The Samurai Trilogy (Blu-ray Box Set)

The Samurai Trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (The Rickshaw Man) and starring the inimitable Toshiro Mifune (Seven Samurai) was one of Japan’s most successful exports of the 1950s, a rousing, emotionally gripping tale of combat and self-discovery.

Based on a novel that’s often compared to Gone with the Wind, this sweeping saga fictionalises the life of the legendary seventeenth-century swordsman (and writer and artist) Musashi Miyamoto, following him on his path from unruly youth to enlightened warrior.

With these three films - 1954’s Oscar-winning Musashi Miyamoto, 1955’s Duel at Ichijoji Temple, and 1956’s Duel at Ganryu Island - Inagaki created a passionate epic that is equal parts tender love story and bloody action saga.

• New high-definition digital restorations of all three films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• New interviews with translator and historian William Scott Wilson about the real-life Musashi Miyamoto, the inspiration for the hero of the films
• Trailers
• New English subtitle translations
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film historian Stephen Prince and Wilson