You know something a little different is happening when a press event is interrupted by ninja attack:
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Since the 1908 debut of “The Battle of Honnoji”, samurai stories have a been a staple of Japanese cinema. These samurai period dramas, known as Jidaigeki, were among the very first kinds of films made in Japan, and can be thought of as the Japanese equivalent of Westerns ... just replace the cowboy hat with a chonmage, and the Colt 45 with a Masamune.

Now, YouTube Space Tokyo and Toei Company are teaming up to give Jidaigeki a modern twist with “The Jidaigeki: Samurai Tales with Toei at YouTube Space Tokyo,” a program designed to help Japanese content creators produce new Samurai-inspired content for the web.

Toei Company, founded in 1951, has produced some of Japan’s most iconic samurai period films - from “Miyamoto Musashi” (1961) to “13 Assassins” (1963). To help bring the genre to a new generation, this is the Jidaigeki-style set, they’ve set up at the YouTube Space Tokyo:

Using this set, select YouTube creators will have the opportunity to create high-quality videos, and can apply to join to a series of production tutorials, including classes dedicated to Jidaigeki wardrobe styling, classic sword-fighting and special effects. In fact, 10 YouTube creators have already been selected to receive pre-production consultations with Japanese director and producer Toshio Lee.

We hope this will help Japanese creators experiment, learn and create great new content, while also sharing more of Japan’s well-loved Samurai period film culture with the rest of the world.

Posted by David Macdonald, Head of YouTube Spaces Asia-Pacific, who recently watched How are Samurai Films Responsible for Star Wars?!? Film School’d