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The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms

film directed by Yūichi Fukuda

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ95572774 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms (Japanese: 新解釈・三國志, Hepburn: Shinkaishaku Sangokushi) is a 2020 Japanese comedy film directed by Yuichi Fukuda from his own script. Starring Yo Oizumi as Liu Bei with an ensemble cast portraying other people of the three kingdoms, it is an adaptation of Records of the Three Kingdoms with a new comedic interpretation by Fukuda himself.

Before the release of the film on in Japan, it was set to be released in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It premiered in Taipei on December 10, 2020, and an online event was held to celebrate its premiere as the cast could not travel to Taiwan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 11, 2020, the film was released in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

It grossed 4.01 billion yen in Japan.

Plot

Eighteen hundred years ago, the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu were rivalling each other for the unification of China. In such a world, Liu Bei, a warlord who wishes for peace for his people, stands up. Liu Bei and other warlords from various countries run through the turbulent times, and eventually the Battle of Red Cliffs occurs where the overwhelming difference in military strength between the Wei army of 800,000 and the combined forces of Shu and Wu of 30,000 clashes.

Cast

Yo Oizumi as Liu Bei.He founds the kingdom of Shu and became its first emperor.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms” is film directed by Yūichi Fukuda. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Untold, Tale and Three, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2020—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2020. For this dossier, Untold, Tale and Three is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “film directed by Yūichi Fukuda” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q95572774. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms primary sources, The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms archive and Untold research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.