No surprise there since Kurosawa seemed to use the same actors over and over again in those days. Watch some of his other films from that period like The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo and you’ll see the same faces pop up.
Oh I know, he has a great stable, the drunk at the end is in plenty of his films.
I just didnt notice it in Ikiru to this point.
Joshua W
Watching Ikiru again I was struck by how many of the Seven Samurai were from it. Of course Takashi Shimura was Kambei, but Daisuke Kato (Shichiroji) and Seiji Miyaguchi (Kyuzo) both show up as Yakuza, as well as my favorite of the samurai, Heihachi, or Minoru Chiaki, plays Noguchi. I thought this was very cool.