“Branded to Kill” (殺しの烙印), Original First Release Japanese Movie Poster 1967, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) I121

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed in 1967 for the first release of Branded to Kill (殺しの烙印), the legendary Nikkatsu yakuza film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Joe Shishido, Koji Nanbara, and Annu Mari.

Widely regarded as one of Suzuki’s defining works—and for many collectors the film with which he is most closely identified—Branded to Kill has become one of the great cult landmarks of postwar Japanese cinema. This example is especially desirable: it was not used at the time of release and was instead carefully stored in a warehouse just outside Tokyo for several decades, helping to preserve it in unusually strong condition. It is very hard to find in this state of preservation.

Film background
Released by Nikkatsu in 1967, Branded to Kill follows contract killer Gorō Hanada, the No. 3 assassin in Japan, whose life spirals into paranoia, obsession, and violence after a fateful encounter with the mysterious Misako and a botched hit. What begins as a hard-boiled gangster picture rapidly mutates into something far stranger: a fragmented, anarchic, darkly comic, and visually radical fever dream.

Produced within the studio system as a modestly budgeted programmer, the film notoriously confounded Nikkatsu executives. Suzuki’s disregard for convention—his abrupt tonal shifts, surreal imagery, and satirical treatment of genre—contributed to his dismissal from the studio shortly afterwards. Yet the film’s reputation only grew. Over time, Branded to Kill came to be recognised as an absurdist masterpiece and a foundational cult film, admired internationally for its visual daring and anti-classical energy. It has since been cited as an influence by filmmakers including Jim Jarmusch, John Woo, Park Chan-wook, and Quentin Tarantino.

Poster design
The poster is every bit as bold and confrontational as the film itself. Dominating the left side is the title 「殺しの烙印」, rendered in large, aggressive blood-red calligraphy, giving the sheet an immediate graphic power. In the foreground appears Joe Shishido in dark suit and sunglasses, gun in hand, his cool, menacing pose anchoring the lower half of the composition.

Above him, on a staircase-like setting, are two women in lingerie—one of them the striking Annu Mari—their placement lending the design the charged, erotic danger so central to the film’s mood. A smaller inset at lower left introduces additional cast portraits, while the dark, smoky palette and angular composition heighten the poster’s atmosphere of danger, seduction, and psychological instability. It is an iconic late-1960s Nikkatsu design: lurid, stylish, and unmistakably of its moment.

Release note
This poster was printed for the film’s original 1967 Japanese theatrical release. As issued at the time, the film was released on a double bill with Burning Nature (燃えつきた地図 / or depending on campaign associations, another Nikkatsu support feature), a standard studio practice of the era.

Condition
Near mint condition. An exceptional example, particularly for a 1967 Japanese poster of this title. As noted above, it was unused at the time of release and warehouse-stored for decades, a rare survival that accounts for its unusually fresh appearance.

Please review the photographs carefully, as they show the exact poster for sale.

This is an original 1967 Japanese theatrical poster.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

It is now over 55 years old.

Certificate of Authenticity included.