“True Account of Hishakaku: A Wolf’s Honor” / 「実録・飛車角 狼どもの仁義」, Original First Release Japanese Movie Poster 1974, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) ZA839

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed in 1974 for the first release of True Account of Hishakaku: A Wolf’s Honor / 「実録・飛車角 狼どもの仁義」, a hard-edged Toei jitsuroku-style yakuza film directed by Shinji Murayama and starring Bunta Sugawara.

Released by Toei in 1974, the film belongs to the raw, documentary-inflected yakuza cycle that followed the success of the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series. Rather than presenting yakuza life through romanticised chivalry, it offers a violent, brutalised vision of survival, reputation, and criminal honour.

Film background
True Account of Hishakaku: A Wolf’s Honor dramatises the life of the real-life model behind the legendary figure Hishakaku, presenting him not as a polished folk hero, but as a dangerous, era-shaped outlaw figure moving through gambling raids, street violence, turf wars, and social upheaval.

The film is based on a story by Koichi Iiboshi, the writer closely associated with Toei’s modern jitsuroku yakuza mode. The cast includes Bunta Sugawara, Rie Nakagawa, Tsunehiko Watase, Kyosuke Machida, and Akira Kobayashi.

At the centre is Bunta Sugawara, one of the defining faces of 1970s Toei cinema, whose screen presence gives the film its force: severe, physical, volatile, and unmistakably of the period.

Poster design
The poster is a powerful piece of 1970s Toei graphic design. The upper section shows Bunta Sugawara bare-chested in the rain, his tattooed body exposed, wearing a white haramaki and crying out with a blade in hand. The image is stark, violent, and confrontational, placing the figure of Hishakaku in a world of rain, pain, and defiance.

Across the middle, the title 「実録・飛車角」 appears in bold white lettering, while the enormous red brush-calligraphy title 「狼どもの仁義」 slashes across the lower half of the sheet. The red lettering gives the poster its strongest visual impact, cutting through the black ground like a wound.

The right side adds further documentary-style texture, including monochrome inset imagery and a hard-lit portrait. The vertical copy reads:

「凶暴へ交太り冷たい逆上！これが真の侠客飛車角の生の姿」

The overall design is pure 1970s Toei impact: black field, rain-soaked violence, tattooed body, red calligraphy, and the uncompromising presence of Sugawara.

Release note
This poster was printed for the film’s original 1974 Japanese theatrical release.

This example is especially interesting because it retains a hand-written theatre-used paper strip attached below the main poster image. The strip appears to advertise a screening schedule at Kiyose Eiga / 「清瀬映画」 from the 3rd to the 8th, listing this film alongside Sister Street Fighter / 「女必殺拳」 and 津軽シコシコ節.

This is a valuable piece of cinema-use provenance, showing how the poster was used in an actual local Japanese theatre context.

It is an original period Japanese cinema poster, not a later reproduction or commercial reprint.

Condition
Very good / excellent condition. A highly attractive theatre-used example, with strong colour, bold red title calligraphy, powerful photographic imagery, and excellent overall display impact.

Please review the photographs carefully, as they show the exact poster for sale, including the original hand-written theatre strip.

This is an original 1974 Japanese theatrical poster.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

It is now over 50 years old.

Certificate of Authenticity included.