Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s First-Ever Period Drama ‘Kokurojo: The Samurai and The Prisoner,’ Based on Award-Winning Novel, Boarded by Charades

Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s (“Wife of a Spy”) very first period film and most ambitious feature to date, “Kokurojo: The Samurai and The Prisoner,” has been boarded by Charades in the run up to the Berlinale’s European Film Market.

Set in 16th century Japan, “Kokurojo” is a feudal mystery adapted from Honobu Yonezawa’s award-winning historical novel “Kokurojo” (“The Samurai and the Prisoner”) which was published by Kadokawa Corporation in 2021 and made history in Japan by sweeping all four major mystery awards, including the 12th Futaro Yamada Award and the 166th Naoki Prize.

Shochiku, the 130 year-old Japanese studio behind Yasujirō Ozu’s films and other classics such as “Hara-kiri”, “The Twilight Samurai” and “Departures,” is producing Kurosawa’s film together with Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc.

Paris-based Charades is handling international sales on the movie and will present its first exclusive footage to buyers at the European Film Market ahead of a nationwide release in Japan slated for later this year.

The layered plot unfolds during the so-called Warring States period, an era that was marked by civil war, as well as political and social upheavals. Blending Kurosawa’s signature psychological suspense with a broad historical canvas, “Kokurojo: The Samurai and The Prisoner” follows Lord Murashige Araki who rises up against the tyrannical Nobunaga Oda and finds himself besieged within the walls of his own castle. “Isolated, he is confronted with a series of mysterious crimes that shatter the fragile order of his court, plunging the fortress into fear and suspicion. With Oda’s army closing in and a traitor hiding among his ranks, Murashige is forced into an uneasy alliance with Kanbei Kuroda, a brilliant yet dangerous strategist held prisoners in the dungeon. Helped by his wife Chiyoho and his most loyal generals, Murashige must uncover the truth before the castle falls,” reads the synopsis.

Written and directed by Kurosawa, with a score by Yoshihiro Hanno (“Mountains May Depart”), “Kokurojo: The Samurai and The Prisoner” boasts a star-studded ensemble, pairing two of Japan’s most iconic actors for the first time: Masahiro Motoki (“Departures”) as Murashige Araki, alongside Masaki Suda (“Cloud,” “Wilderness”), as Kanbei Kuroda. They are joined by Yuriko Yoshitaka (“Dear Radiance”), Munetaka Aoki, Ryota Miyadate, Tasuku Emoto and Joe Odagiri.

Kurosawa is a celebrated Japanese auteur who’s presented six films at Cannes, including “Tokyo Sonata” and “Journey To The Shore” which won prizes at Un Certain Regard. His 2020 film “Wife of a Spy” won the Silver Lion for best director at Venice.

Charades co-founder, Yohann Comte, said, “Working with Kiyoshi Kurosawa and the major Shochiku marks a major achievement for Charades and a key milestone in the build-up of our 2026 slate.”

“The film is ambitious, both rich and complex in its form,” Comte said, before adding that it’s a “classic samurai film, sure to captivate fans of the genre.”

Producer Satoko Ishida, meanwhile, said, “We are thrilled to be working on this extremely exciting and challenging project together withCharades. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a master, who is loved and admired by countless movie-lovers around the world.”

“The rare combination of putting jidai-geki (period drama) and mystery together was an ambitious and provoking journey for the director and all of us working on the project,” Satodo said, “but with an incredible group of stellar casts and talented staffs, we look forward to bringing a new yet classic form of Japanese cinema.”

In France, “Kokurojo: The Samurai and The Prisoner” will be released by Art House Films. The head of the French distribution banner, Eric Le Bot, said he’s seen the extensive footage of the film and finds it to be “refined and visually striking work, truly magnificent to behold, achieving a rare balance between narrative density and formal sophistication.”

“Its masterful use of chiaroscuro evokes the great Japanese classics while remaining intensely intimate,” Le Bot said, describing the film as a “powerful and immersive vision of 16th-century Japan that will surely deserve to be experienced on the big screen.” 

Charades’ current slate also include Louis Paxton’s debut feature “The Incomer” which played at Sundance, as well as Yoshitoshi Shinomiya’s “A New Dawn” set to compete at the Berlinale.