Harakiri
(1962)
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Harakiri
(1962)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Tatsuya Nakadai | ... | ||
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Akira Ishihama | ... | |
| Shima Iwashita | ... | ||
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Tetsurô Tanba | ... |
Hikokuro Omodaka
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Masao Mishima | ... |
Tango Inaba
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Ichirô Nakatani | ... |
Hayato Yazaki
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Kei Satô | ... |
Masakazu
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Yoshio Inaba | ... |
Jinai Chijiiwa
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Hisashi Igawa | ... |
Retainer
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Tôru Takeuchi | ... |
Retainer
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Yoshirô Aoki | ... |
Umenosuke Kawabe
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Tatsuo Matsumura |
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Akiji Kobayashi |
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Kôichi Hayashi |
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Ryûtarô Gomi | ... |
(as Katsuo Gomi)
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Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty. An honorable end to such fate under the samurai code is ritual suicide, or hara-kiri (self-inflicted disembowelment). An elder warrior, Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) seeks admittance to the house of a feudal lord to commit the act. There, he learns of the fate of his son-in-law, a young samurai who sought work at the house but was instead barbarically forced to commit traditional hara-kiri in an excruciating manner with a dull bamboo blade. In flashbacks the samurai tells the tragic story of his son-in-law, and how he was forced to sell his real sword to support his sick wife and child. Tsugumo thus sets in motion a tense showdown of revenge against the house. Written by Kevin Rayburn <kprayb01@homer.louisville.edu>
When I first saw this movie, I did not know much about it. I saw it for a class so I was given a little background of the time period. In fact I was pretty much just told this:
This movie takes place during the time where many Samurai were left ronins, or masterless. These samurai were unable to find work and thereby were left in poverty. Eventually many would go up to clans and ask to commit seppuku.
It was dishonorable to refuse such a "noble" request, but most clans did not want samurai to kill themselves on their property so they would just pay the samurai to go elsewhere.
So I watched the movie and well... I loved it. During the class discussion the next day I found most people hated the movie. Not because it was a bad movie, but because of how it made people feel about themselves. And that's exactly why this movie is genius. If you're interested in watching this movie, do not read the summary in detail - reading the summary in detail will deprive you of what one of the key things that made the movie great IMO.