

Judo Life
Sonny Chiba's first martial arts film, a partially fictionalized judo biopic based on prominent judoka Shiro Saigo (Chiba), the second student of judo founder Jigoro Kano (Naoki Sugiura). Akira Kurosawa’s Sanshiro Sugata is based on the same character and shares some scenes, but Judo for Life focuses more on the martial arts philosophy and training, including scenes depicting how the protagonist learned his famous cat-like landing, coined the term judo, and trained with Tsunejiro Tomita (Hideo Murata). There’s also a slight yakuza film influence. The port street ambush scene is found in both films, but in Judo for Life it’s not Kano but a travelling yakuza that jumps out of the rickshaw. Entertaining and beautifully old fashioned, one does however with there were more shades of gray between good and evil, and a stronger ninkyo-like moral / honour conflict.
- Status
- Released
- Budget
- —
- Box office
- —
- Language
- Japanese
- judo
Top billed cast
Behind the camera
Where to watch
All optionsAvailability for Japan. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
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Release dates
JapanJP
- Theatrical21 Apr 1963
Frequently asked questions
Judo Life was released on 21 April 1963.
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