Rashomon

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Toshiro Mifune stands menacingly over Machiko Kyo, who sits on the ground holding a dagger, in a forest scene from the film Rashomon (1951), directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Rashomon

film by Kurosawa [1951]

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July 13, 2026

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Toshiro Mifune stands menacingly over Machiko Kyo, who sits on the ground holding a dagger, in a forest scene from the film Rashomon (1951), directed by Akira Kurosawa. — (From left) Mifune Toshirō as Tajōmaru and Kyō Machiko as Kanazawa Masako in Kurosawa Akira's 1950 film version of Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's Rashōmon.

Rashomon is a 1950 film directed by Akira Kurosawa, which brought Japanese cinema to international attention. The film is an adaptation of two short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, including the story of the same name and "In a Grove".123

Set in 12th-century Kyoto, Rashomon explores the nature of truth by presenting a single event—a samurai's murder and his wife's rape—from multiple, conflicting perspectives. The film won the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival and the Academy Award for best foreign-language film, marking a significant moment for Japanese cinema on the global stage. Its innovative narrative structure, where the same event is recalled differently by various characters, profoundly influenced filmmaking and advanced the idea of cinema as a tool for exploring metaphysical questions.231

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Rashōmon
…director Kurosawa Akira’s classic film Rashōmon (1950).
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…director Kurosawa Akira’s classic film Rashōmon (1950).
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film festival
In 1951 Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon won the Golden Lion at Venice, focusing attention on Japanese films. That same year the first American Art Film Festival at Woodstock, New York, stimulated the art-film movement in the United States.
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In 1951 Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon won the Golden Lion at Venice, focusing attention on Japanese films. That same year the first American Art Film Festival at Woodstock, New York, stimulated the art-film movement in the United States.
Read More

Kurosawa Akira
Films of the 1950s
Kurosawa’s Rashomon was shown at the Venice Film Festival in 1951 and was awarded the Grand Prix. It also won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film. This was the first time a Japanese film had won such high international acclaim, and Japanese films now attracted…
Read More
Kurosawa’s Rashomon was shown at the Venice Film Festival in 1951 and was awarded the Grand Prix. It also won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film. This was the first time a Japanese film had won such high international acclaim, and Japanese films now attracted…
Read More

History of film
Japan
to that category: Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon (1950), which won the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice film festival. The film, a meditation on the nature of truth set in the medieval past, marked the beginning of the Japanese cinema’s unprecedented renaissance . During this period, new export markets opened in…
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to that category: Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon (1950), which won the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice film festival. The film, a meditation on the nature of truth set in the medieval past, marked the beginning of the Japanese cinema’s unprecedented renaissance . During this period, new export markets opened in…
Read More

Venice Film Festival
Notable Leone d’Oro winners include Rashomon (1950), Last Year at Marienbad (1961), and Brokeback Mountain (2005).
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Notable Leone d’Oro winners include Rashomon (1950), Last Year at Marienbad (1961), and Brokeback Mountain (2005).
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Daiei Motion Picture Company
Three successful films, Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon (1950), which won the Grand Prize at the 1951 Venice Film Festival; Ugetsu monogatari (1953), directed by Mizoguchi Kenji; and Gate of Hell (1953–54), the first Japanese film to use colour, eased the company’s financial difficulties. Despite its transition to wide-screen productions in the…
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Three successful films, Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon (1950), which won the Grand Prize at the 1951 Venice Film Festival; Ugetsu monogatari (1953), directed by Mizoguchi Kenji; and Gate of Hell (1953–54), the first Japanese film to use colour, eased the company’s financial difficulties. Despite its transition to wide-screen productions in the…
Read More