The King Kong that Appeared in Edo

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Japanese poster for The King Kong That Appeared in Edo

Directed by

Sōya Kumagai

Producer

Unknown

Written by

Daijō Aoyama

Music by

Unknown

Distributor

Zenshō Cinema

Rating

N/A

Budget

Unknown

Box office

Unknown

Running time

Five reels for each part

The King Kong That Appeared in Edo (江戸に現れたキングコング, Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu) is a lost 1938 kaiju film produced by Zenshō Cinema, based on RKO Pictures' King Kong. It was released to Japanese theaters on March 18, 1938.

Plot

Part 1

In the first part, titled The King Kong That Appeared in Edo: The Episode of Transformation (江戸に現れたキングコング:変化の巻, Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu: Henge no Maki), Chinami, a daughter of Hyoue Toba, is mysteriously kidnapped one night. Toba offers a 3,000 Ryō reward for his daughter. (Note: Ryō is one of currency units used by Tokugawa shogunate, roughly equivalent to 330 US dollars.) Yuzuru Kawasaki and other spongers set about searching for Chinami. But Magonojyō Gō, one of Toba’s spongers, sneers at his fellows’ efforts. In fact, Gō is the very man who kidnapped Chinami. He made his father Senbei’s pet ape abduct her.

Part 2

The second part, titled The King Kong That Appeared in Edo: The Episode of Gold (江戸に現れたキングコング:黄金の巻, Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu: Ōgon no Maki) has complex circumstances behind it. Toba influences Senbei to counterfeit coins, but he refuses. Toba imprisons Senbei somewhere. To get a clue of his father’s whereabouts, Gō disguises himself as one of Toba’s spongers. Gō menaces Toba with the ape covertly. He offers Toba Chinami's location in exchange for the prize money. He takes Toba to his secret cellar to shut him up. The vengeful ape kills Toba but he, too, is fatally wounded. Gō then leaves Edo with 3,000 Ryō. What happened to Chinami after that is unknown, but it is assumed she was freed when Magonojyō received his money from Hyoue.

History

The King Kong That Appeared in Edo was one of Japan's first kaiju films, predating Godzilla by sixteen years. Although inaccurate to its historical setting, some Caligari-esque expressionistic buildings were added for Kong to climb. Like most of Japan's prewar cinematic output, the film is now completely lost.

Fuminori Ohashi, who would later create the suit for Godzilla in the original 1954 film, created the ape suit and special effects for this film. He explained, "The first model making to be counted as 'special art direction' in Japanese cinema was a giant gorilla which I did for the movie The King Kong That Appeared in Edo fifty years ago. It was also the first movie to feature certain kinds of special effects." However, the film's synopsis, as published in the March 1938 issue of Kinepa Junpo, does not seem to indicate that the movie's "Kong" is a giant at all.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

Directed by Sôya Kumagai
Written by Daijô Aoyama
Cinematography by Yozo Okuda
Special Effects by Fuminori Ôhashi

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

Eizaburo Matsumoto as Misato Magonojo
Fuminori Ôhashi as Anthropoid
Reizaburo Ichikawa as Toba Hyoei
Reiko Mishima as Chinami
Shojiro Ogata as Kuroami the Hunchback
Yasutarô Yagi as Inoue Ginbei
Noboru Takashima as Kawasaki Yuzuru
Keinosuke Yashiro as Segawa Kinnosuke
Shotaro Shiba as Azuma Tetsusaburo
Shin Taga as Nakazawa Shinjûro
Ryutaro Hibiki as Matsudaira Izunokami
Keisuke Matsudaira as Clerk at Charcoal Shop
Kikutaro Yoshii as Clerk at Soy Sauce Shop
Do Jitsukawa as Rice Shop Apprentice

Appearances

Monsters

King Kong

Gallery

Main article: King Kong Appears in Edo/Gallery.

Alternate Titles

King Kong (キングコング, Kingu Kongu, Japan)

Films

Godzilla films

Showa era

Godzilla (1954) • Godzilla Raids Again (1955) • King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) • Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) • Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) • Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) • Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) • Son of Godzilla (1967) • Destroy All Monsters (1968) • All Monsters Attack (1969) • Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) • Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) • Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) • Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) • Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Heisei era

The Return of Godzilla (1984) • Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) • Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) • Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) • Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) • Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) • Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Millennium era

Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) • Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) • Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) • Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) • Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) • Godzilla Final Wars (2004)

Reiwa era

Live action	Shin Godzilla (2016) • Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Animated	GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters (2017) • GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle (2018) • GODZILLA: The Planet Eater (2018)

American films

GODZILLA (1998) • Godzilla (2014) • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) • Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) • Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Short films

"Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley" (1992) • Monster Planet of Godzilla (1994) • Godzilla: The Real 4-D (2017) • Dream Challenge: Godzilla Appears in Sukagawa (2019) • "The Faceless Star" (2019) • Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D (2019) • Godzilla Interception Operation Awaji attraction video (2020) • Godzilla Appears at Godzilla Fest (2020) • Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021) • "The Impact of a Blue Day" (2021) • Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021) • Godzilla vs. the Tigers (2022) • Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (2022) • Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks (2022) • "GO YOUR WAY" (2023) • Godzilla vs. Megalon (2023) • Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar (2023) • Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo (2024)

Gamera films

Shōwa period	Gamera the Giant Monster (1965) • Gamera vs. Barugon (1966) • Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967) • Gamera vs. Viras (1968) • Gamera vs. Guiron (1969) • Gamera vs. Jiger (1970) • Gamera vs. Zigra (1971) • Gamera Super Monster (1980)

Heisei period	Gamera the Guardian of the Universe (1995) • Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) • Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999) • Gamera the Brave (2006)

Short films	Gamera vs. Garasharp (1991) • GAMERA (2015)

King Kong films

King Kong (1933) • Son of Kong (1933) • King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) • King Kong Escapes (1967) • King Kong (1976) • King Kong Lives (1986) • The Mighty Kong (1998) • Kong: King of Atlantis (2005) • King Kong (2005) • Kong: Return to the Jungle (2006) • Kong: Skull Island (2017) • Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) • Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Other Toho films

Shōwa period	Ramayana (1940s) • Invisible Man (1954) • Half Human (1955) • Rodan (1956) • The Mysterians (1957) • The H-Man (1958) • Varan (1958) • The Three Treasures (1959) • Battle in Outer Space (1959) • The Secret of the Telegian (1960) • The Human Vapor (1960) • Mothra (1961) • The Last War (1961) • Gorath (1962) • Matango (1963) • Atragon (1963) • Dogora (1964) • Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) • The War of the Gargantuas (1966) • The Killing Bottle (1967) • Latitude Zero (1969) • Konto 55: The Great Outer Space Adventure (1969) • Space Amoeba (1970) • Daigoro vs. Goliath (1972) • Submersion of Japan (1973) • ESPY (1974) • Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) • The War in Space (1977) • Magnitude 7.9 (1980) • Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984) • Princess from the Moon (1987)

Heisei period	Cyber Cop (1989) • Gunhed (1989) • Mikadoroid (1991) • Reiko, Psyche Resurrected (1991) • Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon (1994) • Rebirth of Mothra (1996) • Rebirth of Mothra 2 (1997) • Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998) • Super Fleet Sazer-X the Movie (2005) • Sinking of Japan (2006) • Go! Godman (2008) • Attack on Titan the Movie: Part 1 (2015) • Attack on Titan the Movie: Part 2 (2015)

Reiwa period	Monster Hunter (2020) • The Great Yokai War: Guardians (2021) • Shin Ultraman (2022) • yokaipedia (2022)

Other Daiei films

The Invisible Man Appears (1949) • Warning from Space (1956) • The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly (1957) • Killer Whale (1962) • Daimajin (1966) • Return of Daimajin (1966) • Wrath of Daimajin (1966) • Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts (1969)

Other Japanese films

Shōwa period	Japanese King Kong (1933) • The Great Buddha Arrival (1934) • The King Kong that Appeared in Edo (1938) • Magic Serpent (1966) • The X from Outer Space (1967) • Gappa (1967) • The Last Dinosaur (1977) • Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977) • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Heisei period	The Cat (1991) • Sakuya (2000) • Wanigon vs. Gamaron (2000) • The Great Yokai War (2005) • Negadon: The Monster from Mars (2005) • Reigo: King of the Sea Monsters (2008) • Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit (2008) • Geharha: The Dark and Long Haired Monster‎ (2009) • Demeking, the Sea Monster (2009) • Raiga: God of the Monsters (2009) • Death Kappa (2010) • The God of Clay (2011) • A Giant Warrior Descends on Tokyo (2012) • Jellyfish Eyes (2013) • Day of the Kaiju (2014) • Love & Peace (2015) • Kaiju Mono (2016) • The Great Buddha Arrival (2018) • Kaiju Ward Gallas (2019)

Reiwa period	God Raiga vs. King Ohga: War of the Monsters (2019) • The Great Actress Reiko Inui (2019) • Howl from Beyond the Fog (2019) • Monster Seafood Wars (2020) • The 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died in 8 (2020) • Nezura 1964 (2021) • Yatsuashi (2021) • What to Do with the Dead Kaiju? (2022) • Yuzo the Biggest Battle in Tokyo (2022) • AKARI (2022) • Hoshi 35 (2023) • Brush of the God (2024) • "Foodlosslla: What Should Humanity Do!?" (2024) • Kaiju: Island of Fire (TBA)

Miscellaneous

Films	The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) • The Giant Behemoth (1959) • Gorgo (1961) • Bulgasari (1962) • Gogola (1966) • Space Monster Wangmagwi (1967) • Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967) • APE (1976) • The Mighty Peking Man (1977) • Pulgasari (1985) • Reptilian (1999) • Cloverfield (2008) • 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) • Colossal (2016) • The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) • Rampage (2018) • Notzilla (2019) • untitled Cloverfield sequel (TBA)

Documentaries	Toho Unused Special Effects Complete Collection (1986) • Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1998) • GAMERA1999 (1999) • Bringing Godzilla Down to Size (2008) • The Dawn of Kaiju Eiga (2019) • Yonggary Chronicle Project (2019) • Godzilla's Leading Ladies (2020)

Fan films	Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969) • Gamera 4: Truth (2003) • Waiting for Gorgo (2009) • G vs. G (2019) • Godziban (2019) • Heritage (2020) • Coming Out (2020) • Wolfman vs. Godzilla (TBA)

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The King Kong that Appeared in Edo

Contents

Plot

Part 1

Part 2

History

Staff

Cast

Appearances

Monsters

Gallery

Alternate Titles

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