The
fifth and sixth films in my analysis of the Chambara films of Akira Kurosawa
are the delectable duology of Yojimbo and Sanjuro. This review is
going to tackle both amazing films simultaneously, as this is the first and
only pair of films in Kurosawa’s filmography that are anthological sequels to
each other (involving the same primary protagonist). While these films were
very commercially successful, they also continued the cycle of cinematic
influences and homages between Chambara films and the Western film genre.
Additionally, the westernization of the Ronin (Masterless Samurai) became an
ideal, and its archetype was inserted into a variety of stories masking the
interesting aspects and differences of class, status, and prestige just before
the Meji era.
PLOT
Yojimbo
Sanjuro,
a Ronin (Toshiro Mifune) comes upon a town under the thumb of two warring
factions. After witnessing the plight and poverty of the townspeople he sets a
plan in motion to wipe them both out and free the people from under their yoke.
After demonstrating his sword skills, he hires on as a “bodyguard” for both
factions attempting to undermine both and pit them against each other.
Following a few setbacks, he releases the town from their oppressors through a impressive
display of violence, and moves on to the next adventure
Sanjuro
Sanjuro
(Toshiro Mifune) overhears a group of young Samurai plotting to weed out the
corruption in their clan. Out of a combination of compassion and veiled hopeful
idealism, the masterless samurai decides to help them free their clan’s
Chamberlain. As in Yojimbo, he employs subtle trickery to gain the
confidence of the immoral Superintendent and his honorable Henchman Hanbei. After
the mission’s success, the young Samurai witness a fatal duel Sanjuro has with
Hanbei on the outskirts of town; after which, Sanjuro, “the Bodyguard” moves on
to the next adventure.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
By
looking at the production of these two films, along with the cyclical
relationship between Chambara films and the Hollywood Western, Yojimbo
and Sanjuro, changed filmmaking and help make Akira Kurosawa into an
international cinematic icon, while creating a template for action filmmaking
that often gets reused for its cinematic palpability.
Production
Kurosawa wrote both Yojimbo
and Sanjuro with his regular collaborators Ryūzō Kikushima and Hideo
Ogun; the same team behind a lot of his Chambara films (such as Seven
Samurai and Throne of Blood). In addition to western classics like High
Noon and Shane, Kurosawa also took inspiration from film noir,
another popular genre at the time. This was also the second collaboration with cinematographer
Kazuio Miyagawa, reteaming for the first time since Rashomon, where
Miyagawa, had to come up with a way to film directly at the sun without burning
the (film) stock. On Yojimbo, Kurosawa wanted Miyagawa to maintain
Pan-focus. According to Miyagawa, in an interview with Criterion:
“Everything
had to be in the perfect focus, whether it was right in front of you or in the
very rear of the shot. So, we decided work on a spectrum of tones that would
accentuate the contrast as much as possible and give objects a hard metallic
edge.” (Criterion
2006).
Miyagawa also tells the story of this one shot set
underneath the floor of the house where Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) was trying to
escape his captors. Because there was minimal space underneath the set as it
was built, he could not fit himself or a cameraman in the space with Mifune.
Thus, he had to marionette different lenses during the shot to keep everything
in focus during each take.
One common understanding in film
production is that if you want an environmental effect to show up on camera,
the intensity of that effect must be increased in order for it to register on camera.
There seems to be a 1 to 5 ratio from real life to camera. If a director wanted
to see rain on camera, the quantity and size of the drops must be increased 5-fold.
Similarly, if the director wanted to depict strong wind, as Kurosawa did in Yojimbo,
every fan that Toho Studios had, which included fans with a Cessna propeller
engine, two V8Ford Engines, and 5 horsepower engines. Additionally, the actors instructed to “keep
their eyes as open as possible”, minimizing their ability to blink (Criterion
2006). This led to a very difficult shooting schedule and an obsession to acquire
the perfects shots.
This desire
for perfection continued into Sanjuro in its creation of both the production
design and special effects. According to Production Designer Yoshiro Muraki:
Every morning, we’d all gather before
the shooting started to [create and] stick artificial flowers and sakaki leaves
on the camellia branches…You can’t be lackadaisical sticking on the flowers
either, or they just fall off and be crushed underfoot [each flower cost the
same as a pack of cigarettes]
Moreover, because the script highlighted the importance
of the red color of the camellia flowers, Kurosawa was considering shooting the
flowers in color. Unfortunately, he did not have the technology available to
him at the time, so he required Muraki and his staff to painstakingly paint all
the fake camellia flowers a deep crimson so they would be picked up by the black
and white film.
The biggest special effect in Sanjuro happens at the ending duel when Sanjuro’s slash results in a fount of blood from Hanbei’s chest. In the script, the description of the duel is sparse, saying “The Duel that follows between the two men can not be put into words. After a long, agonizing build up, it is decided in a lightning quick flash of the sword” (Criterion 2006). There was no clear description of the blood flow’s volume or arc of arterial spray. So, when they set up the shot, Shoji Jinbo opened the valve on the air compressor sending fake blood shooting through the hose around Nakadai’s body nearly lifting him off his feet. This mistake was captured on the first take and managed to be kept in the film because the actors thought that it was intentional, and they did not want to ruin the shot. This goof went on to define the Samurai genre of 60’s and 70’s as some of the bloodiest action of the time.
The
Ronin and the Cowboy
As stated
previously in this series, one of Kurosawa’s primary
influences in his career was John Ford, acclaimed Western film director of such
classics Stagecoach, Rio Grande and The Searchers, (many
including John Wayne). Kurosawa stated that “I pay close attention to [John
Ford] Production and are influenced by them.” (Cardullo, 2008). Kurosawa was so influenced by Ford’s shot
composition, the use of wide lenses, and the addition of Pan focus, all of
which gave his films a vastness that was not previously seen in Japanese cinema
at the time; resulting in Kurosawa being admonished as “The most Western
Direrctor.” in Japan. This is despite his previous masterpieces (Ikiru, Seven
Samurai, The Bad Sleep Well, Throne
of Blood, The Lower Depths and
The
Hidden Fortress) doing so much to
move Japanese Cinema away from the negative stereotypes of World War II
(Sesonske 2010). Thus, when prepping for Yojimbo, Kurosawa seemed to
lean into these influences rather than hide them, as if he said “I’ll show you
how Western I can be!.” (Sesonske, 2010) With that, Kurosawa solidified the
cinematic marriage of The Ronin and The Cowboy eventually birthing the Samurai
Cowboy trope.
According to Daniel Choi
(2021) the commonality between the ronin and the cowboy begins with looking at
the similarities in their morality and sense of Honor. The
Bushido code and
The Code of the West often overlap in the areas of chivalry, Self-Dependence, the
duel code, and vigilantism. Additionally, when we look at the specific image of
the “Ronin” (Masterless Samurai) there is this flavor of libertarian distrust
of the government and the perception of these warriors were much in the same
flavor of the Cowboys in the Western genre, were former soldiers, whether they
be enlisted, conscripted, or deserted.
Outside of the
motivations of the principal Protagonists, the setting of each genre are vastly
similar. Both the Ronin Chambara films and the classic Western take place during
times of rapid social change and expansion due to conflict. Most Westerns and
Ronin-style Chambara films usually take place between 1860-1870’s’s While in
the US there was westward expansion and the fighting of the Civil War, Japan was
going through its own Civil War (The Boshin War and later the Seinan War) that rejected
imperial Japan opening itself up to the West. The resulting Imperial victory dissolved
the Shogunate and left many Samurai released from the employ of their Daimyo to
become “masterless”. Yet, while both the Ronin and the Cowboy cultivate a
vagabond image, there is a reinforcement of class status and a romanticism of the
Noble poor Trope among them: the Ronin through the class status of the Samurai
Class, and the validation of the independent entrepreneurialism of the Cowboy.
Because of the similarity of these conflicts, the landscape of war is also
parallel. The lack of resources, high unemployment, destruction of crops leading
to dry dusty conditions, and an increase in bandits and roving gangs in need of
“frontier/ Samurai” justice, leads to a resemblance of set and setting between
the Chambara and the Western, culminating in the continuing legacy between these
two genre’s synchronicities, especially for Kurosawa.
Legacy
A lot
of Kurosawa’s work has been retooled, remade, reworked into overcooked
facsimiles of itself. Yet, it is through the duology of Yojimbo and Sanjuro
that he manifests an archetype in his central Character that becomes desirable
to western filmmakers especially the work of the 70’s hot shot directors
Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas, and Coppola. Through Yojimbo, Kurosawa made
a western better than a lot of previous other directors, at a time when the
western was at its peak. Yet, the result was outright imitation, or in the case
of “The
Dollars Trilogy” outright stealing.
“The
Dollars Trilogy” aka “The Man with No
Name” movies, are a series of films by Italian director Sergio
Leone starring Clint Eastwood in the titular role, kicking off the “Spaghetti Western”
sub-genre (Westerns made by Italian directors).
The first of these films, “Fist Full of Dollars” is a direct, and in
some cases a shot for shot remake of Yojimbo without giving credit to
Kurosawa, or his team. In 1961, Kurosawa famously sent a letter of intent to
sue to Leone stating “I’ve seen your movie. It is a very good movie.
Unfortunately, it is my movie.”. In the end, the film was delayed 3 years and
Leone paid Kurosawa 15% of the profits[1]. There is a bit of Irony here given that the
plot of Yojimbo is also an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s two novels Red
Harvest and The Glass Key.
Because
of influential cycle of Western to Chambara and back to the Western continues
to impact filmmaking and overall storytelling, this has given rises to the
“Samurai Cowboy” an amagmatic trope that transcends the original genres. Many
long form (films) and Short form (TV) content use this trope, coming in a
variety of flavors in the 60 years since Kurosawa’s original films.Shows and
films like: Cowboy Bebop, Kill Bill, The Warrior’s Way, Trigun, and a variety
of other individual episodes invoke the same “Cowboy/Samurai” spirit.
Most of the examples given romanticize the
Bushido/Code of the West, overrepresenting the perceived positive
characteristics of Honor, Duty, Loyalty, and Respect, while downplaying the
lawlessness that they operate under, and the destabilization that their actions
create. And once that destabilization occurs (usually through the creation of a
“power vacuum”) the protagonist often gets to literally “ride off into the
sunset”; leaving the difficult work of reconstruction to the civilians who have
survived. Also, the positive qualities that have been gleaned from these
cultural codices is one that is used to validate, define, and recreate masculinity.
The perpetuation of the romantic notions of these morality/spirituality
doctrines through its ubiquity in a majority of media content marketed to men, results
in the creation of various “toxic” forms of masculinity that promote violence
to solve problems and rationalized as a legitimate form of protection. Both
Mifune and Eastwood have been revered for their actions in their subsequent
films as the epitome of masculinity to the point that, in the 60 years hence, they
become not only a masculine archetype, but its paragon for generations of boys
and men that watch it. The endless recreation of this trope results a
reproduction of myths, symbols, and metaphors [of masculinity] that are
dangerous (Serttas and Gurkan 2017). Ironically, Kurosawa wanted “to revise the
cinema's attitude towards onscreen violence. He wanted to show the damaging
effect of violence, rather than the slightly anodyne way that it usually had
been depicted before. (He would later come to regret this move, as it spawned a
mass movement in international cinema that hasn't abated even today.)” (IMDB
trivia). Once again this is another example of the public
taking the exact opposite message from the creator’s intension.
SOCIAL ANALYSIS
The Complexities of Social Class
Person’s social class status is defined as the social position that a
person possesses within the economy that then impacts other social positions,
they have within the rest of society It is important to remember the
intersectional nature of class dynamics. In that, your social class is
determined by and can be influenced by several different social factors. For
Example: poverty impacts more women than men, and disproportionally more people
of color and people with disabilities. Additionally,
a higher social class can mitigate the inequality and barriers that one might
feel in other areas but will not eliminate them completely. This is the same
for privileges that people experience in other aspect of their lives. This is
because all lives are a complex web of individual and structural privileges and
barriers. There are aspects where we have a great number of privileges and
other aspects where we experience barriers. The privileges mitigate the effects
of the barriers, and the barriers minimize the privileges that the person
experiences. Thus, it is not just money or wealth that determines and
individuals social class position. Instead, many sociologists, especially those
of us who teach, combine ideas of social class to include a variety of components:
Components that impact Social Class Status
1. Wealth (a
combination of your Income (wages) and Assets (property, stocks etc)
2. Education (The
kind (Major), type (AA, BA, MA, Ph.D)
3. Occupational/Educational Prestige (The perceptive value of
an occupation/Education within society)
4. Cultural Capital- The value of a person’s knowledge skills
and experiences
within a society ( AKA “What you know”)
5. Social Capital- The value of a person’s social relationships
within society (AKA
“Who you know.”)
6. Symbolic Capital- Value of demographics of identity (race,
gender, sexuality disability) The level of acceptability of demographics, keeps
doors open, or shuts them accordingly. The ability for white people to have an
easier time accumulating generational wealth than other People of Color due to
systemic barriers
6. The Class Culture- norms and ritualized behaviors localized to
represent a particular class status.
According to Bourdieu (1987), The Class Culture is something
that is not often considered as important as the other components on this list.
The idea that each social class level
has its own rules, regulations, rituals, language, norms, and physical objects
that represent them, makes upward social mobility very difficult. Because, even
if you have acquired the basic criteria to be considered a member of the upper
class, you may have difficulty assimilating into the class culture, whether by
required behaviors or by acceptance by peers.
The rich are often a specific and segregated subculture. Their access to
resources (or lack thereof) determines their own reality. This reality results
in class segregation by geography, relationships, and daily experiences.
However, there have been a couple of recent examples of individuals (Anna
Delvey/Sorkin and Elizabeth
Holmes) whom, without many of the components of social class, were able to acquire
status through mimicking the trappings of wealth in their clothing, mannerisms,
and language which allowed them to acquire social and cultural capital and
giving them access to upward social mobility they desired, thereby validating their
social class performance. Even though these individuals were eventually caught
and charged with various counts of fraud; they were able to exist in these exclusive
spaces due to (at least initially) their adherence to a particular class
cultural script. The same could be said
for Samurai turned Ronin after the dissolving of the Feudal system. As long as
they “act the part of a Samurai” in their clothing, mannerisms, temperament and
the carrying of swords they could hold on to the level of respectability and
status afforded to them; even though they may be as penniless as the peasants
that they look down upon.
The complex vagaries of social class status are always at the
forefront of the Samurai in Kurosawa’s films. In addition to Sanjuro in Yojimbo
and Sanjuro, the poverty of Samurai is a plot point in Seven
Samurai and
The
Hidden Fortress, Kurosawa using the desire to help peasants and
townspeople alike as a window into the Samurai’s morality that puts them above
other individuals in their station. For Kurosawa, these are not just members of
a broken caste system who are just trying to, like Holmes and Sorkin, “Fake it
till they make it.”. Instead through these acts of benevolence, they embody the
romanticized “spirit” of the Samurai one that we can both hold and aspire to.
CONCLUSION
Like all of Kurosawa’s
work the Yojimbo/Sanjuro duology are masterpieces. They both have
changed cinema and left their legacy stamp on the industry. While these twin
theatrical titans (both making record amounts of money) involve the same
character, it is an anthology rather than a direct sequel and they can be
watched in any order. If you can find it , I recommend watching The Ambush: Incident at Blood Pass
while not directed by Kurosawa, does star Toshiro Mifune in a role analogous to
the role in these Kurosawa classics, and with it, can round out a Samurai
version of “The man with No Name” trilogy that could not exist without Kurosawa’s
or Mifune’s brilliance.
REFERENCES
Bourdieu Pierre 1987. Distinction: A Social
Critique of the Judgement of Taste Massachusetts: Harvard University Press
Cardullo,
Bert 2008. Akira Kurosawa: interviews. Conversations with Filmmakers.
University Press of Mississippi
Choi,
Daniel 2021. “Cowboys and Samurai – A Study Of Genre | An In-Depth Analysis” in
The Hollywood Insider retrieved on 4/1/2022 Retrieved at https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/cowboys-and-samura-genre-analysis/
The
Criterion Collection 2006. “ Director of Photography: Kazuo Miyagawa: Yojimbo’s
Pan-Focus” in Yojimbo Interview Booklet Janus Films
The
Criterion Collection 2006. “Production Designer Yoshiro Muraki: No Regrets for
our Sets” Sanjuro Interview Booklet Janus Films
Serttas,
Aybike and Hasan Gurkan 2017. “The Representation of Masculinity in Cinema and
on Television: An analysis of Fictional Male Characters” Presented at 12th
International Conference on Social Sciences: Amsterdam. Retrieved on 4/1/2022
Retrieved at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328314572_The_Representation_of_Masculinity_in_Cinema_and_on_Television_An_Analysis_of_Fictional_Male_Characters
Sesonske,
Alexander 2010. “West Meets East” in Current. The Criterion Collection Retrieved on
4/1/20222 Retrieved at https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/60-west-meets-east
[1]
The Film was remade again, years later, as a Prohibition era gangster film
titled Last Man Standing starring Bruce Willis. However, the director, Walter
Hill , gave Kurosawa a story credit in the film.
