“Dodes'ka-den” (どですかでん), Original LaserDisc Release Japanese Movie Poster 1993, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) ZA905

This is an original Japanese B2 poster issued in 1993 for the LaserDisc release of Dodes'ka-den (どですかでん), Akira Kurosawa’s extraordinary 1970 film. It is not the original 1970 theatrical poster, but an authentic Japanese 1993 home video / LaserDisc release issue from the film’s original analogue-video era.

Film background

Originally released in 1970, Dodes'ka-den occupies a crucial place in Kurosawa’s career as his first colour feature film. Adapted from Shūgorō Yamamoto’s A City Without Seasons, it presents a mosaic of lives on the margins of society, set within a shantytown populated by dreamers, outcasts, labourers, and children. Rather than following a single central plot, the film unfolds through a series of interwoven episodes, combining tenderness, absurdity, despair, and bursts of strange beauty.

The title itself is famously derived from the rhythmic sound of a tram as imagined by the young boy Rokuchan, one of the film’s most memorable figures. That mixture of hardship and imagination is at the heart of the film, and it is exactly what gives Dodes'ka-den its singular tone.

Poster design

This is a superb and highly distinctive design, perfectly suited to the film’s world. The image is built in a deliberately childlike, hand-painted style, with bold black outlines, raw brushwork, rainbow arcs, and a crowded field of strange, expressive figures. At the centre sits the stylised image of the tram-obsessed boy, surrounded by a chaotic yet poetic universe of faces, gestures, and fragmented scenes. The printed Akira Kurosawa signature within the composition adds further interest and emphasises the poster’s close identification with the director’s own artistic world.

Unlike more conventional Kurosawa posters, this design feels almost like an art print or a page from an illustrated notebook rather than a standard film advertisement. That is exactly what makes it so compelling. It reflects the film’s visual language of innocence, delusion, fantasy, and social fracture, and gives the poster exceptional wall presence.

For collectors, this is an especially appealing piece because it links Kurosawa, Japanese graphic design, and the LaserDisc era, while preserving one of the most visually idiosyncratic images associated with the film.

Condition

Excellent. Please review the photo—it shows the exact poster for sale. 

It is over 33 years old!

It is not the original 1970 theatrical poster, but it is an authentic 1993 Japanese LaserDisc release issue, and not a modern reproduction or later reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.