"“An Autumn Afternoon (秋刀魚の味, Sanma no Aji)”, Original First Release Japanese Movie Poster 1962, Ultra Rare, STB Size (51 × 145 cm) Q301 (Gallery)

Japanese title: 「秋刀魚の味」 (Sanma no Aji — literally “The Taste of Pacific Saury”; released internationally as An Autumn Afternoon)
Size: STB / approx. 20 × 57 in. (51 × 145 cm)
Country / Studio: Japan / Shochiku Ofuna Studio (松竹大船撮影所)
First Japanese release: 18 November 1962

Printed for the film’s original 1962 Japanese theatrical release, this first-release STB / tatekan is an exceptionally scarce large-format poster for Yasujirō Ozu’s final completed film. Standard Japanese B2 posters for Ozu’s major works are already difficult to obtain; the complete two-panel STB format is rarer still.

Japanese tatekan posters were constructed from two B2 sheets designed to be displayed together as a single, towering composition. They were working cinema advertisements rather than objects intended for long-term preservation, and complete surviving sets are consequently difficult to find.

This is the first original STB for this title that we have ever handled. Public documentation of this exact first-release format is extremely sparse and it is extremely rare. 

Design highlights

This is a magnificent example of early-1960s Shochiku colour poster design, combining commanding photographic portraiture with monumental Japanese calligraphy. The large upper image presents Shima Iwashita as Michiko and Chishū Ryū as her widowed father, Shūhei Hirayama, positioned within the precisely ordered domestic environment that is so central to Ozu’s cinema.

The enormous green title 「秋刀魚の味」, accompanied by the phonetic reading 「さんま」, runs vertically along the right side. Above it, 「総天然色」 announces that the film is presented in full colour. The restrained browns, greys and whites of the interior are punctuated by the brilliant red of Michiko’s skirt—a bold colour accent closely aligned with the carefully controlled palette of Ozu’s late films.

The lower section features Keiji Sada and Mariko Okada, with additional colour portraits of Shin’ichirō Mikami, Daisuke Katō and Teruo Yoshida. The printed cast billing also includes Nobuo Nakamura, Eijirō Tōno, Kuniko Miyake, Ryūji Kita, Kyōko Kishida, Haruko Sugimura, Toyo Takahashi and Noriko Maki, among others.

The left-hand promotional copy reads:

「嫁ぐ日近い娘の感傷！微笑のうちにそくそくと胸に通う父の慈愛！」

This may be translated as: “The wistful feelings of a daughter whose wedding day draws near! A father’s love, quietly and poignantly felt beneath his smile!”

The poster identifies the production as a 1962 Arts Festival participating work—「昭和三十七年度 芸術祭参加作品」—and prominently describes it as a film by master director Yasujirō Ozu. It also carries the period wording 「松竹百万円大懸賞候補作品」, referring to a Shochiku promotional prize competition rather than a formal critical award.

Printed production credits include screenplay by Kōgo Noda and Yasujirō Ozu, cinematography by Yūharu Atsuta, and production by Shizuo Yamanouchi.

Cultural impact

An Autumn Afternoon follows widower Shūhei Hirayama, who lives comfortably with his 24-year-old daughter Michiko and younger son Kazuo. Accustomed to Michiko managing the household, Hirayama initially resists suggestions that she should marry. His attitude changes after encountering a former teacher whose daughter has sacrificed her own future to care for her ageing father.

Ozu transforms this apparently simple domestic situation into a profound exploration of parental responsibility, marriage, ageing, loneliness, sacrifice and the inevitability of change. Hirayama understands that helping his daughter leave is the correct and loving decision, even though it will bring about his own solitude.

The film revisits the father-and-daughter relationship explored in Late Spring, but places it within a distinctly early-1960s Japan. Traditional family obligations coexist with salaried office life, suburban apartments, household appliances, golf clubs, whisky bars and memories of the wartime generation. Ozu observes this changing society without easy judgement, balancing melancholy with understated comedy and characteristic emotional restraint.

Visually, the film represents the culmination of Ozu’s mature style: low, largely static camera positions, frontal compositions, precise architectural geometry, straight cuts and transitional views of streets, interiors and industrial landscapes. It was the sixth and final colour feature of his career, with a subtle palette punctuated by carefully positioned flashes of red.

Although now inevitably viewed as Ozu’s farewell, it was not conceived as a deliberate final statement. Ozu had already begun making notes for another project before his death from cancer on 12 December 1963, his 60th birthday. Nevertheless, An Autumn Afternoon has come to be regarded as an extraordinary summation of the themes and visual language he had refined over more than three decades.

The film placed No. 8 in Kinema Junpo’s 1962 Japanese Film Best Ten. At the 17th Mainichi Film Concours, work associated with the film was recognised through awards for Eijirō Tōno’s supporting performance, Kyōko Kishida’s supporting performance and Yūharu Atsuta’s cinematography.

Its international reputation has continued to grow. A digitally restored version created by Shochiku with Japan’s National Film Center and National Museum of Modern Art was presented in Cannes Classics in 2013. The film later placed joint No. 185 in Sight and Sound’s 2022 critics’ poll of the greatest films ever made.

Today, Ozu is recognised as one of the central figures in world cinema, celebrated for demonstrating how the quiet routines of family life can carry immense emotional and philosophical weight. An Autumn Afternoon remains one of his most moving works and one of cinema’s great final films.

Condition

Excellent, particularly for an original 1962 two-panel STB. Both sections are complete and present extremely well from the front, retaining strong photographic colour, vivid green title lettering and excellent overall visual impact.

The poster has very faint horizontal folds (a very common feature of original Japanese posters), minor handling creases, and general age toning. These are consistent with the age, size and original theatrical function of the poster.

There is age-related brown staining and foxing principally visible on the reverse. The most noticeable area is a pronounced horizontal band across the verso of the lower panel. 

The staining is far less noticeable when the poster is viewed from the front and does not significantly detract from its display quality. Once professionally framed, this will make a fantastic and commanding display piece.

The two sections are separate and the poster has not been restored or linenbacked. Please examine all photographs carefully, including the verso images, as they show the exact poster offered for sale and form part of the condition description.

It is over 63 years old.

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.

About STB (Tatekan) posters

Japanese STB / tatekan posters were tall standing-board cinema advertisements formed from two vertically aligned B2 sheets. Each B2 sheet measures approximately 51.5 × 72.8 cm, producing an assembled display of approximately 51 × 145 cm, or 20 × 57 inches, allowing for the intended overlap between the two sections.

These posters were created for conspicuous theatre display and were frequently mounted, handled and discarded after use. Complete examples are therefore considerably more difficult to obtain than conventional single-sheet Japanese posters.

For Ozu’s final completed film, an original first-release STB of this visual quality and completeness is particularly significant.

An ultra-rare and imposing large-format piece of Japanese cinematic history—and the first original STB for this title that we have ever handled.