International Company with English-language subtitles on December 20, 1960. This version of the film was cut to 112 minutes.