Kurosawa began his career during the Showa war and during that time he, like all other Japanese filmmakers, was confined to making "policy pictures" that supported the militarist agenda. This necessitated a large amount of censorship. But there was no Shakespeare there and nor were there any films that would later be hailed as "masterpieces" or the likes.
After the surrender, Japanese film was censored under SCAP (1945-1952). Criticism of the American occupiers was forbidden and films like Drunken Angel and Stray Dog walked a thin line in their harsh portrayals of life under occupation. Indeed, it's likely that the fetid pond in Drunken Angel--ever present, overpowering and destroying the physical health of the neighborhood's inhabitants--is meant to be understood as criticism of the occupation and its deleterious effects on the Japanese soul.
During this time, Kurosawa made the following films:
Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945)
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945)
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Drunken Angel (1948)
The Quiet Duel (1949)
Stray Dog (1949)
Scandal (1950)
Rashomon (1950)
The Idiot (1951)
This was an extremely fruitful time and the relationships (ie, Mifune) and themes that he established during SCAP proved the basis for the rest of his career. But no Shakespeare.
His two proper Shakespeare adaptations, Throne of Blood (1957) (Macbeth) and Ran (1985) (King Lear) as well as The Bad Sleep Well (1960) (inspired by Hamlet) were made long after the end of that period, when Japan had an independent democratic government with no censorship to speak of.
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