Q 01/05

In what year was Akira Kurosawa born?

A) 1898

B) 1905

C) 1910

D) 1922

Answer · why

C) 1910

He was the eighth and youngest child of a Tokyo family whose father came from Akita samurai stock.

Q 02/05

How many feature films did Kurosawa direct across his six-decade career?

A) 41

B) 30

C) 34

D) 52

Answer · why

B) 30

He was also a prolific screenwriter for other directors, a sideline that paid better than assistant directing.

Q 03/05

What was Kurosawa's 1943 directorial debut, a judo story adapted from a Tsuneo Tomita novel?

A) Stray Dog

B) Sanshiro Sugata

C) The Most Beautiful

D) Drunken Angel

Answer · why

B) Sanshiro Sugata

He bought the novel on publication day, read it in one sitting and had Toho grab the rights before three rival studios could.

Q 04/05

Which famous director's intervention got Kurosawa's debut past Japan's wartime censors?

A) Kajirō Yamamoto

B) Yasujirō Ozu

C) Mikio Naruse

D) Kenji Mizoguchi

Answer · why

B) Yasujirō Ozu

The censors later cut 18 minutes anyway, much of which is now lost.

Q 05/05

Which unknown actor did Kurosawa cast in Drunken Angel (1948), beginning a 16-film partnership?

A) Ken'ichi Enomoto

B) Takashi Shimura

C) Toshiro Mifune

D) Tatsuya Nakadai

Answer · why

C) Toshiro Mifune

His explosive turn as a tubercular yakuza stole the film from its nominal hero, the alcoholic doctor.