Japanese cinema has had a significant influence on Western film and television during the twentieth century, and continues to do so now. Akira Kurosawa’s name has become somewhat synonymous with the genre to Western audiences because he directed many of the most popular and influential samurai films in the West. There are, however, several examples of chanbara directed by other filmmakers that are equally deserving of praise and whose influence is equally profound. Because samurai movie is never just about the fight scenes, the stories below focus on human drama, which adds a surprising amount of complexity to what could otherwise be a simple action film.
1. The Tale Of Zatoichi (1962)
Director- Kenji Misumi
To acquire basic respect, an impoverished blind masseuse becomes a mercenary swordsman. The first instalment of novelist Kan Shimozawa’s Zatoichi series, which includes 26 films, a TV show, and a play, with all but two starring controversial singer/producer/director Shintaro Katsu. Kenji Misumi directs the first of six Zatoichi films. Because battle with a neighbouring town’s lesser gang is brewing, the astute Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village. After scoffing at his request to join a dice game, the broke ex-masseur “Ichi” wins big by taking advantage of local bakuto’s cheating. Zatoichi gets summon by the greater horde, who had been given free reign by the local governor. Zatoichi despises being an outlaw, so he forms a friendship with the other gang’s honourable hired samurai, who has tuberculosis.
2. Ugetsu (1953)
Director- Kenji Mizoguchi
As sixteenth-century Japan is ravaged by roving gangs of soldiers, Genjuro, an ambitious and hardworking potter, and his aspiring samurai brother, Tobei, brave a risky voyage to the bustling city to sell their products in the hopes of making a quick profit. Indeed, a treasure awaits the daring entrepreneurs, but when their insatiable avarice gets the better of them, a second trip to the town can only end in misery and separation. However, when the eerily alluring noblewoman, Lady Wakasa, notices the materialistic artisan’s exquisite handiwork at the bustling bazaar, a heartfelt invitation to her elegant mansion coupled with a tempting offer will lead to a total change of plans. Unimaginable delights are undoubtedly are hid within the towering walls of the mystery aristocrat’s castle.
3. The Sword Of Doom (1966)
Director- Kihachi Okamoto
Ryunosuke is a psychotic samurai with no qualms about killing. When Ryunosuke’s opponent’s wife begs him to throw an exhibition bout at his fencing school, she offers her own virtue in exchange. Ryunosuke accepts her offer, but during the duel, he murders her husband. Ryunosuke is eventually track down by the brother of the man he murders. Shimada, a master fencer, instructs his brother. Meanwhile, Ryunosuke earns the anger of the assassins with whom he runs, and it becomes a question of who will confront him in the end.
4. Hara-Kiri (1962)
Director- Masaki Kobayashi
The Shogunate breaks up warrior clans in 17th-century Japan, putting thousands of samurai out of job and into poverty. Under the samurai code, ceremonial suicide, or hara-kiri, is an honourable way to end such a fate (self-inflicted disembowelment). Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai), an ancient warrior, asks permission to conduct the act in the home of a feudal lord. There, he learns of the fate of his son-in-law, a young samurai who came to the house looking for work but was instead is force to execute conventional hara-kiri with a dull bamboo blade. The samurai recounts the tragic story of his son-in-law and how he gets force to sell his real sword to support his sick wife and child through flashbacks. As a result, Tsugumo sets in motion a dramatic vengeance showdown with the house.
5. The Lone Wolf and Cub Series (1972-74)
Director- Kenji Misumi
The genesis of the Lone Wolf and Cub is told in this first film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, adapted from Kazuo Koike’s manga. The Yagyu clan has accused Ogami Itto, the official Shogunate executioner, of treachery to the Shogunate, and he is now fighting a one-man war with his baby son, Daigoro, against them.
6. Samurai Rebellion (1967)
Director- Masaki Kobayashi
During a period of peace in 1725, aged swordsman Isaburo is living a henpecked life when his clan lord insists that his son marry the lord’s mistress, whom he dislikes despite the fact that she has given him a son. Isaburo wants to say no, but his son Yogoro accepts Ichi and the two become deeply in love. When the clan lord’s elder son dies and the lord asks for Ichi to return to his side as the mother of his heir, Isaburo rebels against his lord. Yogoro and Ichi, who now have a daughter, are by his side. The clan then orders their suicide and dispatches soldiers to murder them. Isaburo’s only chance of exposing the clan’s wickedness is to take his case to Edo.
7. Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (1999)
Director- Jim Jarmusch
Ghost Dog, a brilliant contract assassin at the top of his trade, has vowed his loyalty to Louie, a middle-ranking mobster who once saved his life, in the spirit of the samurai and infused with the ancient wisdom of the Hagakure. After an unforeseen problem during a task, however, local mafia boss Vargo and his accomplice Sonny Valerio decide that Ghost Dog has become a liability to the crime syndicate and order his execution. As the bodies begin to pile up, the assassin must make the most important decision of his life.
8. Lady Snowblood (1973)
Director- Toshiya Fujita
Due to the machinations of a gang of criminals, Yuki’s family gets nearly wipe out before she is born. Her mother is kidnapped and brutalised by these thugs, but she survives. Her mother is eventually imprisoned, with only revenge to keep her alive. By getting pregnant on purpose, she creates a weapon for this vengeance. Despite the fact that she dies during childbirth, she ensures that her child is raised as an assassin to kill the villains who killed her family. Yuki has never known the love of a family, only murder and vengeance.
9. 13 Assassins (2010)
Director- Takashi Milke
The tranquilly of Feudal Japan is challenged in 1844 by ruthless Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira, who is rising in politics and becoming closer to his half-brother, the shogun. Following the harakiri of the Namiya clan head, shogun’s advisor Sir Doi of the Akashi Clan summons samurai Shinzaemon Shimada to hear Makino Uneme’s tragedy, in which his son and daughter-in-law have been murdered by Naritsugu. Sir Doi then displays a woman who has had her limbs, legs, and tongue severed by Naritsugu, and she makes a request to Shinza to slay Naritsugu and his samurai with her forearm. Shinza pledges to kill Naritsugu.
So he recruits eleven other samurai and organises an attack on Naritsugu during his return to Akashi country. However, Hanbei Kitou, the astute samurai in charge of his master’s safety, foresees Shinza’s plan. Shinza and his samurai decide to travel through the mountain, where they meet the hunter Koyata, who leads them off the mountain and joins them. The thirteen men are now planning a suicide expedition to stop evil by ambushing Naritsugu and his army of two hundred samurai.
10. The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Director- Yoji Yamada
In mid-nineteenth-century Japan, Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai, works as a bureaucrat. He is a widower with two kids whom he adores and a senile mother; in order to make ends meet, he must work in the fields and accept piecework. When his long-time love, Tomoe, divorces a cruel spouse, new possibilities appear. Despite the fact that the Japanese feudal order is disintegrating, Seibei is bound by the samurai code of honour and his own sense of social hierarchy. The repercussions are devastating.
