Samurai Assassin (1965) [Film Review]

Samurai Assassin; or, The Never-Ending Bloodshed

      There are a total of thirty-six gates into Edo Castle. Eighteen of these cross the Outer Moat. The other eighteen cross the Inner Moat. In essence, they are the bottlenecks that control access to the Castle. The Daimyo enter the Castle through one of the gates usually, the one closest to their Edo mansions. Thus, each Daimyo has chosen one entrance as his favorite.

Toshiro Mifune strikes again with his samurai blade of justice. Obviously, it goes without saying that we can expect piles of disembodied corpses along his quest in Kihachi Okamoto's chanabra flick from 1965, Samurai Assassin.

Release Info

Directed by:Kihachi Okamoto Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Reiji Miwa, Masao Suzuki, Tomoyuki Tanak

Language: Japanese Original Title: 侍 Runtime: 123 min

 

Synopsis

The film focuses on a samurai called Niiro Tsuruchiyo (Toshiro Mifune) who gets himself involved in a conspiracy plot of samurai clans from Satsuma, Mito, and Choshu provinces. Their aim is to assassinate the Shogunate’s official li Naosuke. Initially, everything seems quite clear, but when Tsuruchiyo is ordered to kill his best friend, and later falls in love with a geisha, the situation gets out of hand.

Sakuradamon no Hen

The plot for this movie was allegedly based on the real historical event called the Sakuradamon Incident (1860), during which the real li Naosuke was murdered shortly after leaving the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle. The victim was drawn out of his palanquin by a samurai, Arimura Jisaemon, and then decapitated. After Naosuke’s death, historical accounts vary. According to one version Jisaemon committed seppuku immediately after the murder, whereas other account claims that the samurai stuck Naosuke’s head on his sword and ran away with it. Nevertheless, it is true that the event did take place and that the samurai murdered the minister, because they found the new policy of Japan’s opening to commercial trade with foreigners as unacceptable.

The movie quite faithfully depicts the struggle of the Mito samurais but also adds a few twists to the whole narrative. Namely, the film opens with the first attempt to assassinate Naosuke which failed because the Minister did not leave Edo Castle. The group of conspirators suspecting a traitor being among them, conduct a quiet investigation. Therefore, by a series of flashbacks we get to how such a shabby recluse as Niiro Tsuruchiyo joined the cause of the rebel samurai. Nevertheless, the samurai’s past remains partially dubious for the viewers throughout the film. When it is finally revealed in the plot twist of the finale, you wonder about one word that can best describe this picture: irony.

Although Samurai Assassin was directed by the brilliant Kihachi Okamoto (who made The Sword of Doom and Kill), it does not seem to be as epic and filled with grandeur as the rest of his films. Primarily, this movie focuses on politics and convoluted conspiracies, which makes it very difficult to relate to the character played by Mifune (especially when he portrayed such positive samurai as Musashi Miyamoto and Sanjuro), who is basically a thug who does not know what to do with himself.

Yet, such a grim and dark tone of the film (amplified by black and white colours) only reinforces the on-going critique of the samurai class. Okamoto again shows us they are not romantic warriors of valour, willing to battle for honour, but rather they are insidious villains who thrive on manipulating the weak-minded minions. In consequence, Niiro becomes such a victim of their evil-doings and, unfortunately, a prime hero of their morbid play.

Recommendations

If you are more into classical samurai stuff, be careful with Samurai Assassin. It may not be as entertaining as other chanbara flicks, but it is certainly interesting for its plot which grows on you after a while. Although it may seem difficult to get into the film, it is definitely worth watching at least one time.

Overall score: 6/10