Shintarō Katsu plays the emperor who burned books and built walls—epic history served cold.
In 221 BC, Qin Shihuangdi conquered the rest of China. Qin's great accomplishments and also his serious faults are showed in this film. Qin adopted autocratic dictatorship and led a luxurious life: abolition of feudalism and the centralization of power in the form of a now-hereditary bureaucracy loyal to himself; burning books and burying scholars; the construction of a sumptuous palace for his concubines and also the Great Wall.
Acting
Katsu's controlled menace as the paranoid emperor.
Production
Massive wall construction sequences, pre-CGI scale.
Direction
Tanaka's detached observation of institutional cruelty.
Director
Shigeo Tanaka
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shintarō Katsu filmed this between Zatoichi episodes, using the same production company (Daiei).
Released during Japan's 1960s debate over war responsibility, the Qin emperor reads as thinly-veiled commentary on militarist leadership.
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