Harakiri (1962)

KOBAYASHI Masaki, Director

 

Setting:

Edo 1630, Ii Clan's Official Residence

 

Main Characters:

TSUGUMO Hanshiro (NAKADAI Tatsuya), Ronin whose master forced to commit seppuku in 1619.

 

CHIJIWA Motome, his son-in-law, also a ronin

   

Kingo, their infant son

Miho, Tsugumo's daughter, Chijiwa's wife

 

SAITO Kageyu, (MIKUNI Rentaro) the "KARO" (Elder) or Houseman/Direct Retainer of the Ii clan

 

OMODAKA Hirokuro, samurai and top swordsman, Ii clan

 

Two other top swordsmen

 

Principal Symbols:

1. Suit of Armor

2. Record Book

3. Samurai Sword

4. Top knots

5. Rhetoric of the samurai code ("a samurai's sword is his soul")

 

Key Themes/Issues:

Rigidity of Tokugawa order/Samurai code

Destructiveness/Inhumanity of bushido, the warrior's code

The issue of warriors in peacetime (tenka no taihei)

Erosion/Destruction of warrior class--ronin means loss of social function and livelihood

False/distorted codes of honor and Hypocrisy of the powerful clans

Deceptiveness of History--the written record is not complete; it suppresses what it does not want to acknowledge

Variation on the old giri v. ninjo conflict