best quote from a samurai film March 25, 2008

“The suspicious mind conjures its own demons.”

That’s my vote for the best quote from a samurai film. It’s from the 1962 film “Harakiri,” which is one of my all-time favorite films. Tatsuya Nakadai plays the lead role as a ronin who shows up at a daimyo’s estate asking if he can use their courtyard to commit seppuku (ritual suicide, more crudely called hara-kiri). This is not your typical samurai film. The plot makes some interesting twists and turns before one discovers that this is not a film that glorifies the bushido code, but is a critical commentary of it.

The Criterion Collection release of this film includes an interview with film scholar Donald Richie, who reminds me of Joseph Campbell in that he says brilliant things as nonchalantly as if he were chatting about soup. For example, he elaborates on the symbolism of the samurai suit of armor that is repeatedly shown in the film as a metaphor for both the weight of the past and for the Tokugawa shogunate – “stern, imposing, frightening, and empty.”

My runner-up for best quote would be from “Sword of Doom” when, after slaying a band of would-be assassins, Mifune Toshiro says “Evil mind, evil sword.” True enough!

Shinsengumi March 21, 2008

Here’s what I did for Spring Break: I completely vegetated, rising only from the sofa to go to the bathroom, fetch a bag of Jelly Bellies, or go to bed. Not that this was completely unconstructive; my boyfriend and I finished a DVD series that we’d been watching for awhile – the NHK taiga drama “Shinsengumi!,” which originally aired in Japan in 2004. So, I can actually say that I learned something about Japanese history while being a couch potato. However, we did have to do some research to discriminate between fact and fiction in this series.

The Shinsengumi originally began as a sort of self-proclaimed militia to protect the Shogun and the Shogunate after dissent about Japan’s future spread with the arrival of Commodore Perry’s Black Ships. Eventually they received the official backing of the Aizu clan, and then of the Shogun himself. Whether you view them as heroes who sacrificed their lives to protect the Shogun, or as a band of thugs who killed anyone they wanted in the name of their own personal vision, they continue to be a romantic though controversial aspect of Japan’s history. There are several movies about the Shinsengumi. Among the more well-known are “Shinsengumi” starring Toshiro Mifune in the role of Kondo Isami, the group’s leader, and “Taboo,” starring Beat Takeshi. Apparently there are a number of anime about them, too. This, plus the fact that the NHK drama was incredibly popular, and the intrinsically fascinating nature of the Shinsengumi story, accounts for the incredible presence of the Shinsengumi on the web.

One of the things that makes the Shinsengumi story so interesting is that there are factual bits and pieces about some of its members. For example, apparently Kondo Isami had a big mouth and would entertain people by inserting his entire hand in it. Hijikata, the second-in-command, was a handsome fellow who received a lot of attention from the ladies.

Kondo Isami Hijikata Toshizo

The stars of “Shinsengumi!,” the NHK series, are largely teen idols in Japan. They are very good actors, but it’s somewhat disquieting after having watched the series and identified with them as the historical figures, to see what they “normally” look like. Case in point:

Shingo Katori as Kondo Isami Shingo Katori, pop idol

Yipes! Boy, how a shaved pate can change a person’s looks. At any rate, although Shingo Katori was very good in this role, he was a very different Kondo than, say, Toshiro Mifune. It’s interesting to watch the different versions of the Shinsengumi story to see how the character portrayals differ, and how the storyline, though based on a few basic facts, differs in its elaboration.

“Shinsengumi!” has a fanlisting, complete with rules which may or may not include committing seppuku should one leave the group. Good sites about the actual Shinsengumi are linked below.

The Shinsengumi on Wikipedia

This site about the history of and people in the Shinsengumi

Shinsengumi no Makoto