Chushingura - Hana no maki yuki no maki (1962)

Director:

Hiroshi Inagaki

Writers:

Shoraku Miyoshi (play)
Senryu Namiki (play)

Release Date:

3 October 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History

Plot:

A young lord attempts to combat the official corruption endemic to the Shogunate, only to be placed in an impossible conflict of duties...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Jidai Geki | Remake | Based On Historical Events | 47 Ronin

Cast

Koshiro Matsumoto	...	Chamberlain Kuranosuke Oishi (as Matsumoto Koshiro IX)
Yûzô Kayama	...	Lord Naganori Asano
Tatsuya Mihashi	...	Yasubei Horibe
Akira Takarada	...	Gunpei Takada
Yosuke Natsuki	...	Kinemon Okano
Makoto Satô	...	Kazuemon Fuwa
Tadao Takashima	...	Jyujiro Kan
Seizaburô Kawazu	...	Asano Official
Takashi Shimura	...	Hyobu Chishaka
Daisuke Katô	...	Kichiemon Terasaka
Keiju Kobayashi	...	Awajinokami Wakisake (Lord Awaji)
Ryo Ikebe	...	Chikara Tsuchiya
Setsuko Hara	...	Riku Oishi
Yôko Tsukasa	...	Aguri Asano
Reiko Dan	...	Okaru

Also Known As:

47 Ronin
47 Samurai (USA)
Chushingura: 47 Samurai (USA) (reissue title)
The 47 Ronin (Australia)
The Loyal 47 Ronin

Runtime:

206 min | Japan:208 min | USA:100 min (second release) | USA:108 min (first release) | USA:204 min (1966 re-issue) | USA:207 min (1966 re-release)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

Toho Company

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ronin (1998)

Cinematic pinnacle

I first saw Chushingara in 1972 in Boulder, Colorado on the CU campus. I racked up 3 additional viewings in the next couple of years, one at Boston's Park Square Cinema, long gone and lamented. The Park Square often showed Japanese films and I saw the Samurai Trilogy there as well as some of the other classics. I've since seen in again in theaters and now have the video. I was struck, reading some of the other viewer comments, by how many people felt exactly as I did, remembering each viewing as though it were a superb meal to be savored the rest of our lives, rather than simply "seeing a great film". The other comments articulate the reasons why quite well, but I'll add my two cents. Aside from being perhaps the most gorgeous film ever made, its beauty is integral to the psychological mood of heroism intensified by each moment's transience and each life's fragility. The great trial and seppuku scene, framed by that stunningly beautiful music and the equally intense cherry blossoms, stands as one of the most concise statements of life's tragic beauty as well, of course, as the soul of Bushido. The course of action pursued by Chamberlain Oishi creates the emotional hook and the humorous scenes, highlighted by Toshiro Mifune's wonderful character, keep things barreling along. In the end, though, it is the whole package - the stunning sets, many of them modeled fairly closely on classic Japanese woodcuts; the brilliant acting and direction; the loving detail of so many aspects of Japanese culture; the unfolding of justice; the close relationships and their exacting depiction; the revelation of a code that is so alien to anything in contemporary western life; the self-conscious gamble to make this film a cultural monument that breathes life; and of course, the final battle - wow! - certainly one of the greatest movies ever made. It is a shame that it is not more accessible on the large screen - the bigger the better - but as it sustains multiple viewings, see it on video anyway - it's worth it and you can always watch it again.