Upon its release in **October 1952**, *Ikiru* was both a critical and commercial triumph in Japan, marking a pivotal "return to form" for Akira Kurosawa after the commercial failure of his previous film, *The Idiot* (1951).
The film was received as a profound social and humanistic statement on post-war Japan. Below are specific details regarding its reception:
### 1. Domestic Reception in Japan (1952–1953)
* **Critical Acclaim:** The film was overwhelmingly praised by Japanese critics for its "humanism" and its scathing critique of the country’s rigid bureaucracy. It was seen as a deeply relevant reflection of the "spiritual vacuum" felt in the years following World War II.
* **Awards:** *Ikiru* swept Japan's most prestigious film awards for the 1952 season:
* **Kinema Junpo:** Won **Best Film** of the year. This was a significant achievement, as *Kinema Junpo* was (and is) considered the "Japanese Oscars" and the ultimate mark of critical prestige.
* **Mainichi Film Awards:** Won **Best Film** and **Best Screenplay** (Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni).
* **Takashi Shimura’s Performance:** Shimura's portrayal of the "mummy-like" Kanji Watanabe was immediately hailed as a masterpiece of acting. Critics noted that despite Shimura being only 47 years old at the time, his physical transformation and weary, hollow-eyed performance were entirely convincing as a dying man in his 60s.
* **Structural Impact:** The film’s "radical" structure—killing off the protagonist two-thirds of the way through and spending the final act at his wake—was a major point of discussion. Japanese audiences and critics appreciated the satirical nature of the wake, which highlighted how collective group-think in Japanese society often absorbs and nullifies individual acts of heroism.
### 2. International Reception (1954–1960)
While *Ikiru* was an immediate hit in Japan, its international journey took longer, as Western distributors initially found it "too Japanese" compared to Kurosawa’s more action-oriented samurai epics.
* **Berlin Film Festival (1954):** The film's first major international breakthrough occurred at the **4th Berlin International Film Festival**, where it was awarded the **Special Prize of the Senate of Berlin**. This win helped solidify Kurosawa's reputation in Europe following his 1951 Venice win for *Rashomon*.
* **United States Release:**
* **1956:** It had a very limited release in California under the title *Doomed*.
* **1960:** It received a major New York premiere. **Bosley Crowther**, the influential critic for *The New York Times*, wrote a famous (if slightly mixed) review. He called it a "strangely fascinating and affecting film," praising Shimura as one of the "top film actors anywhere," though he personally found the film's length and the "anti-climactic" death of the hero a bit taxing.
* ***Variety*** described it as a "tour-de-force," noting that Kurosawa successfully avoided the "mawkish" sentimentality usually found in terminal illness dramas.
### 3. Cultural Context at Release
* **Social Critique:** At the time of release, Japan was struggling with the transition from a feudal/imperial mindset to a modern democracy under Allied occupation. The film’s depiction of the "circular" nature of bureaucracy (the "passing the buck" sequence) resonated strongly with a public frustrated by the inefficiency of the new government.
* **The "Cesspool" Symbolism:** Contemporary viewers noted the recurring symbol of the stagnant pool/swamp (reused from Kurosawa's *Drunken Angel*). In 1952, this was seen as a direct metaphor for the stagnant, unmoving state of the Japanese administrative system that Watanabe finally "drains" to build his park.