The colossally popular Zatoichi films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen’s great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to ...

Made just one year later, Sanjuro matches Yojimbo’s storytelling dexterity yet adds layers of world-weary pragmatism that brings the two films to a thrilling and unforgettable conclusion.

But Mifune’s global reputation—27 years after his death, he’s still Japan’s most famous actor—was cemented by two Kurosawa films from the following decade: “Yojimbo” (1961 ...