Samurai cinema

In Japan, the term chanbara (チャンバラ), also commonly spelled "chambara", meaning "sword fighting" movies, denotes the genre called samurai cinema in English, and is roughly equivalent to western cowboy and 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.

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. Akira Kurosawa stylized and exaggerated death and violence in samurai epics. His samurai, and many others portrayed in film, were solitary figures, more often concerned with concealing their martial abilities, rather than showing them cum.

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 most of the production of this genre.

Samurai film directors

Daisuke Itō and Masahiro Makino were central to the development of samurai films in the silent and pre war eras.

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 Toshirō 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 remade in Italy and the United States as westerns, or as action films set in other contexts. 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.

Hideo Gosha, 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.

Popular characters in samurai films

Zatoichi

At least 26 films were made about the blind swordsman, Zatoichi. A burly masseur and yakuza 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.

Nemuri Kyoshirō

Nemuri Kyoshirō was a wandering "lone wolf" warrior plagued by the fact that he was fathered in less than honorable circumstance by a "fallen" Portuguese priest who had turned to worshipping Satan and a Japanese noblewoman whom he seduced and raped as part of a Black Mass.

Miyamoto Musashi

A number of films were also made about Miyamoto Musashi, a famed historical warrior and swordsman, including a six movie series about his life, starring Yorozuya Kinnosuke.

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lone Wolf and Cub, the tale of a samurai traveling Japan with his son in a wooden pram (which is armed and on occasion used in combat) was made into a live action television series called Kozure Ōkami (1973 to 1976) starring actor Yorozuya Kinnosuke as Ogami Ittō.

Sanjuro/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 means "thirty-ish male"), and then makes up a surname. The same character appears as the nameless wandering ronin called Yojimbo ("Bodyguard") in Incident at Blood Pass. He also appears in the Zatoichi film Zatoichi meets Yojimbo (1970).

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 Toshirō Mifune played after the two Kurosawa movies are basically the same character.

Themes

A samurai film must include samurai warriors, sword fighting, and historical setting. Samurai warriors, in film, are differentiated from other warriors by the code of honor, bushido, followed to honor the samurai's leader. Bushido did not become codified till the seventeenth century. A samurai must perforce be skilled in warfare and martial arts and ready to defend his honor even to his death. If not able to defend his honor, a samurai may choose to commit self-disembowelment, seppuku, in order to save reputation or "face." Instead, a samurai may exact vengeance in a case of the loss of someone the samurai cared about, such as occurs in the film Harakiri. In Harakiri, Hanshiro Tsugumo takes revenge on the house of Kageyu Saito for the loss of his adopted son-in-law, who was forced to commit suicide by the house of Kageyu Saito. The house of Kageyu Saito refused to give the son-in-law money. Because he had asked to commit suicide he was forced to perform self-disembowelment, with a remarkable twist not revealed in this discussion. Hanshiro knows an example was unrightfully made of his son-in-law in order to discourage the asking by impoverished samurai for donations from the house of Kageyu. In film, motivation may vary but the samurai’s behavior is to maintain honor even in death and is perpetuated by the code of bushido.

Also, looking at the historical setting of the film the audience can take cultural context of the samurai in that certain period. For instance the Sengoku era (1478-1603) saw Japan torn by civil war as daimyo warlords fought for control of land. In the Tokugawa era (1603-1868), peace from civil war meant there were no wars for the samurai to fight and some samurai became ronin, masterless warriors left to struggle to survive. In the Meiji era (1868-1912), we see a decline of the hereditary existence of the samurai and the rise of westernization. In this period the ideal of the samurai and the code of bushido are popularized into the military warrior’s belief. The time frame meant changes in the sorts of conflicts for the samurai to fight and film would capture their resistance against overwhelming odds.

A recurring conflict the ideal samurai encounters is the ninjo and giri conflict. Ninjo is the human feeling that tells you what is right and giri is the obligation of the samurai to his lord and clan. The conflict originated from overwhelming control of the Tokugawa bakufu government over the samurai’s behavior. Often samurai would question the morality of their actions and are torn between duty and conscience. This conflict transcends eras in samurai films and can create the perception of the protagonist as being the moral underdog or steadfast warrior. In The Last Samurai, Katsumoto is no longer of use to his emperor and sentenced to self-disembowelment. He goes against his duty to follow through with his sentence and flees to fight his final rebellion against the central government’s army. Ninjo and giri conflict is dynamic to the character of the samurai.

The meaning of an invented tradition is rooted in actual formally instituted practices in a society and added to these practices are less easily traceable characteristics. For invented traditions to be creditable, the set of practices need to have authority over society and are in natural repetition, which automatically assumes invented traditions to be long standing. Furthermore inventing traditions is a process of formalization and ritualization, which contains created rituals and symbols. For instance, Afro Samurai Resurrection, the protagonist Afro must earn his way to becoming the number one fighter through a series of fights. To become number one, he must get the number one headband, which is symbolic right to being the best fighter. To challenge the owner of the number one headband he must challenge owner of number two headband because only number two headband owner has the right to challenge the number one headband. This form of ritualization and symbols give the audience the ideal of an invented tradition, which has been in practice for a long period of time. Finally, the purpose of an invented tradition is the creation of nationalism to separate other societies and create independence. For Afro samurai, the fighting for headbands creates an exclusive group of warriors fighting for domination, which is well known by the populace in the world of Afro samurai. In film, the creations of new ideals of tradition help the audience construct a lawful society of samurai that is believable to the imagination.

The samurai warrior is often synonymous with his/her own sword. Although swordsmanship is an important aspect of warfare, idealizing the samurai and the sword as having a bond is an invented ideal, although it is popularized in many dramas. The Tokugawa period saw a change in the type of warfare, as combat shifted from the bow and arrow to close range combat with handheld weapons, and competitive sword competition.

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 and Walter Hill's Last Man Standing are both remakes of Yojimbo. 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 Toshirō Mifune in Red Sun (1971), David Mamet's Ronin (with Jean Reno and Robert De Niro), Six-String Samurai (1998) and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999).[10] 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

Title	Director	Release Date	Comments
Orochi	Buntaro Futagawa	1925
Humanity and Paper Balloons	Sadao Yamanaka	1937
The 47 Ronin	Kenji Mizoguchi	1941
Jakoman and Tetsu	Senkichi Taniguchi	1949-07-11
Rashomon	Akira Kurosawa	1950-08-25
Conclusion of Kojiro Sasaki-Duel at Ganryu Island	Hiroshi Inagaki	1951-10-26	This was the first time that Toshirō Mifune played Musashi Miyamoto.
Vendetta for a Samurai	Kazuo Mori	1952-01-03
Gate of Hell	Teinosuke Kinugasa	1953-10-31
Seven Samurai	Akira Kurosawa	1954-04-26
Samurai Trilogy Musashi Miyamoto Duel at Ichijoji Temple Duel at Ganryu Island	Hiroshi Inagaki	1954-09-26 1955-07-12 1956-01-01
Throne of Blood or Spider Web Castle	Akira Kurosawa	1957-01-15	A Japanese version of Macbeth.
The Hidden Fortress	Akira Kurosawa	1958-12-28	A key inspiration for Star Wars
Samurai Saga	Hiroshi Inagaki	1959-04-28	A Japanese version of Cyrano de Bergerac.
The Gambling Samurai	Senkichi Taniguchi	1960-03-29
Yojimbo or The Bodyguard	Akira Kurosawa	1961-04-25	A Fistful of Dollars was based on this film
Tsubaki Sanjuro or Sanjuro	Akira Kurosawa	1962-01-01
Harakiri	Masaki Kobayashi	1962-09-16	Won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Chushingura	Hiroshi Inagaki	1962-11-03
Three Outlaw Samurai	Hideo Gosha	1964
Sword of the Beast	Hideo Gosha	1965
Samurai Assassin or Samurai	Kihachi Okamoto	1965
Sanshiro Sugata	Seiichiro Uchikiro	1965	This is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's films Sanshiro Sugata and Sanshiro Sugata Part 2.
The Sword of Doom	Kihachi Okamoto	1966
The Adventure of Kigan Castle	Senkichi Taniguchi	1966
Samurai Rebellion	Masaki Kobayashi	1967	This won the Fipresci Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Kill!	Kihachi Okamoto	1968
Samurai Banners	Hiroshi Inagaki	1969
Red Lion	Kihachi Okamoto	1969
Band of Assassins	Tadashi Sawashima	1969
Goyokin	Hideo Gosha	1969
Hitokiri (Tenchu)	Hideo Gosha	1969
Watch Out Crimson Bat	Hirokazu Ichimura	1969
Mission: Iron Castle	Kazuo Mori	1970
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo	Kihachi Okamoto	1970
The Ambitious	Daisuke Itō	1970
Incident at Blood Pass	Hiroshi Inagaki	1970
Shogun's Samurai	Kinji Fukasaku	1978
The Fall of Ako Castle	Kinji Fukasaku	1978
Kagemusha	Akira Kurosawa	1980	Nominated for a best foreign film Oscar.
The Bushido Blade	Tsugunobu Kotani	1981
Legend of the Eight Samurai	Kinji Fukasaku	1984
Ran	Akira Kurosawa	1985	Japanese adaptation of King Lear. Won Oscar for Best Costume Design; won 25 other awards and 15 nominations.
Shintaro Katsu's Zatoichi or Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally	Shintaro Katsu	1989-02-04	Directed, written and starring Shintaro Katsu.
Heaven and Earth	Haruki Kadokawa	1991-02-08
47 Ronin	Kon Ichikawa	1994
The Twilight Samurai	Yôji Yamada	2002-11-02	Nominated for a best foreign film Oscar.
When the Last Sword Is Drawn	Yojiro Takita	2003-01-18
	Beat Takeshi	2003-09-02	Directed by and starring Beat Takeshi, this film was the Silver Lion award winner at the Venice Film Festival.
The Hidden Blade	Yôji Yamada	2004-10-30
Love and Honor	Yôji Yamada	2006-12-01
Castle Under Fiery Skies	Mitsutoshi Tanaka	2009
13 Assassins	Takashi Miike	2010
Sword of Desperation	Hideyuki Hirayama	2010-7-10
Ichimei	Takashi Miike	2011