Akira Kurosawa directed 30 feature films.
His directing career began with Sanshiro Sugata in 1943 and extended across six decades, ending with Madadayo in 1993. The total counts his feature-length films directed for theatrical release, rather than every production on which he worked.
That distinction matters because Kurosawa also served as a screenwriter, assistant director, producer, editor, and occasional contributor to collaborative projects. His filmography therefore contains more titles connected to him than the 30 features he directed alone.
The 30 films include wartime and postwar Japanese productions, samurai classics such as Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, contemporary dramas including Ikiru, and late-career historical epics such as Kagemusha and Ran. The number is often confused with broader counts of his film credits.