Miyamoto Musashi

The importance of the Miyamo Musashi saga has been lost somewhat today, even in Japan. These were not just early high-quality color samurai movies, not just great films-- they were a nationwide event, and a milestone in Japanese social evolution. The early 50s were a time of postwar healing, and there were unsettled questions about the national character. The Miyamo Musashi saga used the past to dramatize issues of morality-- and, even more important at the time, morale. Japan had no problem westernizing and living under the rule of law under terms imposed by victors in war-- the knotty issue was, how much of the past do we keep alive in our daily thoughts and actions, and just how much of the real Japan, the one we remember, will our children and grandchildren inherit, once the aftermath of global war has subsided? Watch these films with such then-important issues in mind, and your experience will be deepened and enriched. All three episodes are directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and star Toshiro Mifune as Miyamoto-san, in a performance that is perfection. Miyamoto Musashi shows the young samurai aspirant as a hot-headed, imperfect man, neither hero nor monster-- but possessed of a fierce dark force that could impel him toward either outcome. The question of women looms large in this trilogy-- how to treat them, what kind of woman to honor and what kind to avoid, and just how the diametrically-opposite traits of women work in the world, whether at odds or in harmony with those of men. All these issues are played out without preachiness, in the actions of real people, well-drawn characters whom we meet and get to know before the episode ends in a series of parting of ways. (continued on the page for Ichijoji no Ketto)

This title is really only the first part of a three-part story of the early life of Musashi, the legendary Samurai. The three parts were released separately and Criterion DVD has released them on three separate discs, each disc about an hour and a half to two hours long. You can try to watch the first disc alone, it stand by itself, but it ends just as Mushashi starts out on his quest, and you'll miss Koji Tsuruta's serene and slightly creepy role as Kojiru, Musashi's arch-enemy, which for me was the best part of parts 2 and 3.

The DVDs feature not very well restored prints, maybe it was the best they could do, and there is no supplemental material.

The movie itself is a fun and lively retelling of the legend. Mifune is more wooden than usual, but this is a time when Japanese action films were taking their cues from westerns, and his Musashi grows from a wild spirit to the requisite strong, silent type. For a modern, charismatic, manga-style Musashi, try to get your hands on 2003's "Musashi" NHK miniseries.

The first film in directory Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai trilogy may seem a little workmanlike at times, but it's enlivened by the brisk pace he sets, a great cast, and the messages lying underneath the melodrama. Any discussion of the film should of course start with the immortal Toshiro Mifune, who is in great form here, whether riding a horse, brandishing a sword, or tied and hung up in a tree, kicking his legs furiously. He plays Takezo, young man who goes off to war with a buddy for the glory of it, but after their unit is routed, finds himself hunted and on the run from then on.

The film is brightened considerably by a widow (Mitsuko Miko) and her daughter (Mariko Okasa), who the pair stumble across in the country. We find out that they make their living stripping dead samurai of their belongings, and soon both of them try to seduce Mifune's character. The daughter looks up at him with adoring eyes and lips parted after they fall from a horse together, and the mother, flush with excitement after seeing him in battle, tells him "Take me ... do whatever you want with me." Takezo demurs, and the pair then run off with his friend, but not before smearing his name.

One of the interesting aspects of the film was its theme of needing to have faith and trust in a loved one's character when they're away. We see this break down when Takezo's friend believes the widow's false accusations and runs off without him, and when Takezo in turn believes that his friend has abandoned him (and the man's fiancée) out of cowardice. The villagers are ready to believe the worst about the pair, and are soon marshalled into a manhunt. Meanwhile, the fiancée character (Kaoru Yachigusa) becomes attached to Takezo, and we see her faith tested over years while he is imprisoned. It's only a pure, enlightened soul who can pass such tests, but sometimes, ironically, life can still be bitter, and the film's ending is certainly poignant.

There is also something wonderful about the transformation of this character from an unruly guy dubbed "The Lawless," to someone on the samurai path, with the discipline to know that sometimes self-restraint is necessary in life. The way to enlightenment is not to try to make a name for oneself by blindly throwing oneself into battle, it's through calmness and the harnessing of one's natural strengths. It's the priest (Kuroemon Onoe) who is actually the hero here. He's always relaxed, feeling no shame when partially clad in front of a young woman ("Human beings are born naked"), nor fear while capturing the renegade. He smiles beatifically in all situations, even when the bandit threatens him, fearless of having his head lopped off.

There is an education that thus happens in this first episode, but I liked how Inagaki did not belabor the details. In the beginning the two men leave their village and quickly we see them being routed in battle, without the filler scenes of them being assimilated into the army or its preparations. Similarly, when Takezo is imprisoned, we see him exhorted to read spiritual texts to improve his mind, but we don't see long-drawn out scenes of this happening, only the result in Mifune's demeanor a few years later. He wisely kept the film to 93 minutes, and with fewer brush strokes, painted a great picture here.

"Miyamoto Musashi" (1955): by Hiroshi Inagaki, starring Torshiro Mifune. This is an EPIC story of one man who sets out to travel far and wide throughout the land and himself in search of his identity and purpose. It has something of the feel of Herman Hesse's book "Siddhartha", but with Samurai battle scenes… (no, it is NOT a silly martial arts film). Having won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film of 1955, this is 97 minutes of serious life dramas, with the priorities being Japanese, of course. One must think that with less than a decade having passed since Japan's defeat in WWII, this film's considerations (set in the 16th century) - about identity, goals, love, war, status, and true purpose - were nearly unavoidable. Beautiful photography, good color (considering the era), music that occasionally over-swelled the scene, believable sets, and again, a serious story line, make this one worth seeing. This will sound odd, but I found lots of parallels to the early Marlon Brando film, "The Wild One'". Feel free to disagree.

The first of a trilogy that really should be viewed as a whole. This elegant film tells of the very humble beginnings of Miyamoto Mushashi, who has become a paragon of Bushido and Giri. A Samurai's Samurai.

However, you have no inkling of this at the beginning of the movie. What we see is dirt and squalor and a desperate chance to get out from beneath the mud. It all goes wrong and things look desperate.

As the movie progresses in the slow, methodical, often obtuse, Japanese fashion we become engrossed in the plot and the lives of our protagonists. Toshiro Mifune shows a vast range of emotion, power and character growth in these this movie. To get the full flavour of the story you must also watch the next two movies in this trilogy (2) "Duel at Ichijoji Temple"(1955) (USA)and (3) "Duel on Ganryu Island" (1956)(USA.