“Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril” (子連れ狼 子を貸し腕貸しつかまつる), Original Release Japanese Movie Poster 1972, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) ZA888
This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed in 1972 for the first release of Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (子連れ狼 子を貸し腕貸しつかまつる). The film stars Tomisaburō Wakayama as the wandering assassin Ogami Ittō, travelling the blood-soaked roads of Edo-period Japan with his young son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa), and is directed by Buichi Saitō (斎藤武市)—a peak-era entry in one of the most iconic chanbara series ever put on screen.
Lone Wolf and Cub is adapted from the hugely influential manga by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, famous for its stark moral universe, graphic set pieces, and the unforgettable father-and-son silhouette of the baby cart—an image that has shaped Japanese action cinema and global pop culture for decades.
Film background
Ogami Ittō—once the shogunate’s executioner—has been betrayed, his family destroyed, and his name erased. Now he sells his sword as an assassin for hire, pushing Daigoro in the baby cart as enemies close in from every direction. In this chapter the series’ central tension is razor sharp: tenderness and brutality locked together, with Daigoro’s calm presence heightening the danger of every encounter.
Poster design
A superb, high-drama composition built around winter peril and pursuit. The snowfield action sequence in the background—figures running and clashing across a white slope—creates instant motion, while the right side is dominated by an intense close-up portrait that gives the sheet emotional pressure and scale. The bold red brush-calligraphy title 子連れ狼 slashes through the design like a wound, paired with the vivid blue vertical banner for the subtitle—classic early-’70s Japanese poster design where typography becomes part of the action. The lower portrait of Daigoro, bundled against the cold, delivers the perfect final note: the child at the centre of the violence, yet utterly still.
Condition
Excellent. Please review the photos (front and back)—they show the exact poster for sale.
It is over 53 years old!
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
