“Samurai Assassin” (侍 / さむらい), Ultra‑Rare Original Japanese B1×3 “Three‑Sheet” Theatrical Billboard Poster — 1965 First Theatrical Release (Toho / Mifune Productions) — approx. 86 × 40 in (218 × 103 cm)

Among the rarest survivals in Japanese poster culture are the premiere three‑sheet billboards made from three overlapping B1 panels. Produced to span a theatre frontage at roughly seven feet wide, these imposing, large‑format papers were almost always displayed and then discarded—simply too large for space‑conscious storage, and far removed from the country’s traditional collector focus on small, easy‑to‑file ephemera such as chirashi. The result is a steep attrition rate: intact B1×3 sets for major Toho releases are exceptionally elusive today. This example presents Samurai in its most dramatic, highest‑impact campaign format.

About the film

Printed for the 1965 first release of Samurai (侍)—internationally known as Samurai Assassin—this billboard promotes one of the defining, hard‑edged chambara of the decade. The film is directed by Kihachi Okamoto, written by Shinobu Hashimoto, and produced by Mifune Productions for Toho, with Toshirō Mifune starring as rōnin Niiro Tsuruchiyo.

Set amid the political volatility of late‑Edo Japan, the story draws Niiro into the historical conspiracy to assassinate Ii Naosuke at Sakuradamon—a collision of ideology, desperation, and opportunism staged against a society coming apart at the seams. Okamoto’s cinema is celebrated for its modern velocity and unsparing view of authority; his work sits at the centre of the 1960s revisionist jidaigeki moment (often discussed alongside contemporaries such as Masaki Kobayashi of Harakiri), where the samurai film becomes a vehicle for disillusionment rather than legend. Here, that sensibility is sharpened by Hashimoto’s architecturally precise writing and Masaru Satō’s propulsive score—while Mifune delivers one of his most concentrated, ferocious performances.

Poster design

A commanding exercise in graphic power and negative space—engineered to arrest attention from across a lobby. The right third is dominated by the colossal, blood‑red title 侍, rendered like a painted strike across the image field, with the vertical reading さむらい set beside it. Above, the blue headline shouts the film’s moral climate in staccato bursts: 「裏切り！暗殺！動乱の幕末を切り裂く野望の豪剣！」—a breathless catalogue of betrayal, assassination, and ambition cleaving through the turmoil of the Bakumatsu.

At left, the composition detonates into an unforgettable close‑up: a swordsman’s face fills the frame, katana thrust straight toward the viewer, the guard and blade creating a brutal, foreshortened perspective that turns the poster into a confrontation. The centre panel widens to a stark courtyard tableau—figures converging in motion beneath bare trees and dark rooflines—before the eye is pulled back to the monumental red kanji. A strip of four cast portraits punctuates the lower right, while the lower left carries the principal credits, including Hashimoto’s screenplay (脚本／橋本忍) and a distinctive typographic director credit that interlocks 岡本 with 監督—a compact, modernist flourish consistent with Okamoto’s sensibility. The Toho roundel (東宝) at the upper right completes the studio identification.

Why collectors prize this example

• Japanese premiere B1×3 three‑sheet billboard—a format with exceptionally low survival due to scale, theatre use, and routine disposal.

• Monumental display impact (approx. 218 × 103 cm / 86 × 40 in)—the classic Toho panoramic billboard size, and exactly the same dimensions as the Hiken three‑sheet.

• Kihachi Okamoto at full force: a central figure of 1960s chambara modernism, prized for his bleak, contemporary edge within period form.

• Shinobu Hashimoto screenplay and Mifune Productions provenance—top‑tier creative and production pedigree for Toho’s prestige action cycle.

• One of the era’s most arresting campaign designs: giant red 侍 balanced against a wall‑scale, confrontational sword‑point close‑up, with the blue headline and Toho crest delivering instant authority.

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. Colours remain strong—especially the saturated red title and blue headline—against a clean, high‑contrast photographic field. Verso shows mild, even age‑toning with occasional faint handling marks and light pencil notations consistent with original distribution and theatre use. 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 Samurai / Samurai Assassin at its maximum scale: a premiere Toho three‑sheet billboard where monumental kanji, modernist typography, and a sword‑point close‑up create one of the most forceful large‑format jidaigeki displays of the 1960s.