Yojimbo, or Something about a Thirty-Something Mulberry Field

A nameless, wandering vagabond enters a city besieged by rival gangs. No, this isn’t an Eastwood Western flick. But it was the first of its kind. Kurosawa Akira directed the smash hit Yojimbo (Literally Bodyguard) puts Mifune Toushirou as a wandering rounin without name. This jidaigeki, or period drama, is the first movie in a series of two films starring Mifune as the nameless samurai. Yojimbo takes place in 1860 Japan, a time at which the Tokugawa Shogunate is challenged by the Satsuma-Choshu alliance, eventually bringing about an end to the Shoganate. This period of dramatic change spells the end for the samurai, yet their presence is still felt. During the movie, the crime lords manage to outwit the authorities, and keep their dirty little town under their dirty thumbs.

The Movie begins with thematic music, with high paced drums. The story begins with a brief overview of the time this story is set as the nameless rounin makes his way towards the town. The story is set that the rounin has nothing but his wit and his blade, and is quickly followed by the introduction of the main problem. The town’s young men are being drawn into the simpler life of a thug in the employ of either crime lord. The rounin is quickly placed at the center of attention, as people from either side peer out of their windows to watch him walk down the street. After a brief conflict with Ushitora’s thugs, he meets one of the only neutral characters in this decrepit town, the owner of a rest stop. Here he learns of the conflict. The first Crime lord, Seibei, wanted his son to succeed him and take all the power that his house had. However, his right hand man, Ushitora wanted to succeed the old man himself, and so the one crime group split. Eventually the entire town fell to one side of the faction or the other.

It is when he is first hired by Seibei that he gives an name, Kuwabatake (Mulberry Field) Sanjuro (Thirty years old). It is directly implied by his gazing at a mulberry field and his joke about being Sanjuro but soon to be Shijuro (Forty Years Old) that this is not his real name, and then later affirmed by his own words "Kuwabatake Sanjuro should be good enough. I'm a nobody anyway." Sanjuro then proceeds to lead Seibei's men into battle, only to quit as soon as he hits the street, seeing as he overheard that they were going to kill him after he won the battle for them. He quickly returns the money he was paid, and then climbs up to the lookout tower, to watch the battle unfold. The battle is postponed, due to an official's arrival at the town.

After the Official leaves, because one of Ushitora's men killed an officer in another town. Sanjuro finds the people who killed the officer, captures them and delivers them to Seibei, getting rehired there. He then goes to Ushitora, and tells him that Seibei's men captured his man. After a bit of antics, he frees a woman and her family, allowing them to leave the town in peace leading to counter strikes from both houses. However he is soon found out by Ushitora's younger brother Unosuke. He is brutally beaten, and only by his sharp wits is he able to free himself. However, as he retreats to recuperate, Ushitora and his younger brothers destroy Seibei's hideout looking for him. Sanjuro takes a short time to recover, and must return to end Ushitora's group to save the town once and for all. After a brief, spectacular battle, Sanjuro leaves the village, followed by the signature music which played at the start.

This film works itself into one of the first "Man without a Name" movies, and places Sanjuro as the lone hero. With only his wit, his will, and his blade at his side, he cuts through the tyranny and oppression of the two crime lords. This can be seen as a way to inspire the people in Japan to make a stand against crime. In Japan there is a well known criminal organization that is easily recognized, but nothing is actually done about it, called the Yakuza. Perhaps what they are trying to say is "if one man could save one town." If that is the message of the film, then perhaps evil things can be stricken from the country. Or in a broader sense, perhaps even a single man can make a difference in everything. If the audience is taking this message from the film, then the people watching could go out and work harder, try to do more, do better, and work harder. I just think that it's one of those all inspiring movies. I believe that Sanjuro is written to be an incredibly heroic character. He accepts no reward at all for his actions. In Yojimbo, Sanjuro gives the reward money he received for finding the Officer-killers to the poor family that needed to get out of the town. Instead of doing the smart thing and abandoning the man who helped him, Sanjuro braves the uneven odds and saves him. It is clear that Kurosawa was trying to make the Audience love and admire Sanjuro. Rather than fear him like many of the towns people did.

Talking about inspirations, this film has several well noted inspirations. One of main influences to Kurosawa while creating Yojimbo, were western movies made by John Ford. Kurosawa has even stated that he took inspiration from the noir film The Glass Key, a film adaptation on Dashiell Hammett's novel. However, Yojimbo didn't just take inspiration. It became inspiration for a number of different films, including an American remake starring Clint Eastwood called A Fistful of Dollars, which follows a Man Without a Name (Eastwood), as he goes about destroying two rival families in a little wasteland. The Movie has since inspired both films and even television shows on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

This movie was incredibly entertaining. While I watched it, I enjoyed how little force Sanjuro had to use to destroy the evil crime lords. He only actually ever kills about 10 to 15 people in the entire movie, while in the sequel/continuation Sanjuro, Sanjuro is forced to kill 15 people at once, making the movie very different in character, even though the rounin himself is clearly the same person in both movies. This shows more of Sanjuro's intelligence taking part in his plans, rather than relying on his impressive sword skill. Because in Yojimbo the violence is used only at times when it is incredibly necessary, the film flows from scene to scene very fluidly, rather than dealing with multiple, however brief, battles. This is starkly different from Kurosawa's Shichinin no Samurai in which the entire second half of the movie spans four days, and is basically one long yet amazingly spectacular battle. This grand final battle is mirrored in Yojimbo however the climatic battle itself lasts an amazing one minute.

In conclusion, I advise anyone who hasn't seen Yojimbo to go out and see it. For me it sealed the deal that watching Shichinin no Samurai opened, and lead me to want to watch many more Kurosawa films. Watching the movie made me feel like there was something else to be had with this Sanjuro, who at the end of the film just walks off into the distance. And he does so again in the sequel Sanjuro. It was like this guy was just roaming the country side looking for wrongs to right. Kurosawa truly captured the ideal hero in this roaming Thirty-something rounin.

Edit: Much Love for the Wikipedia. Without you, Mizenko and I would probably waffle on history. I'd also like to thank my homies at North, You know who you are, and finally, my dear fluffy lord.