Yokohama Nishi Ward

Description

Onko Chishin! Trek-trek Sketch in Nishi-ward: Sloping Path of Connection

Get off at Sengencho Shako-mae bus stop, near the Kofukuji Temple intersection on Loop Road 1. Turn onto the road with the pedestrian bridge and head for Sengendai Elementary School on the hill. Crossing the old old Tokai-do Road and walking up a steep slope in a residential area, you will come to "Sloping Path of Connection" (named by a primary school children's contest) where you can see the west exit of Yokohama station and Minatomirai.
On the cliff top of this slope is Sengendai, where Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece detective film “High and Low” (in black and white and partly in color) was shot in 1963. I am a big fan of Kurosawa's films.
The mansion of the film’s main character, managing director of a shoe company, played by Toshiro Mifune, was built on the site where the apartment building now stands. The film opens with a scene in a living room with a large glass door overlooking the west exit of Yokohama station, and the first half of the film takes place in this living room. The scene where he tensely negotiates with the kidnapper, played by Tsutomu Yamazaki, demanding 30 million yen in ransom, is white-knuckle and thrilling.
In Kurosawa's film " Sanshiro Sugata", the stairs on the approach to Sengen Shrine were used as a location for the film.

Title, picture and writing by Taro Suzuki (Nishi ward Cultural Association)
※This is a sketch and writing published in Yokohama Public Relation Nishi ward edition since June 2013. Please be noted that there’s a possibility that information in the article may be changed.

(Published June in 2020)