Before being a sub-genre of Japanese period dramas or "jidai-geki", before
the stage plays, before the mangas, before the legends...the samurai were armed knights
in service of their provincial lord or daimyo. Their title means servant or retainer. Early on,
their service was repaid with land (that the samurai did not own) and a stipend
measured in koku, a quantity of rice. Sons would eventually replace their fathers and continue
the family's allegiance to the clan. At the beginning of the Kamakura era,
the shogunate (the military government) was formally established. The constant
fighting between daimyos during the medieval years, notably the Sengoku era, increased the
need for more warriors for battle. Many clans earned their reputations during these times.
The way of the samurai markedly changed during the Tokugawa era (also known as the Edo period)
(1600-1868) because it was a time of relative peace. It was also an era known for the shogun's
very restrictive and isolationist policies in order to maintain the status quo and to prevent
influence from outside sources. Christianity was prohibited and trading was limited to the Chinese,
the Vietnamese and the Dutch.
Due to the lack of armed conflicts, many samurai
were forced to focus their knowledge into teaching at martial arts schools or to work as bureaucrats.
Many clans were disbanded and so retainers were discharged and became ronin,
which means "man of the wave", masterless samurai, wandering the land, often finding
mercenary or criminal work. With their former high societal standing being but a memory,
these men were seen as stray dogs, lower than the lowest class.
The once proud and near-mythic world of the samurai came to an end when the last shogun
resigned at the end of 1867, with the start of the Meiji period. The wearing of the two swords,
the physical identifier of a samurai other than the topknot, which had only been
reserved to samurai in the past, became illegal. Hundreds of years of history, battles and accounts
were prime creative breeding ground for chambara, the realistic depiction of sword-fighting.
Known real life stories like that of the 47 ronin or Musashi Miyamoto have been told and retold
countless times, making their subject matter the stuff of legend and transcending beyond
kabuki to the big screen. Like the western, the samurai genre was not invented by its filmmakers,
but inherited from its nation's history. Japan's history and identity are intrinsically linked to
the samurai genre. Jidai-geki were often made not only to tell a story, entertain or revisit the
past, but to tackle important issues relevant to the era, whether it was while evading censorship
in the pre-war 1930's, during the golden age of samurai films in the 50's and 60's or beyond.
Welcome to the Screened Film Club, I'm your curator Sergio, and in today's video
we will explore the samurai genre in film while focusing on two elements essential to the genre,
such as the swordsman and bushido, as well as how sometimes these often-romanticized
aspects can serve as an indictment on the feudal system and by extension, on society.
Please be advised that there will be spoilers ahead.
And today's video is kindly sponsored by Surfshark but more on that midway.
The samurai aesthetic is very attractive. We've seen it inspire filmmakers for
decades. At the center of it,
we have the swordsman. He (for the most part) is as emblematic as the gunslinger is to the western.
Whether the protagonist is a lone ronin like Sanjuro, walking into a town overrun by two
rival gangs or a group of warriors assembled to assassinate the shogun's half-brother
or even a father reluctant to unsheathe his sword to carry out his lord's will, the people at the
center of the plot are bound to their weapon. "it was necessary for the samurai who carried
two swords-the longer one for attack and defense and the shorter one for self destruction when
necessary-to train himself with the utmost zeal in the art of swordsmanship. He could
never be separated from the weapon which was the supreme symbol of his dignity and honor."
The sword is the soul of the samurai; therefore, in order to exist, one element cannot be without
the other. A samurai's life and survival depended on the efficacy of his sword. It
was a tool in the service of the retainer's lord, meant to both protect the clan and
to take a life, the enemy's or their own. It becomes part of the swordsman's identity
and so cinematically the sword and how it's used can reveal
the character and the context of the wielder. Most samurai films are set in the Tokugawa era,
usually because of the marked rigidity in the class system and the exploration of the
dying samurai way of life, but in the case of Seven Samurai, the setting is the Sengoku era.
There is a bit more fluidity within the social structure. This is seen in the case of Kikuchiyo.
Unlike the other swordsmen he accompanies to defend a small village from bandits,
he was never a samurai. He stole his name and his sword. Even his weapon stands out because it's not
one of the two usually worn by a samurai, it's a nodachi. It couldn't be worn due to its size
nor could it be quickly unsheathed, it had to be carried. It was used to bring down
horses with their riders. Its bulky and unrefined qualities fit Kikuchiyo's boisterous personality.
He doesn't act the way a samurai should, he doesn't look like one, but that doesn't stop
him from fighting the bandits and laying down his life the way a samurai would. His sword, although
unconventional, shows us that one doesn't need to be a samurai in name to exemplify their virtues.
On the other side of the morality coin, we have Ryunosuke Tsukue from The Sword of Doom. He starts
off as a samurai whose sword has been tainted by the blood of innocents. His eyes are as cold and
emotionless as his blade is sharp. Ryunosuke's odd style lowers his victims' guard and draws them in
right before he strikes them down in one slash. It helps him gain notoriety among the group he joins,
the shinsengumi, a type of Tokugawa era government police, and adds more people to his body count.
His once unshakeable confidence is taken aback when his group fails to assassinate Shimada
Toranosuke, another master swordsman. Shimada's words haunt him as do the faces of his victims.
"The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind, evil sword." Ryunosuke's sword's
bloodlust is his own, leading him to clash, cut and strike until one of them gives out.
His sword illustrates the pride and ruthlessness a samurai could relent to.
In The Twilight Samurai, Seibei Iguchi, the very lowly ranked samurai duels his childhood friend's
ex-husband and humiliates him, using a wooden sword. Soon the word spreads and the clan leader
sends him to execute a retainer that refuses to obey orders, the reason being that the other
samurai is holed up inside his house, making the use of a long sword ineffective, leaving the short
sword as the weapon of choice. Seibei is known to have trained to fight with the short sword,
making him the right man for the job. Other than practicality in this specific duel, Seibei's
fighting style is dictated by necessity. We learn that he sold his long sword in order to help pay
for his wife's funeral, pawning away what little prestige he had left in the eyes of the samurai,
leaving him with the weapon that symbolises his own doom. But true to himself, Seibei is a man
more preoccupied by his family's happiness, even at the detriment of his own success. A success
he might have enjoyed if he had been able to hold on just a few more years once the shogunate fell.
His sword is an arrow pointing at Seibei's own ending as well as that of the samurai.
Tied to the swordsman's prowess with his weapon, is a set of rules,
guidelines that inform his view on life, death, duty, honor, and family...it influences his
choices on and off the field of battle. Bushido. The way of the warrior.
A complex code that evolved throughout the years and was adapted to the different eras,
driving the samurai to both live a life of reflection and of action.
"The idea most vital and essential to the samurai is that of death, which he ought
to have before his mind day and night, night and day, from the dawn of the first day of the
year till the last minute of the last day of it. When this notion takes firm hold of you,
you are able to discharge your duties to their fullest extent (...) you will consider every
day of your life your last and dedicate it to the fulfillment of your obligations."
The tale of the 47 ronin has been used as an example of warriors following their code,
no matter the consequences. Chushingura, as it's known when fictionalized, from kabuki to cinema,
explores the extent at which retainers would go to in loyalty to their lord.
As a quick summary: The Daimyo Asano Naganori was forced to commit seppuku, a form of ritual suicide
where the samurai disembowels himself, after he was goaded into assaulting a court official,
Kira Yoshinaka. Asano's lands were taken, and his house disbanded, making his retainers ronin.
47 of Asano's men devised a plan to kill Kira as revenge for their lord's death.
They eventually succeeded. Even though they defied the shogun's law, it couldn't be said that the
ronin didn't act honorably. They fought valiantly and avenged their former master. So instead of
being sentenced to death like criminals, they were allowed to die by committing ritual suicide.
This story has been told and adapted countless times, often as a way to rally the population for
war. Following the end of the isolationism of the Tokugawa era, Japan became militarized as a way
to become stronger and fight off colonization by the west. People were compelled to adopt samurai
ethics, loyalty to one's master was replaced by loyalty to the nation and one's company.
After their defeat in the Second World War, during the American occupation, it was forbidden to show
the portrayal of the 47 ronin because of its connection to Japanese nationalism.
This was followed by a rejection of samurai values and a need to renew their identity as a country.
With Seven Samurai, Kurosawa breathed new life into the samurai genre, that hadn't been often
explored on the big screen during the war. He attempted to show that it is beneficial to
adhere to the positive values of bushido such as loyalty, honor, sacrifice, as exemplified
by the characters, but in a slightly different manner. The swordsmen aren't bound to any masters,
they serve no lords. They fight alongside the farmers to free them from the bandits.
The two classes made up of imperfect beings, intermingling for the greater good. An example
he wished would happen in post-war Japan. As opposed to the hopeful and aspirational
elements of bushido taken to heart by the ones fighting, we can also see how bushido can be
twisted into a means of manipulation by the one the samurai are sworn to protect. In 13 Assassins,
Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira is known for his cruelty. He plays with the lives of his vassals,
amusing himself through their pain, like a child tearing the limbs off of an insect. When his
retainers attempt at rebuking him, he parrots back their own rules, handcuffing their resolve
and forcing them to bear witness to his heartless ways. Matsudaira's retainers remain loyal and
fight honorably until the end, even though their master doesn't see their lives as valuable.
In film as in real life, bushido is a double-edged sword, filled with both virtue and failings.
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Now we return to the samurai genre.
Being from a different culture,
the samurai always seemed like paragons of virtue that not only act in an honorable way,
but look impressive while doing so. Just as some samurai during the Tokugawa era had a tendency
to romanticize the times of war, so do we have a tendency to see the samurai code as a more perfect
construct than it actually was. One thing is for sure, the system was imperfect. Human nature made
sure of it. Akira Kurosawa's measured idealism in Seven Samurai gives way to darker realities in his
later jidai-geki. Ran and Throne of Blood depicted some of the aspects of betrayal and ambition
involved in wars of succession. Kuroneko's supernatural folktale tells the story of
two vengeful spirits that return from the grave to lure and murder lone samurai after they themselves
were raped and killed, being innocent peasants. But the example we will settle on is brought to
us by Masaki Kobayashi in Hara-Kiri. The title is a more vulgarized way of
saying seppuku, which is the original title of the Japanese release.
Going deeper into the significance of ritual suicide, it's important to know that it was a
very respected way of dying. After the death of a lord, his retainers sometimes followed
by committing seppuku. During the actual ceremony, the swordsman would have his shoto,
or short sword before him and he would then grab it and cut open his belly. In order to prevent
agonizing death, there was a designed second, a samurai that would behead the one committing
suicide. There came a point where the ritual became considered empty because at the moment
the shoto was merely touched, the second performed his duty, without any actual disemboweling.
The background and significance of the ritual is the context for the film. Hanshiro Tsugumo
arrives before the Iyi clan asking for permission to commit seppuku on their premises. Although the
act is highly noble in itself, the clan retainers are doubtful of the old man's intentions because
it's become known that many masterless samurai have been coming to different clans, asking for
the chance of an honorable death but in reality, they're looking for a handout and to be sent on
their way. Not only does this occurrence lessen the importance of seppuku, but it taints the name
of the clans who've been conned. Before Tsugumo's request is entertained, he is told the story of
Motome Chijiwa, another ronin who showed up some time earlier, asking for the same thing but who
ended up being disingenuous in his intentions and was forced to commit ritual suicide.
In order to make the conversations impactful, Kobayashi is careful with
the gradual revelation of details and lets our own knowledge or preconceptions of the way of
the samurai develop before challenging them. We might be inclined to side with the Iyi clan's
hesitations when Tsugumo makes his request known. The sanctity of the ritual has to be preserved
and protected from becoming empty of meaning. Although Chijiwa's end is brutal, we might even
feel it was deserved for him to be caught in his ploy and obligated to cut himself with a bamboo
sword, no real samurai would ever attempt such dishonor, especially without real blades, right?
But then Tsugumo's story slaps the Iyi clan across their faces.
The one they drove to seppuku was the old man's son in law.
Instead of mocking the young man's bamboo swords, and focusing on the rigidity of their code,
why didn't they ask themselves why a samurai would sell his blades? What conditions would
drive a man of honor to trade away the symbol of his soul. Or at least grant him the reprieve
he asked for or even end his suffering sooner. Tsugumo regretted not even thinking of selling his
own sword to help save his family...what good is having a sword when there's no one left to
protect? That shameful failure alone was enough for him to seek his own death, but he knew that
the Iyi clan had part of the blame. Since they were so hard-set on protecting their own name
and reputation, more than the act of seppuku itself, he wanted to expose their hypocrisy.
The men Tsugumo asks to designate as his second are at home, hiding in shame under the guise of
being ill, because he took their topknots. If they were as "by the book" regarding their own failure
as they were towards Chijiwa, they would've committed seppuku immediately to save face.
Only one of the three had the decency to do it. Once the fighting is done and Tsugumo has died,
the day's log is written in a fitting and deceitful manner. The clan's reputation is
preserved through lies about the causes of death of all the men, including the ageing ronin.
When adherence to a creed eclipses empathy and compassion, the ritualistic death becomes as
empty as the suit of armor Tsugumo toppled. Full of symbolism towards the outside,
a facade of honor, but hollow on the inside.
Harakiri and ultimately director Kobayashi's
intention was to provide some necessary caution to the allure of the myth.
That they could be unrealistic siren calls of compliance to a misplaced nationalism
upheld by an authority unable to follow it as well but all too ready to chastise...
Emphasizing the danger of blind self sacrifice towards a collective be it the feudal system
or modern society...that risk leaving the individual and their humanity to be forgotten.
There are valuable ideals in the traditions of the past.
But holding on to relics without question and without conscience
can make us as stubborn and heartless as the Iyi clan.
Unaware that eventually all eras have to end...
We really enjoyed making this brief overview of the epic samurai genre. There is still so
much to be said about these films, but we hope we managed to pique your interest. If
you are new to the genre and don't know where to start, then next weeks video will help you out!
Next Friday we will give you a non-spoiler list of Samurai movies we recommend you should watch.
But if you are already well versed, then let us know down in the comments what are your
favourite Samurai movies and why! And your comment might be featured in the video.
Before you go, make sure to be notified so you don't miss out on any videos or
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Today's music was made by Eduardo Gonzalez. If you like his work, you can check his
information down in the description. See you next week at the film club.