“When we started Seven Samurai, the character of Kikuchiyo hadn’t yet been written. It was “Six Samurai” then, and I heard later I was slated to be Kyuzo, the role that Seiji Miyaguchi ended up playing. Kurosawa and the two other scenario writers, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni, were holed up at an inn in Atami called the Suikouen working on the script. I dropped by every so often. They worked separately and met in the evenings to bat around what they had written. Finally it dawned on them that six sober samurai were a bore—they needed a character that was more off-the-wall. So that’s how Kikuchiyo was born. “Let’s give it to Mifune,” they agreed, “and see what he does with it.” So I had complete freedom to do whatever I felt like.” - Toshiro Mifune, In His Own Words, Seven Samurai Criterion booklet.
