IMDb > Harakiri (1962)
Seppuku
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Harakiri (1962) More at IMDbPro »Seppuku (original title)

Photos (See all 13 | slideshow) Videos (see all 4)
Harakiri -- Following the collapse of his clan, unemployed samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to commit ritual suicide on his property.
Harakiri -- Video introduction by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie.
Harakiri -- Video interview with screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto.
Harakiri -- Video interview with star Tatsuya Nakadai.

Overview

User Rating:
8.4/10   11,393 votes »
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Director:
Writers:
Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay)
Yasuhiko Takiguchi (novel) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Harakiri on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
4 August 1964 (USA) See more »
Genre:
Plot:
An elder ronin samurai arrives at a feudal lord's home and requests an honorable place to commit suicide. But when the ronin inquires about a younger samurai who arrived before him things take an unexpected turn. Full summary » | Full synopsis »
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
8 wins & 2 nominations See more »
NewsDesk:
(46 articles)
User Reviews:
Samurai Genre is Used to Exposively Indict Japanese Politics and Culture See more (93 total) »

Cast

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Directed by
Masaki Kobayashi 
 
Writing credits
Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay)

Yasuhiko Takiguchi (novel "Ibun rônin ki")

Yasuhiko Takiguchi 

Produced by
Tatsuo Hosoya .... producer
Gin'ichi Kishimoto .... assistant producer
Makoto Naitô .... development producer
Tsugio Saitô .... assistant producer
 
Original Music by
Tôru Takemitsu 
 
Cinematography by
Yoshio Miyajima 
 
Film Editing by
Hisashi Sagara 
 
Art Direction by
Junpei Oosumi 
Shigemasa Toda 
 
Set Decoration by
Zenichi Tajiri 
 
Costume Design by
Mitsuzô Ueda 
 
Makeup Department
Gyôuemon Kimura .... key hair stylist
Yoshiko Kimura .... hair stylist
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kôji Niwa .... assistant director
 
Sound Department
Shigeru Fujita .... assistant sound
Hideo Nishizaki .... sound
 
Stunts
Hideki Kato .... fight choreographer
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Shôjirô Kamohara .... gaffer
Takao Ohara .... still photographer
Tamotsu Okutani .... assistant camera
Shigeyuki Sekine .... assistant photographer
 
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Chôkan Kawamura .... costume researcher
Shigenosuke Sumida .... costume researcher
 
Editorial Department
Junpei Segashira .... assistant editor
Sofu Teshigahara .... titles
 
Other crew
Kaneshige Inokuma .... historical researcher
Ryôzô Nakamura .... equipment
 
Crew believed to be complete


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Additional Details

Also Known As:
"Seppuku" - Japan (original title)
See more »
Runtime:
133 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 See more »
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:X | France:U | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:15 (DVD rating) | USA:Not Rated | Germany:16 (re-rating) | West Germany:18 (cut version)

Did You Know?

Trivia:
Seppuku and harakiri (the US working title) both mean to commit ritual suicide in Japanese. However, seppuku is the formal term, derived from the kanji characters for "hara" (belly) and "kiri" (cut); harakiri is the cruder, less polite term for this act.See more »
Quotes:
Kageyu Saito:The ronin from Hiroshima, Hanshiro Tsugumo, committed hara kiri. All our own men died of illness. The house of Iyi has no retainers who could be felled or wounded by some half-starved ronin.See more »
Movie Connections:
Featured in Through the Mist (2009)See more »

FAQ

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51 out of 54 people found the following review useful.
Samurai Genre is Used to Exposively Indict Japanese Politics and Culture, 16 September 2005
Author: noralee from Queens, NY

I saw Harakiri (Seppuku) in a new 35 mm print at NYC's Film Forum. This is a brilliant use of a narrow period genre to explosively indict politics and culture. Writers Shinobu Hashimoto and Yasuhiko Takiguchi surely must have been as inspired by "The Count of Monte Cristo," Ambrose Bierce and Howard Hawks' Westerns as much as by samurai literature and movies.

The film begins deceptively as a story within a story, seemingly providing a traditional example of upholding samurai honor, such as in the conventional, oft-retold tale of "The 47 Ronin." The context is set at a time when the central government, the shogunate, is supplanting local clans and arbitrarily unemploying thousands of people, notably their samurai, forcing them into the mercenary mode of ronin at best and begging for food at worse. But the parallels to the 20th century are made repeatedly explicit as the samurai who comes to this clan seeking help is from Hiroshima.

Very gradually we get further insight on the tale within a tale, as we see more flashbacks within flashbacks into what each character has been doing before these confrontations and we get uneasy inklings that the moral of the story may not be what it appears at first and the stakes get higher and higher with almost unbearable tension.

It is almost halfway through the film until we see a female and we suddenly see an alternative model of masculinity, where a priority is put on family, support, education and creative productivity. In comparison to the macho opening relationships, with their emphasis on formal militaristic loyalty to a hierarchy, a loving husband and father is practically a metrosexual. Seeing the same stalwart samurai making casual goo goo sounds to his grandbaby puts the earlier, ritualized scenes in sharp relief, particularly the recurring image of the clan's armor which seems less and less imposing and is finally destroyed as an empty symbol.

The psychological tension in the confrontations in the last third of the film is more excruciating than the actual violence. Even when we thought we already knew the outcome from the flashbacks, the layers of perception of relationships and personalities are agonizingly peeled away with each thrust of a sword to reveal the depths of the horrifying hypocrisy of the political and social structure. And those are just the overwhelming cultural resonances that a 21st century American can glean. Like "Downfall (Der Untergang)," it reveals the inhumane mentality that led to World War II.

The repeating motif of long walks then confrontations down empty corridors emphasizes the stultifying bureaucratic maze that entraps the characters. The revenge motifs are accented by startlingly beautiful cinematography that recalls traditional Japanese art, including drops of blood like first snow flakes then a waterfall.

The over all effect of this masterpiece is emotionally draining.

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Message Boards

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Question (Spoiler) AudgePaudge
Wonderful movie! 10/10 jonasjobbar
How I wished it would end Opwiz
Why did Motome do it? joly24601
Top 250? Bellator86
Profound Subtitles gooachooyumyum
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