Battles Without Honor and Humanity
Directed by	Kinji Fukasaku
Written by	Kazuo Kasahara Koichi Iiboshi (story)
Starring	Bunta Sugawara Hiroki Matsukata Tatsuo Umemiya Tsunehiko Watase Nobuo Kaneko
Music by	Toshiaki Tsushima
Cinematography	Sadaji Yoshida
Distributed by	Toei
Release date(s)	January 13, 1973
Running time	99 min
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Followed by	Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Hiroshima Deathmatch
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

For the instrumental piece by Tomoyasu Hotei featured in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill, see Battle Without Honor or Humanity

Battles Without Honor and Humanity (仁義なき戦い, Jingi naki tatakai^?) is a groundbreaking 1973 yakuza film by Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku and adapted from a series of newspaper articles by Koichi Iiboshi, a journalist and former yakuza^[1]. It is the first film in a five-part series that is known as The Yakuza Papers. Due to the series' enormous commercial and critical popularity it was followed by another three-part series, New Battles Without Honor and Humanity, and concluded with a final installment, Aftermath of Battles Without Honor and Humanity. It is often called the "Japanese Godfather". Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Kinji Fukasaku (深作欣二 Fukasaku Kinji) (3 July 1930 – 12 January 2003) was a Japanese film actor, writer and director. ... Bunta Sugawara is a Japanese actor born in 1933. ... Matsukata Hiroki (松方弘樹 July 23, 1942 – ) is a Japanese actor. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Toei Animation. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan_(bordered). ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Tomoyasu Hotei (布袋寅泰 Hotei Tomoyasu, born on February 1, 1962 in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture) is a Korean Japanese musician, guitarist and actor. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Kill Bill: Vol. ... Battle Without Honor or Humanity is an alternate version of Shin jingi-naki tatakai, an instrumental piece by Tomoyasu Hotei, originally used in the 2000 film Another Battle (aka Shin Jinginaki Tatakai) by Junji Sakamoto, in which Hotei also performs as an actor. ... // Events The Marx Brothers Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. ... The Yakuza are a popular subject in films Yakuza are a popular subject in Japanese cinema. ... Kinji Fukasaku (深作欣二 Fukasaku Kinji) (3 July 1930 – 12 January 2003) was a Japanese film actor, writer and director. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about organized crime. ... The Godfather is a three-time Academy Award-winning 1972 crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Mario Puzo — Puzo and Coppola collaborated on the screenplay. ...

Synopsis

The violent, documentary-style film chronicles the underworld tribulations of Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), a young ex-soldier and street thug in post-War Hiroshima. Starting in the open-air black markets of bombed-out Hiroshima in 1945, the film spans a period of more than ten years. The plot consists of a changing of the guard of new families and organziations with the same feuds and people, punctuated by the gritty violence. It gave way to four sequels, which form a sprawling yakuza epic. The overall message and tone of the series is a bleak meditation on violence, chaos, and futile struggles. Bunta Sugawara is a Japanese actor born in 1933. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... For other uses, see Hiroshima (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into underground economy. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

Etymology

The title refers to the post-war yakuza's lack of jingi, a Japanese term loosely translated as "honor and humanity". Previous yakuza movies had, for the most part, been tales of chivalry set in pre-war Japan. A commercial and critical success, Battles Without Honor and Humanity portrayed a darker and more cynical world, and set the stage for much subsequent Japanese cinema. Bors Dilemma - he chooses to save a maiden rather than his brother Lionel Chivalry[1] is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood. ... Japanese cinema (映画; Eiga) has a history in Japan that spans more than 100 years. ...

In the western market it is known under the titles:

• Battles Without Honour and Humanity (Canada: English title)
• Tarnished Code of Yakuza (Australia)
• The Yakuza Papers
• War Without a Code

Sequels

• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Hiroshima Deathmatch (1973)
• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War (1973)
• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics (1974)
• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode (1974)
• New Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1974)
• New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head (1975)
• New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Last Days (1976)
• Aftermath of Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1979)

Yakuza Papers DVD

Home Vision Entertainment released "The Yakuza Papers" as a DVD box set in 2004. William Friedkin, whose talking-head interview kicks off the extras disc, calls director Kinji Fukasaku "a master," comparing "The Yakuza Papers" to James Joyce's "Ulysses." No doubt a contemporary influence on the frantic hand-held camerawork was Friedkin's own "The French Connection" which the U.S. director says "very easy could have been done by Fukasaku." "Fukasaku wasn't worried about happy endings. He didn't have to redeem the good guys," Friedkin says. U.S. News & World Report journalist David Kaplan, who wrote the book "Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld," gives a rat-a-tat-tat history of the crime families in postwar Japan, linking U.S. military intelligence to their rise. The box set provides a printed chart that helps viewers track the crime families that do battle over the quarter-century covered in the series. DVD reviewer Glenn Abel wrote in the Hollywood Reporter: "Comparisons to the first two 'Godfathers' seem inevitable, but 'The Yakuza Papers' is a singular film experience -- deeply rewarding for those with the stomach for its kinetic violence; overwhelming in scope and complexity. This is a dizzying eight-hour hell ride through a time and place as foreign as they come."^[2] William Friedkin (born August 29, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American movie and television director, producer, and writer best known for directing The Exorcist and The French Connection in the early 1970s. ... Kinji Fukasaku (深作欣二 Fukasaku Kinji) (3 July 1930 – 12 January 2003) was a Japanese film actor, writer and director. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... There are many people named David Kaplan. ...

References

1. ^ Chris D. (2005). Outlaw Masters of Japancese Film. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-84511-086-2. :p. 9-10
2. ^ Abel, Glenn (May 4, 2007). Review of Yakuza Papers DVD. Dvdspindoctor.com Retrieved on May 4, 2007.

Chris D. (Desjardins) - (born 1950) - punk poet, rock critic, singer, writer, filmmaker. ...

External links

The title Jingi Naki Tatakai (Battles Without Honor and Humanity) is shown over a backdrop of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

• Battles Without Honor and Humanity at the Internet Movie Database
• The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor & Humanity at Image Entertainment website, with trailer
• (Japanese) Battles Without Honor and Humanity at the Japanese Internet Movie Database