NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Radiance Blu-ray (August 2024): Radiance have transferred Tai Kato's Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza to Blu-ray. The 1080P is quite thick and has inherent softness. This would fit the era and country that it was made. Colors appear true and decently balanced and there are examples of impressive detail. Probably the most dominant video feature would be the softness but I got over it fairly quickly. It looked pleasing if not pristine on my system.

NOTE: We have added 46 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Radiance use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original Japanese language. Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza has plenty of aggressive moments with bloody sword fights. The score by Ichirô Saitô (Floating Clouds, Ugetsu Monogatori, The Life of Oharu, Execution in Autumn, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, and some of the Zatoichi series) is excellent in supporting the film's themes or survival and desperation. Radiance offer optional, newly translated, English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Radiance Blu-ray offer new supplements. Cinema scholar Koushi Ueno discusses Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza, its director, Tai Kato, and the film’s place in genre cinema and their significance in Japanese film history for 16-minutes. lncluded is an 18-minute visual essay by Robin Gatto (Lame d'un père, l'âme d'un sabre - a documentary about the making of the "Lone Wolf and Cub" film series) traces the extraordinary career of Tokijiro's star Kinnosuke Nakamura, (aka Kinnosuke yorozuya.) There is also a trailer and the package has a reversible sleeve (see below) featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow and a limited edition booklet featuring new writing by scholar Ivo Smits (editor of Reading East Asian Writing: The Limits of Literary Theory) and a newly translated archival review.

I always enjoy the films of Tai Kato (I, the Executioner, Eighteen Years in Prison, By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him, Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Match) and appreciate being exposed to them by Radiance Blu-ray (and Masters of Cinema.) Kato was the nephew of Sadao Yamanaka (Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo, Priest of Darkness, Humanity and Paper Balloons.) He also worked as an assistant director to Akira Kurosawa in Rashomon. Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza is based on the book by Shin Hasegawa - whose novels were converted into films over 150 times. Tokijiro has a pulpy edge tending to focus more on characters, relationships and emotions in the harsh atmosphere of crime, the code of wandering gamblers and the reluctance and morality of, self-preservation, killing. It's a very dramatic Jidaigeki film with intense conflicts and strong themes. It is briskly paced. I am, again, very happy the Radiance Blu-ray for exposure to the lesser-seen work and the new supplements. Fans of the director, genre or Japanese cinema should check this one out.

Gary Tooze