Akira Kurosawa

Awards & Honours

Awards Won

Honours

Rankings

Covers

Records

Kurosawa's trophy case is remarkable: an Academy Honorary Award, an Oscar for Dersu Uzala, the Golden Lion, the Palme d'Or, and a BAFTA for direction. He is one of the few directors to have won top prizes at Venice, Cannes, and Berlin. The Japanese Academy awarded him Best Director five times. In 1992, he received the Praemium Imperiale, Japan's highest honor for the arts. CNN and AsianWeek named him "Asian of the Century" in the arts category in 1999. His films consistently rank among the greatest ever made, with Seven Samurai often sitting near the top of critics' polls.

AwardsKurosawa won an Academy Honorary Award in 1990 for lifetime achievement, and his film Dersu Uzala won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1976. He received the Golden Lion at Venice for Rashomon (1951), the Silver Lion for Seven Samurai (1954), the Palme d'Or at Cannes for Kagemusha (1980), and the BAFTA for Best Direction for Ran (1986). He also won multiple Japanese Academy Awards and the Praemium Imperiale.

Honours & Distinctions

Academy Honorary Award

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences·1990

Lifetime achievement award for his body of work.

Order of the Rising Sun, Third Class

Government of Japan·1985

National honor for contributions to culture.

Order of Culture (Bunka Kōrōsha)

Government of Japan·1985

Japan's highest cultural award.

Praemium Imperiale

Japan Art Association·1992

Lifetime achievement in the arts.

Asian of the Century (Arts)

CNN and AsianWeek·1999

Named the most influential Asian artist of the 20th century.

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce·1994

Located at 6249 Hollywood Blvd.

Honorary Doctorate

Waseda University·1990

Honorary doctorate for contributions to film.

Key to the City of Tokyo

Tokyo Metropolitan Government·1990

Honorary key presented by the city.

Rankings & Lists

Greatest Directors of All Time

Rolling Stone·2014

100 Greatest Directors

Empire·2005

100 Best Directors

Time Out·2015

Greatest Films of All Time (Seven Samurai)

Sight & Sound (BFI)·2002

#17

Greatest Films of All Time (Seven Samurai)

Sight & Sound (BFI)·2012

#24

Greatest Films of All Time (Rashomon)

Sight & Sound (BFI)·2012

100 Greatest Foreign-Language Films

BBC·2018

Magazine Covers

TIME (Asia Edition)

1984-03-12

Akira Kurosawa: The Emperor of Japanese Cinema

TIME

1998-09-21

Akira Kurosawa: 1910-1998

Rolling Stone

1990-10-01

Akira Kurosawa: The Master

Variety

1985-05-01

Kurosawa's Ran: A Masterpiece

Film Comment

1986-03-01

Kurosawa: The Last Samurai

Records & Feats

Most awards won by a Japanese film director

Career Milestone·1990

Guinness World Record for the most awards won by a Japanese film director.

First Japanese director to win the Golden Lion

Historic First·1951

Rashomon won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1951, the first Japanese film to do so.

First Asian director to receive an Academy Honorary Award

Historic First·1990

Kurosawa received the Honorary Award in 1990, the first Asian director to be so honored.