Samurai cinema
Jidaigeki may refer to a story set in a historical period, though not necessarily dealing with a samurai character or depicting swordplay.
[5] Daisuke Itō and Masahiro Makino were central to the development of samurai films in the silent and prewar eras.
Two of Kurosawa's samurai movies were based on the works of William Shakespeare, Throne of Blood (Macbeth) and Ran (King Lear).
An excellent example of the kind of immediacy and action evident in the best genre is seen in Gosha's first film, the Three Outlaw Samurai, based on a television series.
After the end of the Bakumatsu, he becomes a rōnin wandering Japan's countryside, offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin.
Nemuri Kyoshirō, the master of the Engetsu ("Full Moon Cut") sword style, 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 the "fallen" priest had seduced and raped as part of a Black Mass and who had committed suicide after Kyōshirō was born.
A substantial number of films have been made about Miyamoto Musashi, a famed historical warrior and swordsman, most notably a three-movie series (1954-1956) starring Toshiro Mifune and a six-movie series (1961-1965 and 1971) starring Kinnosuke Nakamura, both based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa.
In both films, 三十郎 Sanjuro (a proper given name but which can also be interpreted as meaning "thirty-years-old") makes up a different surname (桑畑 Kuwabatake which means "mulberry field", and 椿 Tsubaki which means "camellia"), thus leading some to label the character as a "rōnin with no name", in reference to the Man with No Name character who was directly inspired by Yojimbo and portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" of Spaghetti Western films.
Mifune later played analogous roles in two films released in 1970, the Zatoichi film Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (as 佐々大作 Sasa Daisaku), and Incident at Blood Pass (as 鎬刀三郎 Shinogi Tōzaburō = "ridges on a sword" Tozaburo), the two 1972-1974 TV series Ronin of the Wilderness and Yojimbo of the Wilderness (as 峠九十郎 Tōge Kujūrō = "Mountain pass" Kujuro), the 1975 TV series The Sword, the Wind, and the Lullaby (as 砦十三郎 Toride Jūzaburō = "Fortress" Juzaburo), the 1976 TV series Ronin in a Lawless Town (as ミスターの旦那 Misutā no Danna = "Mister customer"), the 1981 TV movie series The Lowly Ronin (as 春夏秋冬 Shunka Shūtō = "Spring-Summer Autumn-Winter"), and the 1983 TV movie The Secret of Cruel Valley (as 素浪人 Surōnin = "Lowly rōnin").
Saotome craves action to fight the boredom he feels when not pitting his sword skill against those who would corrupt Japan.
Tange Samanosuke, a Sōma clan samurai, is attacked and mutilated as a result of betrayal, losing his right eye and right arm, and becomes a nihilistic rōnin, using the pseudonym "Sazen".
He has been played in numerous films by Denjirō Ōkōchi, Tsumasaburō Bandō, Ryūtarō Ōtomo, Ryūnosuke Tsukigata, Kinnosuke Nakamura, and Tetsurō Tanba Himura Kenshin is the protagonist of the Rurouni Kenshin manga series created by Nobuhiro Watsuki.
Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need, as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin.
In Tokyo, he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who invites him to live in her dojo despite learning about Kenshin's past.
Throughout the series, Kenshin begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people, including ex-enemies, while dealing with his fair share of enemies, new and old.
If not able to defend his honor, a samurai may choose to commit self-disembowelment (seppuku), in order to save reputation or "face".
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.
For instance, the Sengoku period (1478–1603) saw Japan torn by civil war as daimyō warlords fought for control of land.
The time frame meant changes in the sorts of conflicts for the samurai to fight and film would capture their resistance against overwhelming odds.
This conflict transcends eras in samurai films and can create the perception of the protagonist as being the moral underdog or steadfast warrior.
[12] Two forefathers of the genre, Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi, were influenced by American film directors such as John Ford.
Italian director Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and Walter Hill's Last Man Standing are both remakes of Yojimbo.
