Harakiri (O.V. Seppuku)

Japan, 1962

Director: Masaki Kobayashi

Screenplay: Shinobu Hashimoto

Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai (Hanshiro Tsugumo), Akira Ishihama (Motome Chijiiwa), Shima Iwashita (Miho Tsugumo), Tetsurô Tanba (Hikokuro Omodaka), Masao Mishima (Tango Inaba)

Plot

Japan, beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate (17th century). The abolition of various feudal clans has driven many former warriors into poverty. One of them is the ronin Hanshiro Tsugomo (Tatsuya Nakadai), who arrives at the Ii clan quarters asking for permission to die there with dignity by the seppuku procedure.

Intendant Kageyu Saito suspects that this is a ruse, as it would not be the first time that a ronin arrives there announcing his intention to commit suicide, but actually hoping that they will try to dissuade him and thus get him a job or at least some handouts. Therefore, Saito tells Tsugomo the story of another ronin who belonged to the same abolished clan as him, Motome Chijiwa, and who also arrived at the gates of the Ii clan with the supposed intention of cutting open his own belly.

The young Motome, according to the quartermaster’s account, asked the authorities to allow him to commit seppuku on their premises, with the hidden intention of extorting benefits. Wanting to impress the Ii clan chiefs with his courage, with his willingness to have his guts cut out, he actually hoped they would try to talk him out of it, and offer him some kind of well-paid work. Motome only possessed a bamboo sword. And when he hesitates, his assigned kaishakunin Omodaka tells him that “the sword is the soul of the samurai”, and that in his case, the bamboo sword is indeed appropriate.

Thus, the authorities of the Ii clan forced him to practice seppuku with his bamboo wakizashi, even though Motome had begged for mercy and to be allowed a few days to return. After the forced harakiri, the implacable Hikokuro Omodaka performs the function of kaishakunin (assisting the suicide as a beheader).

After hearing Saito’s story, the unperturbed Hanshiro reaffirms his intentions; his unmovable disposition to perform seppuku. He is led to the courtyard to proceed with the ritual.

When everything is ready, and he is asked what his last wish is, Hanshiro requests that Omodaka, “who enjoys great fame for being an excellent swordsman”, assist him as kaishakunin…. But Omodoka is not present; he is apparently ill. Hanshiro insists, and Saito proposes to choose another one. The ronin does so; but “coincidentally” this second one is not in the residence either. He is also “sick”. So, Hanshiro names a third one, but fate would have it that this one is also “indisposed”…

Saito, extremely upset, immediately understands that Hanshiro is up to something, that he knew beforehand that these three were absent that day, and that in reality he did not come to the clan headquarters to commit seppuku. The intendant then threatens the ronin to throw all his men at him if he does not cut open his entrails immediately. At that moment, Hanshiro expresses his intention to tell a story first, the story of his life since his clan was abolished, and the reasons that have led him to the current situation.

Saito reluctantly agrees, and Hanshiro begins his tale, which (like the other stories in the film) is presented in flashback form to those viewing the film. It turns out that young Motome was Hanshiro’s son-in-law, the husband of his daughter Miho. Motome’s father had been a samurai comrade-in-arms of Hanshiro, who took his own life by committing harakiri after the abolition of his clan by the shogunate. After that, Motome came under the protection of Hanshiro, who gave him his daughter as his wife. From this union a child, little Kingo, was born. The four of them lived for some time poor but happy, doing small jobs to stay afloat but without great worries. The idyllic family harmony was not to last long, and began to be disturbed by the illness of young Miho, Hanshiro’s daughter and Motome’s wife, who one day began to vomit blood. Her situation worsened week after week, and as if that were not enough, little Kingo also contracted severe fevers. Hanshiro and Motome, very distressed, could do little; they did not have enough money to pay for a doctor. In desperation, Motome resolved to try his luck by going to the Ii clan with the strategy in mind that Saito had already outlined in his story.

Hanshiro and Miho waited for hours and days for the return of Motome; who in the end came back…. as a corpse, brought by Omodaka and two other officers of the Ii clan, who had pushed him to commit seppuku with his bamboo wakizashi. (Those other two officers were, together with Omodaka, those that Hanshiro requested as kaishakunin and who were absent, we will later find out why). A few days later, Miho succumbed to his illness, and so did little Kingo, so Hanshiro would be left completely alone, as well as in absolute misery.

So much for the ronin’s narration of his reasons for coming to the clan headquarters. Hanshiro once again reaffirms his steadfast intention to commit seppuku, especially now that he has lost his loved ones, and when Saito urges him to proceed, Hanshiro says that he still has something left to say: and taking something out of his clothes, he throws before the quartermaster (to his great astonishment) the cut buns of the three officers who brought him Motome’s corpse; he reveals that he fought them and after defeating them left them alive but to show the proof of his defeat he cut off their buns. That was the real reason why Omodaka and the other two were “sick” and could not be there; for shame of appearing in the eyes of their comrades as defeated, they hid in their homes until their hair grew back.

The stupefied Saito, furious, in a rage of anger and exasperation, then ordered his men to finish off Hanshiro. Thus began an unequal fight of all against one, but Hanshiro resisted exemplarily, managed to withstand the onslaught of dozens of warriors who rushed against him, killing some and injuring many. He fights like a lion until, besieged and at the limit of his strength, he finally keeps his word and commits seppuku, shortly before Saito’s men shoot him several times with primitive firearms to finish him off.

Saito, after the carnage, is notified that the ronin has finally been killed… at the cost of several dead and wounded among the clan’s samurai. He is also informed that the absent Omodaka had committed seppuku. Saito orders that the other two “sick” samurai also have it done, and orders that it be spread that those killed in combat have died “due to illness”, that there was no fight, and that Hanshiro had seppuku done without any altercation. For the shogunal authority must not hear the true development of the events; it would be a disgrace to the Ii clan….

Comment

Excellent film about samurais with a great dramatic charge and Greek tragedy airs. The rigid rules of feudal Japan, the code of honor of the bushido and the family and personal drama of a ruined ronin are magnificently portrayed throughout the film. The story seeks to expose the hypocrisy of the Ii clan officials, who while they were inflexible with the young Motome without granting him the two days he had requested, cowardly absented themselves after being defeated by Hanshiro excusing themselves on the grounds of “illness”. While Saito preached to Hanshiro about honor and samurai ethics, his three best men were the first to break the rules of bushido.

On the other hand, it is true that Motome tried to deceive the Ii clan, as he had no real intention of committing harakiri and hoped to make a profit; but he only acted this way out of desperation, to save his wife and son.

Director Kobayashi manages to maintain the tension at all times during the more than two hours of footage. Great work by the main actors, especially the protagonist Hanshiro (Tatsuya Nakadai) and the relentless Omodaka (Tetsuro Tanba).

As a curiosity, note that the actor Nakadai, who plays the mature ronin, was only 30 years old at the time the film was shot. The make-up professionals also did a good job, making him look like a fifty-year-old, who is the father of the young Miho, father-in-law of Motome and grandfather of little Kingo…

The soundtrack is very good, with traditional Japanese chords and rhythms; instead of the Hollywood-style orchestral soundtrack that appears, for example, in “The 47 Ronin”.

Recently, the prolific (and not without controversy) Takashi Miike, famous for his ultra-violent and bizarre yakuza films full of black humor (and sometimes surreal elements) made a remake of this great classic.

Masaki Kobayashi’s “Seppuku” (“Harakiri”) is, without a doubt, an absolute masterpiece of the genre.