I realize that this is a history list and not a film criticism/discussion
list. However, I do think that historical novels or films can sometimes give
us a few insights into studying actual history, especially when source
documents or accounts that are contemporary to the time being studied are
not always available. So I'm going to go ahead and discuss some films here.
I'll try and relate the discussion of films to the study of history.
Discussing AFTER THE RAIN: Just my opinion, but I try to be careful when
using terms such as "western". What does that really mean? That Kurosawa was
influenced by non-Japanese (American or European) writings or films? Or that
he incorporated some of these concepts and ideas into his own script for
AFTER THE RAIN and/or his other films? Many American or European novelists
and film makers have adopted Japanese ideas and concepts into their works.
So does that make them "eastern?" What constitutes "western" and "eastern?"
How meaningful are these concepts, really?
Also which Japanese criticized Kurosawa and what were their specific
criticisms?
I'm not one who espouses "identity politics," which I understand to be a
strain of academic thought that people should only write or create or
interpret from their own cultural experiences and not stray into the
experiences of cultures not their own. I don't follow this, as in some
ways, we all belong to the culture known as "human beings." We don't exist
in a vacuum; so anyone, whether Japanese, European, American, African,
whatever, will be influenced to a greater or lesser extent by other cultures
and not just by the culture that we may have grown up in.
Now for the issue as to whether a person such as the main character in AFTER
THE RAIN can be a "good" samurai: Are you trying to say that this would be a
"western" idea, that a man like this might be an admirable samurai?
You are correct in that within the Edo period, a bushi who makes his living
by swordfighting for money was not considered to be very honorable at all.
Because the ethic was that a samurai was supposed to use his sword skills in
service to his lord and not for monetary gain. That was the ethic of the
day.
But then why study history? Do we simply say, "this swordsman was
dishonorable because that's what was thought by the majority in the time
that he lived" and leave it at that? Don't we sometimes study history to
study these codes of ethics -- and sometimes to question them? Or is this
"western?" I don't think so.
We've discussed Kobayashi Masaki's film SEPPUKU here earlier. In this film,
a ronin shows up at the gate of a daimyo's Edo headquarters, stating that he
wishes a spot to commit seppuku so as to no longer have to live in dire
poverty. It turns out that this ronin didn't even have real swords, but had
pawned them and substituted bamboo blades for his real ones; he had sold his
"soul of the samurai" for money. So how could he commit seppuku? It turns
out further that seppuku wasn't his real motive, he really wanted to beg for
money. How more dishonorable than that can a samurai be? This was the ethic
of the day, and in the film, the clan involved, the Ii clan, decide to give
out a stern message by forcing the man to commit seppuku with his bamboo
blade. According to the standards of that society, that was a just and
appropriate response to this man's shameless beggary and extortion.
But then Kobayashi turns the whole event upside down by revealing that
perhaps this man had very few alternatives to what he had chosen to do. His
family was sick and starving and he had no way to support them, even though
he had tried. Would it have been more honorable to let his family starve and
die rather than attempt to get money to try and save them? Was the clan's
reaction honorable and just? Or cruel and sadistic? All these questions get
raised in the film. Though the events he portrays are set in the 17th
century in Japan, these questions that are raised apply all over the world,
throughout different ages -- that could have been one of the motives for
Kobayashi to make this historical film. Did this make Kobayashi "western?" I
don't think so.
On another subject: how does the study of historical films and novels relate
to the study of actual history? Most fiction is speculative and there are
those who find it worthless because it is fiction and not an attempt to
study what is "real." But some of us do turn to fiction because other
sources aren't available. I find it interesting: did Kobayashi turn to a
ferile imagination when he made the film about samurai begging for funds
while claiming to want to commit seppuku? Or is it possible that this sort
of thing actually happened? Is the bamboo-blade seppuku a product of a wild
imagination, or is it possible that something like this may also have
happened but the historical accounts are lost? That is the nature of
speculative fiction. It might have a place in studying history or perhaps it
doesn't.
Just my 500 Ryo. Nina
-----Original Message-----
From:
samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Michael Wood
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 11:33 PM
To:
samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [samuraihistory] What can we define as the best samurai ???
[snips]
NinaThe screen writer of the film (Akira Kurosawa),
while one of the great film makers in the world, was often criticized in
Japan for being too western and had trouble getting some of his films made
without western backing. The idea of an accountant that uses a ploy to
trick kenjutsu masters into feeding him (effectively begging) then when he
finally can fence, fencing for money is all despicable in the eyes of
samurai (as they made clear at the end of the film).
The samurai (masterfully portrayed by Mifune Shiro) was an amazing swordsman
and a very nice man, but by "period" samurai standards, not a worthy
samurai.
This is not a story about a great samurai, it is at its heart a love story
and the relationship between a man and his wife and how she grows to respect
him and love him not for who she wants him to become but for who he is.
[snips]
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