© 2012 Lawrence Tuczynski

Title: GOKAINA MIFUNE (WONDERFUL MIFUNE)
CD Label: BKM
CD Number: G.R.F.030
Music Performed by: Bukimisha Weird Secret Society
Takeo Yahiro & Friends
Music Composed by: Various Composers
Number of tracks: 18 (3 hidden)
Running time: 74:45
Number of discs: 1
Year of release/manufacture: December 31, 2011

REVIEW

May 17, 2012

This CD contains music from some of the films starring Toshiro Mifune [April 1, 1920 – December 24, 1997] (probably my favorite Japanese actor). Mr. Mifune appeared in almost 170 films and is probably best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa from 1948 to 1965. He also played the part of Toranaga in the U.S. 1980 TV miniseries Shogun. Toshiro Mifune also appeared in several U.S. films in the mid 1970's including Red Sun (with Charles Bronson), the war film Midway (with an all star cast that included: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook and others) and one of my favorites, the 1968 Hell In The Pacific (with Lee Marvin).

The Bukimisha Weird Secret Society on this CD do their usually great a cappella renditions of several of the Japanese films Mr. Mifune starred in.

Bukimisha CDs are available to non-Japanese buyers through BOOTH (The International Indie Art Marketplace) by using a proxy service or other intermediary: https://bukimisya-maal.booth.pm/

GOKAINA MIFUNE (WONDERFUL MIFUNE)

Track translations courtesy of Jolyon Yates

  1. GINREI NO HATE (THE SNOW TRAIL, Mifune's debut movie)
  2. SHIZUKANARU KETTO (THE QUIET DUEL, Kurosawa's one film scored by Akira Ifukube)
  3. JAKKOMAN & TETSU (1949)
  4. BEYOND LOVE & HATE (1951)
  5. GEKIRYU (1952)
  6. RAINY NIGHT DUEL (1956)
  7. UNDERWORLD (1956)
  8. YAGYU SECRET SCROLLS (1957) and YAGYU SECRET SCROLLS: NINJITSU (1958)
  9. LIFE OF AN EXPERT SWORDSMAN (1959)
  10. BIRTH OF JAPAN (1959)
  11. THE STORY OF OSAKA CASTLE (1961)
  12. CHUSHINGURA (1962)
  13. THE ADVENTURE OF KIGAN CASTLE (1966)
  14. O-GIN SAMA (LOVE & FAITH 1978)
  15. ZATOICHI & YOJIMBO (1970)

  16. Hidden Bonus Track 1 [5:55 long, mostly silent with about two minutes of Japanese dialogue with singing in the background]
  17. Hidden Bonus Track 2 [also 5:55 long and sounds the same as Bonus Track 1 to me]
  18. Hidden Bonus Track 3 [This one clocks in at 5:32 with the first three minutes silent. Then as with the other two Bonus Tracks we have Japanese dialogue with singing in the background]