Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Ken Watanabe: General Kuribayashi

Photos 

Quotes 

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : I will always be in front of you.

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : If our children can live safely for one more day it would be worth the one more day that we defend this island.

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : [Tadamichi turns up in time to stop Ito from beheading Saigo and Shimizu]  I don't want you to kill my soldiers needlessly. Put down your sword. Put it down!

  [Ito sheathes his katana and salutes] 

  General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : What's going on here?

  Lieutenant Ito : These men ran from Suribachi.

  General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : Lt. Ito, I gave the order that all survivors retreat to the north caves.

  Lieutenant Ito : [embarrassed]  I am very sorry, General. It's just... Suribachi... has fallen.

  [Tadamichi rushes to a cave opening and sees Mount Suribachi from a distance, with a U.S flag raised on the summit] 

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : For our homeland. Until the very last man. Our duty is to stop the enemy right here. Do not expect to return home alive.

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : The United States is the *last* country in the world that Japan should fight.

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : You are quite a soldier

  Saigo : No, just a simple baker

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : I am determined to serve and give my life for my country.

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : Everything happens in threes.

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : A day will come when they will weep and pray for your souls.

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : I promised myself to fight until death for my family, but the thought of family makes it difficult to keep that promise.

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : You again?

• General Tadamichi Kuribayashi : We will build those underground fortifications. And fight till the end.