Better than Kurosawa.

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NO OFFENSE TO MASAKI...BUT WHEN YOU SAID KOBAYASHI...ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT WAS A TINY ASIAN MAN STUFFING HOT DOGS INTO HIS MOUTH.🙂

(All of this is my own opinion, so take it for what it's worth).

As much as I like Kobayashi I just don't think he made enough truly great ones to be considered an equal, let alone better, director than Kurosawa. Kobayashi made two indisputable cinemic classics whch do indeed equal Kurosawa's best (Hara-Kiri and Kwaidan), two very good films (Human Condition and Samurai Rebellion) and three solid films (Black River, Hymn to a Tired Man, and Inn of Evil), and a lot of lesser stuff. His early 50's works are pretty forgettable, and his last few were glorified tv miniseries. By contrast, Kurosawa made at least 12 classics (Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, The Lower Depths, Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, High and Low, Red Beard, Kagemusha and Ran) plus several other very solid films (Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, Dersu Uzala, and Dreams), although he had his misfires too (The Quiet Duel, Scandal, The Idiot, Record of a Living Being, The Bad Sleep Well, Dodes ka-den, Rhapsody in August and Madadayo). Most of his early pre-Mifune films, aside from one or two, aren't that great either. Still, at his best he was unbeatable. If Kurosawa had a true rival among his countrymen, it was Mizoguchi.