Castle of Sand

Castle of Sand
Castle of Sand - Original Japanese Poster Art
Directed by	Yoshitarō Nomura
Produced by	Shinobu Hashimoto Yoshihara Mishima Masayuki Sato
Written by	Seicho Matsumoto (novel) Yoshitaro Nomura Shinobu Hashimoto Yôji Yamada
Starring	Tetsuro Tamba Go Kato Kensaku Morita Yoko Shimada Karin Yamaguchi Shin Saburi Ken Ogata Kiyoshi Atsumi
Music by	Mitsuaki Kanno Kosuke Sugano
Cinematography	Takashi Kawamata
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	October 19, 1974 (1974-10-19)
Running time	143 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Castle of Sand (砂の器 Suna no utsuwa) is a 1974 Japanese police procedural directed by Yoshitarō Nomura, based on the novel Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seicho Matsumoto.

Yoshitaro Nomura’s 1974 film of Seicho Matsumoto’s immensely popular detective story tells the tale of two detectives, Imanishi (Tetsuro Tamba) and Yoshimura (Kensaku Morita), tasked with tracking down the murderer of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a rail yard. When the identity of the old man can't be determined, the investigation focuses on the only other clue: a scrap of conversation overheard at a bar between the old man and a younger one. A witness recalls the cryptic phrases "Kameda did this" and "Kameda doesn't change."

This sets off a wide ranging investigation that covers vast swaths of geography, changing social mores, and time. The investigation ends with an emotional and heartbreaking conclusion, all the more shattering because the reason for the crime need no longer exist in the world.