Japanese Movie Database lists 547 films released in Japan during 1961. The five major studios released 353 feature films this year, of which 251 were in color; 388 were gendai-geki, set in the modern era, and 147 were jidai-geki, set in historical times. Film critic Tadao Satō names as significant Japanese releases of the year, Shōhei Imamura's Pigs and Battleships, Susumu Hani's Bad Boys, and Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo.