Heikichi Tsunoi

According to Donal Richie in The Japanese Film it was meant to do for sumo wrestling what Kurosawa had done for judo in Sanshiro sugata, and that Kurosawa wrote it for Daiei after "drinking up all [his] money" (from his autobiography).

It is a historical drama that follows Katsu Kaishu's efforts to surrender Edo Castle bloodlessly in the first year of the Meiji period.

Prewar jidaigeki starring Denjiro Okochi