“Distant Thunder” (遠雷 / Enrai), Original Japanese Movie Poster 1981, ATG, Design by Masakatsu Ogasawara, B2 Size (51.5 × 72.8 cm) — O262

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed for the 1981 release of Distant Thunder, directed by Kichitaro Negishi and distributed by the Art Theatre Guild (ATG). Designed by Masakatsu Ogasawara, it combines an earthy monochrome photograph with an atmospheric blue-green background and bold calligraphic lettering.

Based on Wahei Tatematsu’s novel, with a screenplay by Haruhiko Arai, the film follows a young tomato farmer trying to maintain his livelihood as urban development transforms the countryside around him. Family tensions, friendship and complicated relationships unfold against this changing landscape, creating a vivid portrait of rural life on the outskirts of modern Japan.

Toshiyuki Nagashima stars alongside Johnny Okura, Eri Ishida and Rie Yokoyama. Negishi’s attention to physical work and everyday experience gives the film a strong sense of place, while its characters’ desires and frustrations make the social changes deeply personal.

The poster centres on a large black-and-white photograph of Nagashima holding a long-handled agricultural tool, with a woman standing nearby. Both look upwards, surrounded by greenhouse frames, heaps of vegetation and drifting smoke. The image conveys the physical texture of their working environment: tangled stems, exposed metal structures and rough ground.

Around this photograph, a mottled field of blue, green and cloudy white resembles marbled paper, shifting weather or an aerial view of the earth. Its fluid patterns give the design an expansive atmosphere, suggesting the distant storm of the title.

The large white characters 遠雷 occupy a vertical burgundy panel extending down from the upper section into the photograph. Yellow lettering at the left names Negishi and Tatematsu, while pale credits run along the bottom. The ATG and Toho emblems appear beside the photograph, and Ogasawara’s printed design credit sits at the lower-right edge.

A substantial passage of Japanese prose fills the upper right. It moves from the small detail of condensation on a glass of beer to sunlight, passing clouds and the delayed sound of thunder. This sensory language echoes the photograph’s tangible rural setting and gives the poster a distinctly literary character.

An especially attractive piece for collectors of ATG cinema, Japanese literary adaptations and atmospheric photographic poster design.

Condition: Excellent.

Please review all photographs, including the front and reverse, as they show the exact poster for sale.

Japanese B2 size: approximately 51.5 × 72.8 cm.
Stock code: O262.

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.