Bunta Sugawara, the “90th anniversary” actor, shows his “opinionated actor” image in “Battles without Honor and Humanity,” NHK’s historical drama “The Great War,” and other dramas.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of Bunta Sugawara’s birth, and CS broadcaster Toei Channel is airing 10 films starring Bunta, including his masterpiece “Battles Without Honor 4K Remastered [R15+]” over a two-month period starting in August as part of its “90th Anniversary Bunta Sugawara Starring Movies Vol. 1” program.

Bunta was born on August 16, 1933, and until his death on November 28, 2002, at the age of 81, he was one of Japan’s leading actors, appearing in numerous films and TV dramas, including the “Battles Without Honor” series and “Truck Man” series. He was one of Japan’s leading actors.

It was “Battles Without Honor” (’73, directed by Kinji Fukasaku) that solidified Bunta’s popularity and status as an actor.

Based on the nonfiction book “Battle without Honor and Humanity” serialized in a weekly magazine by Koichi Iiboshi and directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Bunta Sugawara, the film is based on the prison diary of Kozo Minoh, a Minoh gang leader who was one of the parties to the “Hiroshima Yakuza War,” a gang war that broke out between the city of Hiroshima and Kure immediately after the war ended, and which involved the biggest gangs in Japan. The film was a big hit, directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Bunta Sugawara. The series was made as a new dollar-box real-life documentary series for Toei, replacing the ninkyo (chivalry) line.

In December 1972, when I was a reporter in charge of movies in the Culture Department, I covered the production announcement at Toei’s headquarters in Ginza, Tokyo. Mr. Mino, former head of the Mino clan, who attended with Bunta (played by Shozo Hirono), said

I didn’t write any lies. Dozens of people have died in the past in the Hiroshima gang wars. However, the worst thing in the yakuza society is to stand up to one’s boss, and that is what I did. That is what I did. And that I wrote the memoir. I want people to understand that.

He was a quiet man. Although he spoke quietly, I was overwhelmed by the presence of the genuine article that he created.

Although he had changed the names of the characters and organizations, he said, “I want to keep the film as a documentary.

I wanted to keep the film as a documentary,” said Fukasaku.

The film is a realistic drama that follows director Fukasaku’s “real-life” approach, with an indecisive gang leader played skillfully by Nobuo Kaneko and members played by Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Tsunehiko Watase, and Tatsuo Umemiya, who are all rife with shouting and bullets, betrayal, and intrigue. The “no-holds-barred” yakuza ensemble drama was so popular that when the film was released in January 1973, it became a record-breaking blockbuster, with long lines of people circling the Marunouchi Toei movie theater in Ginza, Tokyo.

Bunta said

Bunta said, “Normally, in the case of “The Mamushi Brothers,” for example, I would try to show 120% of Bunta Sugawara, where there would be 100%. But in “Battles Without Honor and Humanity,” I reduced it to about half.

But in this “Battle without Honor and Humanity,” I kept it to about half. As a result, I think it was for the best.

I think it turned out to be a good thing,” he said.