Tenjiku Tokubei
- Media type
- Film
天竺 徳兵衛 · Tenjiku Tokubei · MOVIE
Horror 1910
About this title
The first film depiction of the Tenjiko Tokubei, an exotic adventurer, and the protagonist of Tsuruya Nambobu IV's first big kabuki success, Tenjiku Tokubei Ikoku-Banashi (1804). Based on a real-life navigator, the play was remarkable for its heavy emphasis on the supernatural, conveyed through spectacular special effects: a famous highlight is the entrance of Tokubei astride a giant, poison gas-breathing toad, brandishing a man's severed head.