Samurai Films

Roland Thorne

• Publisher: Kamera Books
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN: 9781842434000
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Samurai films are an intriguing combination of frenetic action sequences, moving personal drama, and philosophical observations on loyalty and violence, all set against the spectacular backdrop of pre-industrial Japan. References to samurai films are quite common in film literature, and many mainstream directors, from Hollywood and elsewhere, have been inspired and influenced by them—Lucas by Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, and the genre of spaghetti westerns by Kurosawa's Yojimbo. Want to see one of the major inspirations for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films? Look no further than Toshiya Fujita's Lady Snowblood. The history of this unique Japanese genre, including its influence on world cinema is covered, as well as analysis of the key films that have defined the genre. Classics such as Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy are included, as well as more recent films, such as Shinobi, Aragami, and The Twilight Samurai.

THE 1960s

The 1960s saw an explosion of excellent samurai films, which forever changed the genre. This trend was brought about by Akira Kurosawa and two of his early 1960s films, Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Both starred Toshiro Mifune as Sanjuro, a ronin with a wry sense of humour and a quick draw. They featured graphic violence as it had never before been seen in samurai films; arms were cut off and shown falling to the ground, and in one particularly notable scene, blood spurts in a fine mist from the chest of one of Sanjuro’s fallen opponents. Furthermore, Kurosawa’s films had a wonderfully dark sense of humour, with Sanjuro fashioned as a callous but immensely likeable anti-hero. The moments of violence were used sparingly and to great effect in Kurosawa’s films, and clearly audiences approved. Yojimbo and Sanjuro were both very successful commercially, so much so that Toei and the other companies were forced to take notice.

The commercial success of Kurosawa’s work meant that the 1960s samurai films were free of the formulaic plots and slow choreography that had plagued many throughout the 1950s. This shift in focus ensured their popularity throughout the 1960s, with many released each year. This gave directors such as Kenji Misumi, Kihachi Okamoto, Masaki Kobayashi and Hideo Gosha a great deal more freedom, and resulted in consistently high-quality films throughout the 1960s. These samurai films were characterised by Sanjuro-style anti-heroism and graphic violence, but many also told moving stories, and were far more than the simple genre films they appeared to be.

The 1960s also gave birth to Daiei studio’s famous Zatoichi series. Featuring a highly skilled blind swordsman, these films benefited from a novel concept, a variety of good directors and writers, and leading man Shintaro Katsu’s very likeable portrayal of Zatoichi. The original Zatoichi series would last into the 1980s (Katsu starring in every film), and was highly influential, spawning many imitators.

Yojimbo (1961)

Japanese Title: Yojimbo

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Written by: Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa

Produced by: Ryuzo Kikushima, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Akira Kurosawa

Edited by: Akira Kurosawa

Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa

Cast: Toshiro Mifune (Sanjuro), Tatsuya Nakadai (Unosuke), Yoko Tsukasa (Nui), Isuzu Yamada (Orin), Daisuke Kato (Inokichi), Seizaburo Kawazu (Seibei), Takashi Shimura (Tokuemon), Eijiro Tono (Gonji), Atsushi Watanabe (coffin-maker)

PLOT SUMMARY

Sanjuro, a ronin, arrives at a small town, and begins to provoke conflict between two criminal gangs, hoping they’ll wipe each other out, cleaning up the town. One of the gangs is led by Seibei and his cruel wife, Orin. The other is led by Ushi-Tora and his two brothers, Inokichi, a fool, and Unosuke, a sadistic man who uses a modern revolver instead of a sword. Sanjuro pretends to work as a bodyguard for both gangs, making them compete for his services. When Sanjuro frees a captive woman, Nui, who’s important to Ushi-Tora’s gang, his machinations are undone. Unosuke discovers Sanjuro’s treachery, and has him badly beaten by his thugs. Meanwhile, Ushi-Tora and his brothers eliminate Seibei and his gang in a surprise attack. Using his cunning to escape his captors, Sanjuro is taken to a temple to recover by Gonji, a grizzled old tavern owner who despises the gangs and what they’ve done to his town. When Gonji is taken captive and tortured by Ushi-Tora, Sanjuro returns to the town, and challenges Ushi-Tora and his gang. In the bloody battle that ensues, Sanjuro defeats the entire gang. Satisfied his work is done, the ronin moves on.

ANALYSIS

1961 audiences must have known they were in for something different when they settled down to the opening scenes of Yojimbo. The film has a feel and tone which are almost the complete opposite of the far gentler samurai films of the 1950s. In the first reel of Yojimbo we see a stray dog running through a dirty street, a decaying human hand in its mouth, and Sanjuro severing the arm of a thug, which we see fall to the ground. Used to the gentle, gore-free choreography of the 1950s films, Japanese audiences would have been unaccustomed to such images.

Also, the potent tone director Akira Kurosawa brings to Yojimbo would have been largely new and fresh to Japanese audiences. The town Sanjuro wanders into is desolate and barren, free from any life except the aforementioned dog and the nasty thugs of two rival criminal gangs. The only person enjoying himself is the coffin-maker, whose business has never been better. Kurosawa matches the desolate appearance of the town with swift and graphic violence throughout Yojimbo; aside from the severed arm, we see gang members murder their enemies as they flee a burning house, and the film’s climactic ending is far bloodier than any samurai film before it.

Despite Yojimbo’s reputation for violence, scenes of brutality are actually used quite sparingly in the film, with relatively few such moments appearing in comparison to other 1960s samurai films, or even Kurosawa’s earlier work, Seven Samurai. The graphic scenes, spread throughout, are used to punctuate key moments, often sudden and unexpected, so the audience doesn’t become desensitised to their effect.

Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) in action. Yojimbo directed by Akira Kurosawa and produced by Ryuzo Kikushima, Tomoyuki Tanaka and Akira Kurosawa for Toho Studios.

Amazingly, Kurosawa is able to blend this sombre, violent tone with humour to create a very effective black comedy. Sanjuro himself has an unusual wit, and his callousness makes much of the film darkly funny; after killing three thugs he casually remarks to the coffin-maker that he should make three more coffins. Worthy of mention is Inokichi (Daisuke Kato), brother of Ushi-Tora, the leader of one of the rival gangs. Inokichi is very stupid, and the scene in which he is tricked into helping carry a badly beaten Sanjuro (who is hidden in a coffin) to safety is made hilarious by the exuberance Daisuke Kato brings to the role. Perhaps the moment which best epitomises the thread of humour running through Yojimbo is when Sanjuro, badly beaten and scarred around his face, attempts to reassure Gonji that he is alright by smiling. The image of Toshiro Mifune’s face, made up with open wounds and dark bruises, with a huge smile, is disturbing yet funny, particularly when Gonji, horrified, remarks: ‘You make it worse when you smile!’

The tonal shifts in Yojimbo are facilitated and accentuated by changes in Masaru Sato’s excellent score. The theme accompanying Sanjuro’s march into town is skilfully written, and perfectly conveys the energy and menace of his character.

‘You make it worse when you smile!’ Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) tries his best to look healthy. Yojimbo directed by Akira Kurosawa and produced by Ryuzo Kikushima, Tomoyuki Tanaka and Akira Kurosawa for Toho Studios.

The entire cast of Yojimbo performs admirably but, as usual, special mention must go to Toshiro Mifune. Here he plays a character very different to his usual role of the loud, unkempt individual (for example, see his performances in Seven Samurai, Red Lion and Daredevil in the Castle), instead playing a stern ronin with a streak of dark humour. Also worthy of mention is Tatsuya Nakadai, who performs admirably as the sadistic Unosuke, foreshadowing his classic portrayal of Ryunosuke in Sword of Doom.

Japanese audiences appreciated the innovations in Kurosawa’s film, and both Yojimbo and its sequel, Sanjuro, were hugely successful. This success was so widespread that many other samurai film directors adopted their sombre tone and graphic portrayal of violence, which led to huge changes in the genre.

Yojimbo also had a considerable effect on how the anti-hero was represented, both in samurai films and genres outside of Japanese cinema. Sanjuro is clearly an individual of high morals. He cleans up the town because he finds corruption there; he doesn’t profit from this course of action, and, in fact, nearly dies. Coupled with Sanjuro’s morality, however, is a callous disregard for the lives of those he judges to be evil, which clearly places him in the category of anti-hero. While Kurosawa is not the first to use the anti-hero in a genre film, in Yojimbo he creates his own unique brand of anti-heroism.

Yojimbo was remade by an Italian, Sergio Leone, as A Fistful of Dollars, a hugely successful film which was the first of the spaghetti western genre. Leone’s adaptation of Yojimbo was completely unauthorised, something which understandably frustrated Kurosawa. He took legal action against Leone, in which he was successful, and was awarded a percentage of the takings of A Fistful of Dollars.

Leone’s central character, played by Clint Eastwood, also displayed a black comedy in his callousness, and was even more of an anti-hero than Sanjuro; Leone’s gunslinger takes on the gangs for no reason other than profit, and at the end of the film walks away with hundreds of dollars, unlike Sanjuro, who leaves only with his life and his sword. This cool form of anti-heroism would persist through the entire spaghetti western genre, which in turn would have a large effect on genre films worldwide.

THE VERDICT

Every aspect of Yojimbo shines; Kurosawa creates a highly evocative tone, at times both deliciously sombre and hilariously funny. This combined with vigorous performances from Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai creates what is not only one of the greatest samurai films of all time, but also one of the most entertaining films of any genre. This is the perfect place to start if you haven’t seen any samurai films.

Sanjuro (1962)

Japanese Title: Tsubaki Sanjuro

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Written by: Adapted by Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni and Akira Kurosawa from the novel by Shugoro Yamamoto

Produced by: Ryuzo Kikushima, Tomoyuki Tanaka

Edited by: Akira Kurosawa

Cinematography: Fukuzo Koizumi, Takao Saito

Cast: Toshiro Mifune (Sanjuro), Tatsuya Nakadai (Hanbei), Yuzo Kayama (Iori), Reiko Dan (Chidori), Takashi Shimura (Kurofuji), Kamatari Fujiwara (Takebayashi), Takako Irie (Mutsuta’s wife), Masao Shimizu (Kikui), Yunosuke Ito (Mutsuta)

PLOT SUMMARY

Overhearing a group of young samurai plotting to find and remove corrupt officials in their clan, Sanjuro, the ronin we met in Yojimbo, reluctantly offers them his advice and help. Sanjuro deduces that Chamberlain Mutsuta, the man the youths suspect, is, in fact, a good man, and that Superintendent Kikui, the man the youths thought was their ally, is actually the leader of the conspiracy. Sanjuro saves the youths from the conspirator’s men, then sets about helping them free the Chamberlain, who has been captured by Kikui and his men, who are attempting to make him sign a false confession. Sanjuro gains the tru...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• WHO WERE THE SAMURAI?
• WHAT MAKES A SAMURAI FILM?
• OTHER RECURRING THEMES AND PLOT ELEMENTS
• THE DIRECTORS
• THE STARS
• THE INFLUENCE OF SAMURAI FILMS ON WORLD CINEMA
• BEGINNINGS AND THE 1950s
• THE 1960s
• THE 1970s
• THE 1980s, 90s AND CURRENT CINEMA
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• kamera BOOKS
• Copyright
• Plates