Are you into Samurai films? If so, you’ll definitely want to check out this engrossing story from the feudal Japan of the Shogunate era – Hiroshi Inagaki’s Chushingura (1962). I rank it ahead of such Samurai classics as Yojimbo, Gate of Hell, or Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto. I think you’ll understand that if I add that it’s not as great as The Seven Samurai, that it’s not too much of a reservation, since few other films are either. Inagaki’s work is more quintessentially Japanese than that of his more Westernized contemporary, Kurosawa.

Historical Background: Chushingura is a retelling of one of the most famous of all Japanese tales, “The 47 Loyal Ronin.” “Chushingura” is Japanese for “ronin.” The story has been adapted to cinema many times in the history of Japanese cinema, such as Teinosuke Kinugasa’s version of 1932. In fact, there’s an old joke in the Japanese film industry that anytime a studio found itself strapped for cash, they would make another film based on this story because it would be a guaranteed box-office success. That held true until Kenji Mizoguchi’s version made in the midst of World War II. With the conflict raging, the Japanese authorities wanted a film that would reinforce a sense of duty, honor and sacrifice among the Japanese people. The project was virtually forced on Mizoguchi, but, on the plus side, he was given unprecedented latitude and a budget that was about five times that of a typical movie of that time. Mizoguchi’s black-and-white rendition is sterling but Inagaki’s 1962 rendition has two distinct advantages: beautiful Tohoscope color and the best of the acting talent that was available in Japan at the time it was shot. For American viewers, there’s also a significant difference in the underlying agendas behind the two versions. Whereas the 1942 version was intended to rally the aggressive impulses of the Japanese people in the midst of war, the 1962 version can be fairly understood as a plea for international understanding. Inagaki and the cast and crew bared the soul of venerable Japanese culture, including both its heroic principles of duty and honor and its related propensity for destructive violence.

In 1962, Inagaki was certainly no stranger to moviemaking and samurai movies in particular. After a career as a child actor in the earliest Japanese silent films, Inagaki turned to directing in 1928 with Peace on Earth. He was just twenty-two at the time, having been born December 30th, 1905 in Tokyo. He devoted himself from the beginning to Japanese period films. He shot the life of the revered Japanese samurai Musashi Miyamoto, based on a Japanese historical novel, not once but twice – three films each time. The first time, he shot the trilogy in black-and-white, during World War II (1940-42), and the second time in color (1954-1956). The first installment in the color version, Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto, won the American Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1954. The rest of the best of his films include Muhomatsu, the Rickshaw Man (1958), which earned its star, Toshiro Mifune, a Best Actor award from the Venice Film Festival, Nippon Tanjo (1959), Chushingura (1962), and Samurai Banners (1959). Like Kurosawa, Inagaki found himself increasing closed out by the Japanese studios in the seventies and unable to obtain funding. His style of film had gotten too expensive. Distraught, he turned to alcohol and died of complications of alcoholism in 1980.

The Story: The time is 1701, one-hundred years after the establishment of the Shogunate, which unified Japan and ended the terrible bloodshed of the clan wars. Japan is governed by a system of regional governors and vassals and a strict formal code of behavior. Lord Asana (Yuzo Kayama), an idealistic young nobleman, has a distinct distaste for bribery, refusing to provide the usual “gifts” to the Shogun’s Grand Master of Ceremonies, Kouzuke Kira (Chusha Ichikawa). Kira, by his own admission, lives for lust and greed and has no interest in such ideas as honor or courage. With the Shogun’s blessing, Kira sets out to reeducate the impudent Asana, first by requiring him to replace all of the mats in his dwelling in preparation for a ceremonial visit, after having previously told him that the old mats would be fine. A bribe, however, would alleviate the problem. Asana’s right-hand man, Chamberlain Kuranosuke Oishi (Koshiro Matsumoto), saves the day by organizing all of the mat-makers in the province into a nonstop effort to produce, overnight, a fresh set of mats – rather than paying off Kira. Kira is incensed and sets out to embarrass Asana by withholding necessary protocol information that Asana will require for an up-coming visit to the Shogun’s castle.

At the Shogun’s castle, Kira continues to goad Asana, until Asana can take no more. He draws his sword and wounds Kira, but is quickly subdued. Drawing your sword in the Shogun’s castle, at that time, was a capital crime and Asana is required to commit hara-kiri. By the Japanese code of honor of the day, Asana’s entire family as well as his retainers and vassals are dishonored along with him. They are ordered to surrender the clan’s castle at Oko. The ronin who are loyal to Asana, even in death, are prepared to die defending the castle, despite the fact that Lord Hakisawa will be bringing an army of 3000 men to seize it. Chamberlain Oishi insists on another plan, however, aimed at restoring the clan’s honor.

Oishi believes that the restoration of the clan’s honor requires the separation of Kira’s head from his body. To achieve that end, the Asana ronin will have to surrender the castle, scatter and lay low for a while, bide their time, and strike when Kira’s guard has been relaxed. Since the expectation is that these samurai should fight to the death, the surrender of the castle will cause these ronin to be scorned and castigated as unworthy, until such time as their plot is hatched. Since surprise and secrecy is of the utmost importance, the ronin will have to withhold the truth even from their own loved ones and tolerate the suspicion that they are unworthy. Sixty-one of Asana’s former vassals sign a blood oath to follow Oishi’s orders, even without full knowledge of what he has in mind. The loyal ronin voluntarily suffer through two years of humiliation and debasement, which only serves to elevate their ultimate glory.

The Asana ronin melt into the surrounding community but continue to be the cause of endless speculation. Are they truly cowards willing to accept dishonor or are they plotting revenge? Kira continues to rise in his position and influence and is able to retain two hundred samurai as guards. Kira also arranges to have a new dwelling built with secret passageways for quick escape. One of the young samarai, Okano, seduces the sister of Heigoro, the architect (Frankie Sakai), to gain access to the plans.

The plot comes to fruition on the second anniversary of Asana’s death. Forty-seven of the ronin who signed in blood fulfill their oath, but they are also aided by a great spear-fighter, Genba Tawaraboshi (Toshiro Mifune), who the ronin had earlier thought hired by Kira. Kira’s dwelling is raided and the ultimate goal achieved. In the legend of “The 47 Loyal Ronin” on which the film was based, the fate of the ronin following their attack was decided only after a year of debate at all levels of the Japanese society. The ronin were ultimately required to follow their master’s precedent by committing hara-kiri.

Themes: The themes of this film, loyalty, honor, and self-sacrifice, are broached in that uniquely Japanese manner that is specific to their culture, deriving from the Bushido, or code of the samurai. To enjoy a film of this nature, I must temporarily turn off my own value system. Otherwise, it all seems like too much glorification of violence by my standards. The honor and loyalty and self-sacrifice are all about violence, revenge, and dying with dignity. None of it is applied to relationships to one’s spouse or children or the dignity of living. I’m glad for myself not to have lived in 18th century Japan, but it’s a fascinating time and place to visit through a fine piece of cinema like Chushingura. The ever-present formalities of Japanese social relationships would also be something that I would not personally want to abide. Nevertheless, I certainly respect the cultural heritage of the Japanese people and this kind of fine film helps one understand it a bit better. I imagine that the message inherent in the story of “The 47 Loyal Samurai” for the people of Japan is the importance of obedience, loyalty, and subordination of individuality to group needs.

Production Values: This is an ensemble type film, with many characters of roughly equal stature. Chamberlain Kuranosuke Oishi is the character closest to qualifying as a protagonist and the only role that stands out significantly above the others. There are many subplots and they are richly interwoven into the fabric of the main story. Although there are plenty of well-choreographed action and fight scenes, the violence is mostly of the non-gory variety. The film is contemplative and centers on the interior struggles of the characters as much as on their overt actions. The various hara-kiri suicides are shown either in the lead-up or the aftermath, but not in the actual performance. There’s great swordplay during the final raid on Kira’s dwelling, but no gushing blood or severed limbs. The main plot is easy to follow but it is next to impossible to keep the identity of the characters in the subplots straight on a first viewing. There’s simply too many of them. The gist of the subplots is evident enough, but not precisely how each participant relates to other characters.

The cinematography, provided by Kazuo Yamada, is utterly gorgeous. There is a wealth of vivid color, in the fabrics, the paintings, the wall panels, and the outdoor shots. The period detail is very impressive, with many artifacts and household items. The costumes are as good as I’ve ever seen, save three or four films. The print quality of the DVD transfer is pristine, though not anamorphic. The musical score, provided by Akira Ifukube, for this film is quite stirring. It is Japanese music of a haunting quality. The Japanese monaural sound was left intact for the DVD. There’s a nifty dance number by a male geisha, Toshibei (Norihei Miki), in the teahouse scene.

There’s a plethora of acting talent expended on this film. Koshiro Matsumoto gives a very nice performance as Oishi. He’s the glue that holds the film together. It’s Oishi’s heroism combined with wisdom that elevates the story to the status of a legend. Tatsuya Mihashi, who played Yasubei Horibe, one of the loyal ronin, has a resume that includes The Bad Sleep Well (1960), High and Low (1963), and What’s Up. Tiger Lily? (1966). Then there are such luminaries as Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura, playing small parts in this film but both of who have appeared in many of the top Japanese films.

Bottom-Line: There’s no doubting that Inagaki knows his was around a good samurai film. Some critics complain about the fact that the cover of the DVD case for Chushingura features a picture of Toshiro Mifune despite the fact that he has a relatively small role in the film, seemingly misrepresenting the product. Although I agree on the principle of the matter, it’s not really such an offense in this case. There is really only one actor in the film who gets significantly more screen time than Mifune, because of the large cast and ensemble design.

The DVD version is pretty basic. All you really get is the brilliant film. There are no extras, not even the trailer, and the English subtitles are not optional, though they were situated in the black border beneath the widescreen image, which is how I prefer them. This is a long film – 207 minutes – but it is conveniently divided into two parts of roughly equal length, entitled Blossoms and Snow respectively, enabling you to divide conveniently the viewing over two evenings. I watched the two parts separated only by dinnertime and was not bored during any part of the film. It moves along at a brisk pace and holds viewer interest throughout.


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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Japan:

The Ballad of Narayama
The Burmese Harp
Drunken Angel
The Eel
Floating Weeds
Gate of Hell
The Hidden Fortress
High and Low
Ikiru
Kagemusha
Kwaidan
Ran
Rashômon
Red Beard
Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto
Sanjuro
Sanshô, the Baliff
The Seven Samurai
Shall We Dance?
Stray Dog
The Woman in the Dunes
Yojimbo

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older