SAMURAI CINEMA
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While earlier 'samurai period pieces' were more dramatic rather than action based, 'samurai movies' post World War II have become more action based, with darker and more violent characters. Post war Samurai epics tended to portray psychologically or physically scarred warriors.Silver (1977), p. 37. Akira Kurosawa, Japan's most famous director, stylised and exaggerated death and violence in 'samurai epics'. His Samurai, and many other portrayed in film were solitary figures, more often concerned with concealing their martial abilities, rather than bragging of them.
In Japan, the term '''chanbara''' (ãƒãƒ£ãƒ³ãƒãƒ©), also commonly spelt "''chambara''", is used for this genre, literally "Sword fighting" movies,Hill (2002). roughly equating to western swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub category of ''jidaigeki'', which equates to period drama. ''Jidaigeki'' may refer to a story set in an historical period, though not necessarily dealing with a samurai character or depicting swordplay.
Historically, the genre is usually set during the Tokugawa era (1600-1868), the 'samurai film' focuses on the end of an entire way of life for the Samurai, many of the films deal with masterless ronin, or samurai dealing with changes to their status resulting from a changing society.
Samurai films were constantly made into the early 1970s, but by then, overexposure on television, the aging of the big stars of the genre, and the continued decline of the mainstream Japanese film industry put a halt to the most of the production of this often startlingly original, artistic genre.''Japan: A New Wave''.
Akira Kurosawa is the best known to western audiences, and similarly has directed the samurai films best known in the West. He directed ''Seven Samurai'', ''Rashomon'', ''Throne of Blood'', ''Yojimbo'' and many others. He had a long association with ToshirÅ Mifune arguably Japan's most famous actor. Mifune himself had a production company that produced Samurai epics, often with him starring . Two of Kurosawa's samurai movies were based on the works of William Shakespeare, ''Throne of Blood'' (''Macbeth'') and ''Ran'' (''King Lear''). A number of his films were re made by Italy and the United States as westerns, or as action films set in other contexts.Silver (1977), p. 44. His film, ''Seven Samurai'' is one of the most important touchstones of the genre and the most well-known outside of Japan. It also illustrates some of the conventions of samurai film in that the main characters are ronin, masterless unemployed samurai, free to act as their conscience dictates. Importantly, these men tend to deal with their problems with their swords and are very skilled at doing so. It also shows the helplessness of the peasantry and the distinction between the two classes.
Masaki Kobayashi directed the films ''Harakiri'' and ''Samurai Rebellion'', both cynical films based on flawed loyalty to the clan.
Kihachi Okamoto films focus on violence in a particular fashion. In particular in his films ''Samurai Assassin'', ''Kill!'' and ''Sword of Doom''. The latter is particularly violent, the main character engaging in combat for a lengthy 7 minutes of film at the end of the movie. His characters are often estranged from their environments, and their violence is a flawed reaction to this.
Gosha Hideo, and many of his films helped create the archetype of the samurai outlaw. Gosha's films are as important as Kurosawa's in terms of their influence, visual style and content, yet are not as well known in the West. Gosha's films often portrayed the struggle between traditional and modernist thought and were decidedly anti-feudal.
An excellent example of the kind of immediacy and action evident in the best genre is seen Gosha's first film, the ''Three Outlaw Samurai'' based on a television series. Three farmers kidnap the daughter of the local magistrate in order to call attention to the starvation of local peasants, a ronin appears and decides to help them. In the process, two other ronin with shifting allegiances join the drama, the conflict widens, eventually leading to betrayal, assassination and battles between armies of mercenary ''ronin''.White, p. 1.
At least 26 films were made about the blind swordsman, Zatoichi. A burly masseur with short hair, he is a skilled swordsman who fights using only his hearing. While less known in the West, he is arguably the most famous ''chanbara'' character in Japan.
Four movies were made about another blind samurai, the Crimson Bat. Her character was a blind female sword fighter, and made in response to the huge success of Zatoichi .
This character was a wandering warrior plagued by the fact that he was fathered in less than honorable circumstance by a Portuguese priest and a Japanese mother.
A number of films were also made about Miyamoto Musashi , a famed historical warrior and swordsman, including a three movie trilogy about his life, starring ToshirÅ Mifune.
''Lone Wolf and Cub'', the tale of a Samurai traveling Japan with his son in a pram (which is armed and on occasion used in combat) was made into a series of six movies known as ''The Baby Cart Series''. The films, in chronological order, are: '', '', '', '', '', and ''. The first two (''Sword of Vengaence'' and ''Baby Cart at The River Styx'') were dubbed, re-scored, re-edited and released to the West as ''Shogun Assassin''.Silver (1977), p. 185.
Sanjuro is the wandering ronin character appearing in two of Kurosawa's films, ''Yojimbo'' and ''Sanjuro''. The character is nameless, but when required gives the name Sanjuro (which actually means "thirtysomething"), and then makes up a surname. Another nameless wandering ronin called ''Yojimbo'' ("Bodyguard") in ''Incident at Blood Pass'' is also basically the same character.
The character is sometimes referred to as "the ronin with no name", as a reference to Clint Eastwood's character "the man with no name", a western version inspired by the samurai character.
As was the case with Eastwood, some of the other roles that ToshirÅ Mifune played after the two Kurosawa movies are basically the same character.
There are a number of themes that occur in Samurai film plots. Many feature roaming masterless samurai, seeking work or a place in society. Others are period historical tales of true characters. Others show tales of clan loyalty.
A number of western movies have re told the samurai movie in a Western context. Italian director Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'' is a remake of ''Yojimbo'' , and Clint Eastwood's "man with no name character" was modeled to some degree on Mifune's wandering ronin character that appeared in so many of his films. ''The Hidden Fortress'' influenced George Lucas when he made ''Star Wars''. ''Seven Samurai'' has been remade as a Western and a science fiction context film, ''The Magnificent Seven'' and ''Battle Beyond the Stars''. Other Samurai influenced western movies include Charles Bronson and ToshirÅ Mifune in ''Red Sun'' (1971), David Mamet's ''Ronin'' (with Jean Reno and Robert De Niro), ''Six-String Samurai'' (1998) and '' (1999).White, p. 2. The Zatoichi character was re made as ''Blind Fury'' in the United States, starring Rutger Hauer as a blind swordsman living in the modern US. Most recently, ''The Last Samurai'', the story being loosely based on the true historical French officer Jules Brunet assisting Japanese Samurai in rebellion against the Emperor.
★ 1949 ''Jakoman and Tetsu'' - directed by Senkichi Taniguchi
★ 1950 ''Rashomon'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1951 ''Conclusion of Kojiro Sasaki-Duel at Ganryu Island'' directed by Hiroshi Inagaki - This was the first, but not the last, time that Toshiro Mifune played Musashi Miyamoto
★ 1952 ''Vendetta for a Samurai'' - directed by Kazuo Mori
★ 1954 ''Seven Samurai'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1954-56 ''Samurai Trilogy'' - directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
★
★ 1954 ''Musashi Miyamoto''
★
★ 1955 ''Duel at Ichijoji Temple''
★
★ 1956 ''Duel at Ganryu Island''
★ 1957 ''Throne of Blood'' aka ''Spider Web Castle'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1958 ''The Hidden Fortress'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1959 ''Samurai Saga'' - directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
★ 1960 ''The Gambling Samurai'' - directed by Senkichi Taniguchi
★ 1961 ''Yojimbo'' aka ''The Bodyguard'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1962 ''Chushingura'' - directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
★ 1964 ''Three Outlaw Samurai''
★ 1964 ''Harakiri'' - directed by Masaki Kobayashi Won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival
★ 1965 ''Samurai Assassin'' aka ''Samurai'' - directed by Kihachi Okamoto
★ 1965 ''Red Beard'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1965 ''Sanshiro Sugata'' - directed by Seiichiro Uchikiro - this is a remake of Kurosawa's films Sanshiro Sugata and Sanshiro Sugata part 2
★ 1966 ''The Sword of Doom'' - directed by Kihachi Okamoto
★ 1966 ''The Adventure of Kigan Castle'' - directed by Senkichi Taniguchi
★ 1967 ''Samurai Rebellion'' - directed by Masaki Kobayashi Rebellion won the Fipresci Prize at the Venice Film Festival
★ 1969 ''Samurai Banners'' - directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
★ 1969 ''Red Lion'' - directed by Kihachi Okamoto
★ 1969 ''Band of Assassins'' - directed by Tadashi Sawashima
★ 1969 ''Watch Out Crimson Bat''
★ 1970 ''
★ 1970 ''The Ambitious''
★ 1970 ''Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo'' - directed by Kihachi Okamoto
★ 1970 ''The Ambitious'' - directed by Daisuke Ito
★ 1970 ''Incident at Blood Pass'' - directed by Hiroshi Inigaki
★ 1977 ''Intrigue of the Yagyu Clan'' - directed by Kinji Fukasaku
★ 1979 ''The 47 Ronin'' - directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
★ 1981 ''The Bushido Blade'' - directed by Tsugunobu Kotani
★ 1984 ''Legend of the Eight Samurai''
★ 1988 ''Zatoichi'' - Directed, written and starring Shintaru Katsu
★ 2002 ''Twilight Samurai'' - directed by Yôji Yamada and nominated for a best foreign film Oscar.
★ 2003 ''Zatoichi'' - directed and starring Beat Takeshi and Silver Lion award winner at Venice Film Festival
★ Ken Watanabe
★ Toshiro Mifune
★ Beat Takeshi
★ Shintaro Katsu
★ Japan: A New Wave
★ The Tale of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman Series
★ The Samurai Film, , Alain, Silver, Overlook Press, 1977,
★ Samurai
In Japan, the term '''chanbara''' (ãƒãƒ£ãƒ³ãƒãƒ©), also commonly spelt "''chambara''", is used for this genre, literally "Sword fighting" movies,Hill (2002). roughly equating to western swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub category of ''jidaigeki'', which equates to period drama. ''Jidaigeki'' may refer to a story set in an historical period, though not necessarily dealing with a samurai character or depicting swordplay.
Historically, the genre is usually set during the Tokugawa era (1600-1868), the 'samurai film' focuses on the end of an entire way of life for the Samurai, many of the films deal with masterless ronin, or samurai dealing with changes to their status resulting from a changing society.
Samurai films were constantly made into the early 1970s, but by then, overexposure on television, the aging of the big stars of the genre, and the continued decline of the mainstream Japanese film industry put a halt to the most of the production of this often startlingly original, artistic genre.''Japan: A New Wave''.
Samurai film directors
Akira Kurosawa is the best known to western audiences, and similarly has directed the samurai films best known in the West. He directed ''Seven Samurai'', ''Rashomon'', ''Throne of Blood'', ''Yojimbo'' and many others. He had a long association with ToshirÅ Mifune arguably Japan's most famous actor. Mifune himself had a production company that produced Samurai epics, often with him starring . Two of Kurosawa's samurai movies were based on the works of William Shakespeare, ''Throne of Blood'' (''Macbeth'') and ''Ran'' (''King Lear''). A number of his films were re made by Italy and the United States as westerns, or as action films set in other contexts.Silver (1977), p. 44. His film, ''Seven Samurai'' is one of the most important touchstones of the genre and the most well-known outside of Japan. It also illustrates some of the conventions of samurai film in that the main characters are ronin, masterless unemployed samurai, free to act as their conscience dictates. Importantly, these men tend to deal with their problems with their swords and are very skilled at doing so. It also shows the helplessness of the peasantry and the distinction between the two classes.
Masaki Kobayashi directed the films ''Harakiri'' and ''Samurai Rebellion'', both cynical films based on flawed loyalty to the clan.
Kihachi Okamoto films focus on violence in a particular fashion. In particular in his films ''Samurai Assassin'', ''Kill!'' and ''Sword of Doom''. The latter is particularly violent, the main character engaging in combat for a lengthy 7 minutes of film at the end of the movie. His characters are often estranged from their environments, and their violence is a flawed reaction to this.
Gosha Hideo, and many of his films helped create the archetype of the samurai outlaw. Gosha's films are as important as Kurosawa's in terms of their influence, visual style and content, yet are not as well known in the West. Gosha's films often portrayed the struggle between traditional and modernist thought and were decidedly anti-feudal.
An excellent example of the kind of immediacy and action evident in the best genre is seen Gosha's first film, the ''Three Outlaw Samurai'' based on a television series. Three farmers kidnap the daughter of the local magistrate in order to call attention to the starvation of local peasants, a ronin appears and decides to help them. In the process, two other ronin with shifting allegiances join the drama, the conflict widens, eventually leading to betrayal, assassination and battles between armies of mercenary ''ronin''.White, p. 1.
Popular characters in Samurai films
Zatoichi
At least 26 films were made about the blind swordsman, Zatoichi. A burly masseur with short hair, he is a skilled swordsman who fights using only his hearing. While less known in the West, he is arguably the most famous ''chanbara'' character in Japan.
Crimson Bat
Four movies were made about another blind samurai, the Crimson Bat. Her character was a blind female sword fighter, and made in response to the huge success of Zatoichi .
Kyoshiri Nemuri
This character was a wandering warrior plagued by the fact that he was fathered in less than honorable circumstance by a Portuguese priest and a Japanese mother.
Miyamoto Musashi
A number of films were also made about Miyamoto Musashi , a famed historical warrior and swordsman, including a three movie trilogy about his life, starring ToshirÅ Mifune.
Lone Wolf and Cub
''Lone Wolf and Cub'', the tale of a Samurai traveling Japan with his son in a pram (which is armed and on occasion used in combat) was made into a series of six movies known as ''The Baby Cart Series''. The films, in chronological order, are: '', '', '', '', '', and ''. The first two (''Sword of Vengaence'' and ''Baby Cart at The River Styx'') were dubbed, re-scored, re-edited and released to the West as ''Shogun Assassin''.Silver (1977), p. 185.
Sanjuro/The Samurai/The Ronin with No Name
Sanjuro is the wandering ronin character appearing in two of Kurosawa's films, ''Yojimbo'' and ''Sanjuro''. The character is nameless, but when required gives the name Sanjuro (which actually means "thirtysomething"), and then makes up a surname. Another nameless wandering ronin called ''Yojimbo'' ("Bodyguard") in ''Incident at Blood Pass'' is also basically the same character.
The character is sometimes referred to as "the ronin with no name", as a reference to Clint Eastwood's character "the man with no name", a western version inspired by the samurai character.
As was the case with Eastwood, some of the other roles that ToshirÅ Mifune played after the two Kurosawa movies are basically the same character.
Themes
There are a number of themes that occur in Samurai film plots. Many feature roaming masterless samurai, seeking work or a place in society. Others are period historical tales of true characters. Others show tales of clan loyalty.
Influence on Western Cinema
A number of western movies have re told the samurai movie in a Western context. Italian director Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'' is a remake of ''Yojimbo'' , and Clint Eastwood's "man with no name character" was modeled to some degree on Mifune's wandering ronin character that appeared in so many of his films. ''The Hidden Fortress'' influenced George Lucas when he made ''Star Wars''. ''Seven Samurai'' has been remade as a Western and a science fiction context film, ''The Magnificent Seven'' and ''Battle Beyond the Stars''. Other Samurai influenced western movies include Charles Bronson and ToshirÅ Mifune in ''Red Sun'' (1971), David Mamet's ''Ronin'' (with Jean Reno and Robert De Niro), ''Six-String Samurai'' (1998) and '' (1999).White, p. 2. The Zatoichi character was re made as ''Blind Fury'' in the United States, starring Rutger Hauer as a blind swordsman living in the modern US. Most recently, ''The Last Samurai'', the story being loosely based on the true historical French officer Jules Brunet assisting Japanese Samurai in rebellion against the Emperor.
List of Notable Samurai Films
★ 1949 ''Jakoman and Tetsu'' - directed by Senkichi Taniguchi
★ 1950 ''Rashomon'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1951 ''Conclusion of Kojiro Sasaki-Duel at Ganryu Island'' directed by Hiroshi Inagaki - This was the first, but not the last, time that Toshiro Mifune played Musashi Miyamoto
★ 1952 ''Vendetta for a Samurai'' - directed by Kazuo Mori
★ 1954 ''Seven Samurai'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1954-56 ''Samurai Trilogy'' - directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
★
★ 1954 ''Musashi Miyamoto''
★
★ 1955 ''Duel at Ichijoji Temple''
★
★ 1956 ''Duel at Ganryu Island''
★ 1957 ''Throne of Blood'' aka ''Spider Web Castle'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1958 ''The Hidden Fortress'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1959 ''Samurai Saga'' - directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
★ 1960 ''The Gambling Samurai'' - directed by Senkichi Taniguchi
★ 1961 ''Yojimbo'' aka ''The Bodyguard'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1962 ''Chushingura'' - directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
★ 1964 ''Three Outlaw Samurai''
★ 1964 ''Harakiri'' - directed by Masaki Kobayashi Won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival
★ 1965 ''Samurai Assassin'' aka ''Samurai'' - directed by Kihachi Okamoto
★ 1965 ''Red Beard'' - directed by Akira Kurosawa
★ 1965 ''Sanshiro Sugata'' - directed by Seiichiro Uchikiro - this is a remake of Kurosawa's films Sanshiro Sugata and Sanshiro Sugata part 2
★ 1966 ''The Sword of Doom'' - directed by Kihachi Okamoto
★ 1966 ''The Adventure of Kigan Castle'' - directed by Senkichi Taniguchi
★ 1967 ''Samurai Rebellion'' - directed by Masaki Kobayashi Rebellion won the Fipresci Prize at the Venice Film Festival
★ 1969 ''Samurai Banners'' - directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
★ 1969 ''Red Lion'' - directed by Kihachi Okamoto
★ 1969 ''Band of Assassins'' - directed by Tadashi Sawashima
★ 1969 ''Watch Out Crimson Bat''
★ 1970 ''
★ 1970 ''The Ambitious''
★ 1970 ''Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo'' - directed by Kihachi Okamoto
★ 1970 ''The Ambitious'' - directed by Daisuke Ito
★ 1970 ''Incident at Blood Pass'' - directed by Hiroshi Inigaki
★ 1977 ''Intrigue of the Yagyu Clan'' - directed by Kinji Fukasaku
★ 1979 ''The 47 Ronin'' - directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
★ 1981 ''The Bushido Blade'' - directed by Tsugunobu Kotani
★ 1984 ''Legend of the Eight Samurai''
★ 1988 ''Zatoichi'' - Directed, written and starring Shintaru Katsu
★ 2002 ''Twilight Samurai'' - directed by Yôji Yamada and nominated for a best foreign film Oscar.
★ 2003 ''Zatoichi'' - directed and starring Beat Takeshi and Silver Lion award winner at Venice Film Festival
Actors
★ Ken Watanabe
★ Toshiro Mifune
★ Beat Takeshi
★ Shintaro Katsu
Notes
References
★ Japan: A New Wave
★ The Tale of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman Series
★ The Samurai Film, , Alain, Silver, Overlook Press, 1977,
★ Samurai
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