Chushingura; A Review
Chushingura (The 47 Loyal Samurai) is set in the early 1700s in Japan, when the transition from the older feudal system to a more modern centralized authority was nearly complete. The basis of the story is the struggle between doing what is right, according to the honor code of the dying feudal order, or going along with the modern system.
It is a moral story structured as an epic. The story has deep meaning in Japan to this day. Children grow up on Chushingura, somewhat like Shakespeare in the West. There is hardly a Japanese who does not know this story. It was apparently based on real events.
This film is a loving rendition of the traditional epic. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of the Japanese movie studio, Toho. The scenes are gorgeous, arranged with utmost artistry.
The epic itself is a revenge story. The hero is the faithful Chamberlain, Oishi, who is a hero of cunning, like our Odysseus, rather than Achilles. There is brawn and swordplay, but the emphasis is on intelligence; the devising of stratagems and careful adherence to them. The movie is paced, with the plot developing slowly, allowing tension to build up like a coiling spring, until the end when the story explodes in violence.
But the hero, Oishi, does not appear in the story until late. The story opens with the wronging of Count Asano, who is the good feudal lord of the old order. The villain, Lord Kira is introduced, and the new order, the Shogunate. The cause of the story is the clash between the upright Asano and the corrupt, indeed despicable, Kira.
The Shogun’s envoys are visiting his vassals occasioning elaborate ceremonies. It is Count Asano’s turn to receive the envoys. The ceremonies are elaborate, and extremely important. An error in protocol means disgrace. Lord Kira is the Master of Ceremony (protocol chief), and Count Asano has no choice but to seek his instructions. Count Asano gets off on the wrong foot by giving Kira a gift, honorable enough but of little value while Kira was expecting a substantial bribe. As a result, Kira uses his knowledge of protocol to humiliate Asano. The protocol for the visit of the envoys cannot fail without Kira also being disgraced, Kira has to cooperate, nevertheless he humiliates Asano on every occasion. Finally, Asano attacks Kira, wounding him. Attendants keep Asano from killing him.
The law intended to end feudal conflict has been broken, and the Shogun orders Count Asano to commit hara-kiri (ritual suicide). Asano obeys the edict in a scene of touching beauty.
Thus ends the introduction. Only now is the hero, Chamberlain Oishi, introduced. The fear is that Count Asano’s followers will not accept the results because Lord Kira, the cause of the trouble, has escaped punishment. Remember, these are still feudal times, and there is no assurance that the edicts of the central authority will be respected in the strongholds. It seems to everybody that the corrupt, despicable Kira is in favor with the Shogun, while the good and upright Asano was forced to commit suicide. Yet, a simple rebellion will not do, because the fortune of Asano’s entire clan is at stake. If the Shogun must enforce the law with an army, all of the clan will suffer.
Only total compliance with the Shogun’s wishes, with no hint of revenge, will save Asano’s clan.
Oishi devises a strategy of going along with the system, while intending to exact revenge when the time is ripe. He embarks on an elaborate ruse of rejecting the warrior’s code, and living a debauched life as if by preference.
Three times he is asked if his debauchery is in earnest. Actually, this is a weak point in the film. You should remember that the details of Chushingura are well known in Japan. A Japanese watching the movie already knows the details of the story, just as an ancient Greek watching Sophocles’s Antigone knew the story in advance. Thus, the ritual questioning of Oishi could have been used in the answers to illuminate the storyteller’s view, as Sophocles used them in the Antigone. Everybody knows that Oishi for his own honor will avenge his dead lord, regardless of what he says or does. Yet, Toho tells the story as if Oishi’s eventual acts are in doubt. The earnest samurai questioning Oishi on his intentions seems a little stupid rather than convincing. Still, it does cast into relief the moral question: Will you do what is right, or will you go along with the system?
In the West, doing what is right is presented too easily. The cowboy hero does the right thing, and in the end gets the girl and the farm. The strings in the orchestra swell, and the movie fades into the end. But doing the right thing in Chushingura is not so easy. It is more like the whistleblower who is fired and disgraced, and maybe even sent to prison. If Oishi and the other loyal samurai exact revenge on Kira, their own lives are forfeit. The Shogunate is trying to stamp out feuding. Will you do what is right because it is right, not because of the nice music, and getting the girl and the farm?
In the movie, Kira is the plain villain—greedy, lecherous, and cowardly. It would have been more interesting if Kira were developed. The new system (more centralized authority) is not all bad, in fact it is very necessary, and Kira has some good lines. He says that when a man stops wanting money and lusting after women, he might as well be dead. His lust and greed make him an active old man indeed. He advises Lord Asano to do as other men do, and go along with the system. That’s really not bad advice. As our once Speaker of the House, John Nance Gardner said “If you want to get along, go along.”
It would be interesting to retell Chushingura in a more nuanced version; a humanized Kira, an inflexible Asano, and a dogged Oishi. But that is not this movie.
Eventually the time is ripe. Oishi sends word that Asano’s faithful samurai are to meet in Edo to take revenge. Edo is the classical name for Tokyo. Kira is at his mansion in Edo. Of all, only 47 samurai make the rendezvous. After beautifully choreographed swordplay and mayhem, the 47 faithful samurai take Kira’s head, and march off, not to a Hollywood ending, but to their own satisfaction of having lived up to their warrior’s code. It is understood that they will be ordered to commit hara-kiri for disobeying the Shogun’s edict.
This is a terrific movie, in my view, one of the four or five best films of all time.
It is a moral story structured as an epic. The story has deep meaning in Japan to this day. Children grow up on Chushingura, somewhat like Shakespeare in the West. There is hardly a Japanese who does not know this story. It was apparently based on real events.
This film is a loving rendition of the traditional epic. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of the Japanese movie studio, Toho. The scenes are gorgeous, arranged with utmost artistry.
The epic itself is a revenge story. The hero is the faithful Chamberlain, Oishi, who is a hero of cunning, like our Odysseus, rather than Achilles. There is brawn and swordplay, but the emphasis is on intelligence; the devising of stratagems and careful adherence to them. The movie is paced, with the plot developing slowly, allowing tension to build up like a coiling spring, until the end when the story explodes in violence.
But the hero, Oishi, does not appear in the story until late. The story opens with the wronging of Count Asano, who is the good feudal lord of the old order. The villain, Lord Kira is introduced, and the new order, the Shogunate. The cause of the story is the clash between the upright Asano and the corrupt, indeed despicable, Kira.
The Shogun’s envoys are visiting his vassals occasioning elaborate ceremonies. It is Count Asano’s turn to receive the envoys. The ceremonies are elaborate, and extremely important. An error in protocol means disgrace. Lord Kira is the Master of Ceremony (protocol chief), and Count Asano has no choice but to seek his instructions. Count Asano gets off on the wrong foot by giving Kira a gift, honorable enough but of little value while Kira was expecting a substantial bribe. As a result, Kira uses his knowledge of protocol to humiliate Asano. The protocol for the visit of the envoys cannot fail without Kira also being disgraced, Kira has to cooperate, nevertheless he humiliates Asano on every occasion. Finally, Asano attacks Kira, wounding him. Attendants keep Asano from killing him.
The law intended to end feudal conflict has been broken, and the Shogun orders Count Asano to commit hara-kiri (ritual suicide). Asano obeys the edict in a scene of touching beauty.
Thus ends the introduction. Only now is the hero, Chamberlain Oishi, introduced. The fear is that Count Asano’s followers will not accept the results because Lord Kira, the cause of the trouble, has escaped punishment. Remember, these are still feudal times, and there is no assurance that the edicts of the central authority will be respected in the strongholds. It seems to everybody that the corrupt, despicable Kira is in favor with the Shogun, while the good and upright Asano was forced to commit suicide. Yet, a simple rebellion will not do, because the fortune of Asano’s entire clan is at stake. If the Shogun must enforce the law with an army, all of the clan will suffer.
Only total compliance with the Shogun’s wishes, with no hint of revenge, will save Asano’s clan.
Oishi devises a strategy of going along with the system, while intending to exact revenge when the time is ripe. He embarks on an elaborate ruse of rejecting the warrior’s code, and living a debauched life as if by preference.
Three times he is asked if his debauchery is in earnest. Actually, this is a weak point in the film. You should remember that the details of Chushingura are well known in Japan. A Japanese watching the movie already knows the details of the story, just as an ancient Greek watching Sophocles’s Antigone knew the story in advance. Thus, the ritual questioning of Oishi could have been used in the answers to illuminate the storyteller’s view, as Sophocles used them in the Antigone. Everybody knows that Oishi for his own honor will avenge his dead lord, regardless of what he says or does. Yet, Toho tells the story as if Oishi’s eventual acts are in doubt. The earnest samurai questioning Oishi on his intentions seems a little stupid rather than convincing. Still, it does cast into relief the moral question: Will you do what is right, or will you go along with the system?
In the West, doing what is right is presented too easily. The cowboy hero does the right thing, and in the end gets the girl and the farm. The strings in the orchestra swell, and the movie fades into the end. But doing the right thing in Chushingura is not so easy. It is more like the whistleblower who is fired and disgraced, and maybe even sent to prison. If Oishi and the other loyal samurai exact revenge on Kira, their own lives are forfeit. The Shogunate is trying to stamp out feuding. Will you do what is right because it is right, not because of the nice music, and getting the girl and the farm?
In the movie, Kira is the plain villain—greedy, lecherous, and cowardly. It would have been more interesting if Kira were developed. The new system (more centralized authority) is not all bad, in fact it is very necessary, and Kira has some good lines. He says that when a man stops wanting money and lusting after women, he might as well be dead. His lust and greed make him an active old man indeed. He advises Lord Asano to do as other men do, and go along with the system. That’s really not bad advice. As our once Speaker of the House, John Nance Gardner said “If you want to get along, go along.”
It would be interesting to retell Chushingura in a more nuanced version; a humanized Kira, an inflexible Asano, and a dogged Oishi. But that is not this movie.
Eventually the time is ripe. Oishi sends word that Asano’s faithful samurai are to meet in Edo to take revenge. Edo is the classical name for Tokyo. Kira is at his mansion in Edo. Of all, only 47 samurai make the rendezvous. After beautifully choreographed swordplay and mayhem, the 47 faithful samurai take Kira’s head, and march off, not to a Hollywood ending, but to their own satisfaction of having lived up to their warrior’s code. It is understood that they will be ordered to commit hara-kiri for disobeying the Shogun’s edict.
This is a terrific movie, in my view, one of the four or five best films of all time.
posted by John | 12:56 PM
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