Among the rarest survivals in Japanese poster culture are the premiere three‑sheet billboards made from three overlapping B1 panels. Designed to span a theatre frontage at roughly seven feet wide, these large-format papers were almost always displayed and then discarded—impractical to store in space‑conscious Japan, and far removed from the country’s traditional collector focus on small, easy‑to‑file ephemera such as 7×10″ chirashi. The result is a steep attrition rate: surviving country‑of‑origin material for many titles is scarce, and intact B1×3 sets are especially elusive. This example presents Hiken in its most dramatic, highest‑impact campaign format.
About the film
Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (稲垣浩)—internationally famed for his Samurai Trilogy chronicling Miyamoto Musashi—Hiken (often encountered under English renderings including The Secret Sword and Young Swordsman/Young Samurai) is a striking later-career jidaigeki that turns the sword film inward. Where Inagaki’s earlier work could embrace heroic sweep, Hiken leans darker and more psychological: mastery becomes obsession, technique becomes ego, and the “secret sword” reads as a kind of moral contagion—an idea closely aligned with the classic genre premise that the blade reflects the soul, and that an “evil” style can corrupt the swordsman who wields it.
The film credits on the poster note screenplay by Takeshi Kimura and Hiroshi Inagaki (脚本／木村武・稲垣浩), produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka (製作／田中友幸), and adapted from Kosuke Gomi (五味康祐作『秘剣』より). Starring Ichikawa Somegorō (市川染五郎) as the driven young swordsman and Hiroyuki Nagato (長門裕之) as the rival compelled to confront—and ultimately counter—this corrosive “secret technique,” Hiken sits in the post‑war lineage where period drama offered filmmakers an expansive arena to stage violence, morality, and national myth through historical settings, at a time when contemporary militarist spectacle was culturally and institutionally constrained.
Poster design
A masterpiece of restraint engineered for distance viewing—and then detonated into motion. Monumental brush‑calligraphy 秘剣 dominates the upper field like twin ink strikes, with the small red reading ひけん hovering between them. At left, the bold vermilion director credit resolves into 稲垣浩監督作品 (“A film by director Hiroshi Inagaki”), functioning with the authority of an official seal; at right, a large Toho-era tagline in deep blue escalates the promise of action.
The image that makes the format unforgettable is the panoramic battle tableau: an insane lateral sweep of samurai combat, bodies and blades choreographed across the entire width—archers braced, swords raised, figures twisting mid‑step—culminating in a central, full‑force clash. The lower strip of richly coloured cast portraits completes the classic early‑’60s Toho campaign language, while the Toho roundel (東宝) anchors the studio provenance at the upper right.
Why collectors prize this example
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Japanese premiere B1×3 three‑sheet billboard—a format with exceptionally low survival due to scale, theatre use, and routine disposal.
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Monumental display impact (approx. 218 × 103 cm / 86 × 40 in)—the same classic billboard dimensions associated with the most iconic Toho panoramas.
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Hiroshi Inagaki: a key director of post‑war jidaigeki, best known internationally for the Samurai Trilogy, here in a rarer, darker register.
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One of the great panoramic sword‑fight images of the early 1960s: a continuous frieze of motion that reads like cinema across the wall.
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Outstanding graphic hierarchy: colossal calligraphy, authoritative director credit, Toho insignia, and a full cast portrait band—everything a premiere billboard should deliver.
Conservation
Unrestored and not linen‑backed. Folded as issued for distribution (one vertical and one horizontal fold per sheet), with expected light fold wear. Paper remains strong and supple with crisp printing, well suited to professional conservation framing or display as is.
Condition
Excellent. Theatre‑used three‑sheet set with very minimal edge/handling wear. Folded as issued with light, localized stress at fold intersections only. Strong blacks and clean, bright ground; portrait strip retains vivid period colour. Verso shows mild, even age‑toning and faint offset consistent with original distribution and storage. Please review the provided front‑and‑back photographs—shown is the exact poster offered.
It is over 60 years old.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
A rare opportunity to acquire Hiken at its maximum scale: a premiere Toho panoramic billboard in which calligraphy, studio authority, and a kinetic, wall‑spanning samurai melee combine into one of the most visually forceful jidaigeki displays of the era.
