“Red Beard” (赤ひげ), Original Japanese Re-Release Movie Poster 1969, Extremely Rare STB Tatekan Size (51 × 145 cm) S171
Sale price$650.00
This is an original Japanese STB / Tatekan two-panel theatrical poster produced for the 1969 Japanese re-release of Akira Kurosawa’s monumental Red Beard (赤ひげ / Akahige), starring Toshirō Mifune and Yūzō Kayama. Originally released in 1965, Red Beard was Kurosawa’s final black-and-white feature and, historically, the last of the sixteen films made together by Kurosawa and Mifune. Contemporary poster records identify this campaign as the film’s 1969 Japanese revival, matching the 〈ニュー・プリント〉 (“New Print”) wording visible directly on the lower panel.
Set in Edo-period Koishikawa, the film follows ambitious young physician Noboru Yasumoto, played by Yūzō Kayama, who reluctantly begins work at a clinic for the poor under the formidable Dr. Kyojō Niide, nicknamed “Red Beard” and played by Mifune. Initially resentful of his posting and his severe new mentor, Yasumoto gradually encounters poverty, illness and suffering at close range and comes to understand the profound compassion beneath Niide’s intimidating exterior. Based principally on Shūgorō Yamamoto’s Akahige Shinryōtan, the film is one of Kurosawa’s greatest expressions of humanism and social conscience.
Poster design An extraordinary large-format Japanese revival design spread across two vertically arranged B2-sized sheets, creating a monumental image approximately 145 cm high.
The upper panel is dominated by an enormous close-up of Toshirō Mifune as Red Beard, his weathered face and piercing gaze filling virtually the entire right half of the image. Along the left, a series of dramatic photographic vignettes introduces the patients, women and families whose lives intersect with the clinic, creating a dense visual portrait of the film’s human world.
The lower panel shifts focus to Yūzō Kayama as Yasumoto, whose large portrait fills the lower-left field. Above him, a group of men struggle violently in one of the film’s more kinetic moments, while the poster’s architectural centre line visually joins the two separate sheets into one continuous composition.
The magnificent red brush-calligraphy title:
「赤ひげ」
cuts vertically through the centre of the lower panel, balanced by the striking blue typography:
「黒澤明監督作品」
— “A film directed by Akira Kurosawa.”
Directly beneath this appears the particularly important period designation:
〈ニュー・プリント〉
— “New Print”, explicitly identifying this as a fresh theatrical revival printing rather than the original 1965 campaign.
The combination of Mifune’s monumental portrait, Kurosawa’s name, expressive red calligraphy and the dramatic two-sheet vertical composition makes this one of the most commanding Japanese poster designs associated with Red Beard.
Rare STB / Tatekan format This is the exceptionally scarce STB / Tatekan format, measuring approximately 51 × 145 cm (20 × 57 inches) when the two sheets are displayed together.
These long vertical posters were designed for prominent cinema frontage, pillars and large-format promotional display and survive in considerably smaller numbers than standard B2 sheets. The almost five-foot height gives the portraits of Mifune and Kayama tremendous presence, while the two-panel construction creates a format particularly prized by collectors of Kurosawa, Mifune and classic Japanese cinema.
Red Beard itself carries exceptional historical importance. It was Kurosawa and Mifune’s final collaboration, and Mifune’s performance as Dr. Niide earned him the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, further cementing the film’s international reputation.
It is over 57 years old!
Condition Excellent for its age. A particularly attractive surviving example of this extremely rare large-format poster. The photographic imagery remains strong, with excellent tonal depth, vivid red calligraphy and crisp blue and green typography.
Once framed, this almost five-foot-tall poster will display spectacularly.
Please review all photographs, including the individual panels, combined presentation and verso images—they show the exact poster for sale.
