Harakiri (1962)

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.

Director:

Masaki Kobayashi

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay), Yasuhiko Takiguchi (novel)

Stars:

Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita

8 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Hanshiro Tsugumo
Akira Ishihama	...	Motome Chijiiwa
Shima Iwashita	...	Miho Tsugumo
Tetsurô Tanba	...	Hikokuro Omodaka
Masao Mishima	...	Tango Inaba
Ichirô Nakatani	...	Hayato Yazaki
Kei Satô	...	Masakazu
Yoshio Inaba	...	Jinai Chijiiwa
Hisashi Igawa	...	Retainer
Tôru Takeuchi	...	Retainer
Yoshirô Aoki	...	Umenosuke Kawabe
Tatsuo Matsumura
Akiji Kobayashi
Kôichi Hayashi
Ryûtarô Gomi

Storyline

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.

---

Plot Keywords:

disillusionment | one against many | year 1630 | samurai | suicide | 

---

Taglines:

Award Winner Cannes Festival 1963

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | History

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

4 August 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Harakiri

Filming Locations:

Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shôchiku Eiga

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The clan featured in the film, the Ii (sometimes spelled Iyi) have produced one of the most important and controversial figures of modern Japanese history: Ii Naosuke, Chief policymaker of the Tokugawa Shogunate best known for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States, granting access to ports for trade to American merchants and seamen and extraterritoriality to American citizens.

---

Goofs

After Motome's seppuku, when Omodaka steps forward and chops Motome's head off (supposedly), he visibly stops his swing before striking Motome's neck (naturally, since real swords were used).

---

Quotes

Hanshiro Tsugumo: After all, this thing we call samurai honor is ultimately nothing but a facade.

---

Connections

Referenced in Jeanie's Magic Box (1972)

User Reviews

Great movie

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.