Sanjuro, or Tsubaki Sanjuro is a 1962 film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It tells the story of a scruffy, cynical samurai who helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent. The leading role was played by Toshiro Mifune, perhaps the most famous actor of his generation who starred in 16 films directed by Kurosawa. Sanjuro was adapted from Shūgorō Yamamoto’s novel Hibi Heian, but the script was altered following the success of Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo to incorporate the same lead character. In both films, Mifune wears a rather dilapidated dark kimono bearing the same family mon (crest) probably the emblem of his former samurai clan, before he became a rōnin (masterless).

The British Film Institute (BFI) acquired its costume collection for display at the Museum of the Moving Image, which existed on the South Bank in London between 1988 and 1999. The collection is made up of British, European, American and Japanese films and covers the period from the silent film era to the mid-1990s. It contains a wealth of historic and significant film costumes worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers. The collection was transferred to the V&A in 2015.