Harakiri (1962)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | harakiri |
| Original title | Seppuku |
| Country of production | Japan |
| original language | Japanese |
| Publishing year | 1962 |
| length | 135 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Masaki Kobayashi |
| script | Shinobu Hashimoto |
| production | Tatsuo Hosoya |
| music | Tōru Takemitsu |
| camera | Yoshio Miyajima |
| cut | Hisashi Sagara |
| occupation | |
| |
Harakiri ( Japanese 切腹 , Seppuku ) is a Japanese feature film by the director Masaki Kobayashi from 1962. The story takes place during the Edo period and the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate.
action
The film is set in Japan at the beginning of the 17th century .
After three initially unexplained duels, the samurai Hanshirō Tsugumo comes to the most honorable house of the daimyō Iyi ( 井 伊 , Ii ) and asks to be allowed to commit seppuku there .
Tsugumo, however, is by no means the first samurai to approach the prince with this mostly mere pretend request: At this time there are numerous so-called ronin who, without a master and without income, extort employment by royal houses, namely under threat of disgrace House because of her poverty committed ritual suicide.
Tsugumo is also seen as one of those 'pathetic beggars' and is told the story of Rōnin Motome Chijiiwa as a deterrent. In order to deter others, the “request” for seppuku was “allowed”, more precisely: he was ultimately forced to perform hara-kiri in front of the prince's followers.
Tsugumo insists on his traditional right to choose a kaishaku-nin from one of the three most famous vassals of this royal house. However, they have called in sick and are therefore not in the house. After each of the three warriors is sent. Tsugumo refuses to carry out the ritual suicide without one of these three 'most honorable' gentlemen , and in the meantime tells his story in front of the other vassals of the house:
Motome was the son of Jinnai , a good friend of Tsugumo, who had also committed hara-kiri because of his poverty. After his father's death, Motome was under the care of Tsugumo and married Tsugumo's daughter Miho . Miho gave birth to a son named Kingo . Soon after the baby was born, Miho fell seriously ill, and Kingo himself developed a fever. There was no money for a doctor to treat the boy and his mother.
Motome saw it as the last honorable opportunity to threaten his hara-kiri in the house of the daimyo Iyi in order to blackmail the potentate into taking him into his service. This failed, and Motome was compelled to kill himself with his own sword, in accordance with the code of honor. However, he had long since sold his blade to support the family and replaced it with a blade made of bamboo. In order to set an example, the potentate insisted on 'suicide with one's own blade' and even forbade the assistance of an 'adviser', which is a matter of course.
Three samurai brought Motome's body back to the home of the 'honorable deceased', where Tsugumo found that his son-in-law had bitten off his tongue to end his life honorably. A little later, little Kingo and his mother Miho also died.
Tsugumo then challenged the three samurai who had not assisted his son-in-law with the hara-kiri to a duel and defeated them without killing them. Instead, he cut off her braids. This is where his story ends.
As Tsugumo is now sitting in the courtyard of the Daimyō Iyi house and, as seconds, calls on one after the other of these apparently 'most honorable' but not appearing men, and finally throws their cut pigtails at the feet of those present, he proves the rottenness of a system that has long since ceased to apply while those defeated by him want to wait at home for their formal 'honor' to grow back.
In order to rectify the highly unwelcome situation, the prince had Tsugumo shot last, contrary to any allegedly applicable rules of honor, after he had killed four of the vassals of his house and wounded eight others in the regular fight.
According to the official language in the "Chronicle of the House", Tsugumo killed himself during the ritual seppuku, and the three vassals, whom their feudal lord later successfully urged to commit suicide, "died of an illness".
Reviews
“Artfully designed historical samurai drama that criticizes hollowed out concepts of honor and meaningless conventions. The dramatic increases are dosed sparingly, whereby some scenes are deliberately elevated into the ceremonial. A film that is as difficult as it is enlightening for the local community. "
Awards
The film took part in the competition at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1963 and was awarded a special jury prize.
Remake
2011 turned Takashi Miike with Ichimei (English-language title: Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai ) a remake of Harakiri with Ebizō Ichikawa , Eita and Kōji Yakusho in the leading roles.
Web links
- Harakiri in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Kaishaku-Nin can be roughly translated with a second ; this was the most honorable task of one who had to properly complete the ritual suicide.
- ↑ Samurai were often unemployed in peacetime, but the code of honor forbade them to accept other jobs than warriors / servants of royal houses, or as teachers.
- ↑ This means: To cut off the honor
- ↑ Harakiri. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 22, 2017 .
- ↑ cf. Sotinel, Thomas: Cannes 2011, rendez-vous des subscriptions, des néophytes et des Sarkozy . In: Le Monde , April 16, 2011, p. 23.