A Survey of Relationship between Religion and Art in Kurosawa’s Cinema(by consider to Zen sign and symbol)

In japan, Zen is the most influential dimension of popular culture and is often so effective and hegemonic in daily and private life. Akira Kurosawa, as a real Japanese director who is very loyal to his cultural context, has expressed these terms in his movies. According to the Zen cultivations, poetics and religious contents are the same dimension of mind, and we can see this unity and unique monism in Kurosawa’s movies after pay attention to his works and analyze some clear signs and metaphoric symbols of them. The interaction between “art and religion” in Kurosawa’s cinema informs a new idea and approach, and resolves from an old problem. It means he can combine traditional and modern Sphere: Zen and Film.  At the first step, he has inspired from an ancient, powerful, religious and spiritual heritage (Zen: which has its effective present in Japanese’s life yet), and in the second half, he could express and reproduce its relevant themes (contents) at the cinematic- translatable screen shot. Kurosawa’s cinematic approach can present an acceptable- and not exactly exemplary- discourse, and we can enrich our cinematic meditations by regarding to this successful experience.