 Yojimbo (1961, 110 min / USA:75 min) written by Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa. directed by Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa’s Western Myth from Japan “Who wants a long life eating porridge? I want to eat good food, wear nice things. A short exciting life for me!” – The Farmer’s Son. Myth: Yojimbo is a Japanese movie. Reality: Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo is a very much a Western film.  Yojimbo is a comic and
evermore-cynical High Noon
with samurai swords. Kurosawa
recognized a type of grammar to the
Western that he employed in the most un-Western of settings:
Japan. He was so successful at this that the
Western grammar came full circle back to America. His Seven
Samurai was remade for American audiences as the
gun-slinging The Magnificent Seven
by John Sturges. Yojimbo
itself has been remade at least
twice for the West, first as the Clint Eastwood western A Fistful of
Dollars
and then as the Walter Hill gangster film Last Man Standing. Upon watching Yojimbo for the first time, one may be somewhat surprised at the many touches throughout that seem so familiar. Where have I seen that before? Is actor Toshiro Mifune’s scratching borrowed from Brando? Isn’t the dog running down through the village with a human hand in its mouth reminiscent of Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou? Don’t the windswept and abandoned streets of the village look perfect for a climatic shootout? Just replace the sliding panels of the sake-seller’s establishment with good old fashioned swinging batwing doors of a saloon and you would half expect Shane or Marshall Dillon to walk though them. Yojimbo may have been made in Japan by Japanese filmmakers about Japanese characters engaging in samurai sword fights, but it is a true Western, complete with a climatic gun-slinging showdown in the main street. The film opens on the back of a wandering samurai and the words: A
samurai, once a dedicated warrior in the employ of Royalty,
The
samurai
Sanjuro (Mifune) comes to a fork in the road and allows chance to point
his way
by taking the road indicated by a long stick he has thrown into the
air. After watching the farmer’s son run off to
the excitement of a gambler’s life in the village, he comes to the
village
himself and discovers a virtual ghost town. Now finds himself with no master to serve Other than his own will to survive… …And no devices Other than his wit and sword.  Sanjuro receives food
and drink from
the sake-seller, even though both he and the seller, Gonji, know he has
no
money to pay the bill. Gonji explains
the town’s politics. One end of town is controlled by Seibei from his brothel, and the other end is controlled by Ushitora from his inn. The two men are at war over control of the village. Each boss employs a gang of outlaws and killers. Seibei is aligned with Tazaemon, the town’s silk merchant. Ushitora is in league with Tokuemon the brewer (who prays that Ushitora is killed so that he can take over). The war has emptied the street and closed the businesses. Only the town coffin maker seems to be able to make a living. That is, until Sanjuro arrives and sees opportunity of his own. He tells Gonji, “In this town I’ll get paid for killing, and this town is full of men better off dead.” Having already sized up Ushitora’s gang, he offers his services as bodyguard (yojimbo) to Seibei, and then demonstrates his skill by killing three of Ushitora’s men. Seibei agrees to pay top price for his new bodyguard, but his wife later insists that they kill Sanjuro as soon as the fighting is over. Sanjuro overhears them plot against him, and the moment before the battle begins returns his fee saying he does not want to be murdered. He then climbs atop the town fire tower to watch the show. Yet before the fighting actually begins, there comes word of a government official approaching the village for an inspection. Suddenly, old enemies are new friends as the entire town acts as if all is normal. As the official’s visit stretched into days and the façade becomes tiresome, Ushitora has a neighboring village’s official murdered to draw the inspector away. Then Sanjuro learns that the two sides are talking truce just before he overhears the drunken assassins talk of their recent job.  Sanjuro captures
the two killers and
sells them to Seibei, explaining that once the assassins are turned
over to the
authorities Ushitora will be arrested leaving Seibei as town
boss. Always playing both sides against one
another, he also tells Ushitora that the men have “been caught” and
demands
payment for this valuable information.
The frightened Ushitora pays generously and asks Sanjuro to be his
bodyguard. Sanjuro takes the money and says that he
will consider the job. Ushitora’s brother, Unosuke, has recently returned home to the village with a pistol and is obviously proud of owning the only gun in town. Late one night he and his brother Inokichi kidnap Seibei’s son to use as ransom for the return of the assassins. An exchange is scheduled for 3:00. As the two groups approach one another with their respective hostages, Unosuke pulls his pistol and kills the assassins. The Ushitora clan retreats without releasing Seibei’s son. Unosuke informs Seibei that if he wants his son to live he must shave his head and allow Ushitora to become town boss. Seibei had expected such treachery and pulls a trick of his own. Sanjuro looks down on all of this from the fire tower, laughing. Seibei produces a new hostage, Nui, wife of the farmer Kohei. The beautiful Nui became Tokuemon’s woman when Kohei lost her gambling. Now Tokuemon, Ushitora’s partner, wants his woman back. A new exchange is scheduled. As Sanjuro watches the exchange from Gonji’s place, Kohei and his young son come to watch. When Nui is brought out into the street the boy cries out for his mother. Nui runs to him but her captors force her back to the street. After the successful exchange, both sides threaten retaliation. When Sanjuro learns from Gonji the full story of the farmer and his wife he says, “I hate his kind! Makes me sick!” Sanjuro finally accepts Ushitora’s offer and mentions that the woman must be under heavy guard. If she is captured again, the war is lost. Sanjuro and Ushitora’s stupid brother Unosuke go to help guard the house where she is kept. Unosuke cannot pass up the opportunity to beat the farmer lurking nearby while Sanjuro continues to the house. As Unosuke beats the farmer, Sanjuro appears suddenly saying that all the guards are dead. While Unosuke runs for help, Sanjuro goes to the house and kills the guards who had been alive and well. He releases Nui to her husband, gives them the money paid to him by Ushitora, and commands them to leave and not return. However, they only bow down to him in thanks, crying. He yells, “You idiots! Hurry up! Stop it! I hate pathetic people! I’ll kill you if you cry!” As Ushitora’s gang approaches, he forces them up and pushes them into the darkness.  Convinced that Seibei
kidnapped Nui
again, Ushitora sets fire to Tazaemon’s silk store. As it burns
Ushitora orders Seibei to return the woman, but
Seibei honestly claims ignorance in the matter. Next, Seibei
demolishes the casks of sake at the brewery, and
finally the war between the two gangs begins. Kohei sends a thank you note to Sanjuro. Unosuke intercepts the note and learns of Sanjuro’s trick. Unosuke uses his pistol to take Sanjuro prisoner. Ushitora’s henchmen beat Sanjuro severely while the brothers Ushitora, Unosuke, and Inokichi destroy Seibei’s gang and kill his entire family. The war is over. Ushitora is the boss. Sanjuro hides in a temple and over time recovers from his wounds. He comes out of hiding when Gonji is captured smuggling food and medicine to him.  In the final
showdown, Sanjuro faces
Unosuke’s pistol with little more than his wit and his sword. Comparisons of Sanjuro to a Greek god are not new. Like the gods of Greek mythology, the bodyguard holds himself above the warring factions. Nevertheless, he is not entirely removed from those he watches. Like the gods, he has his own likes and dislikes. He dislikes the people, but likes moving among them and bending them to his will. He descends, meddles and leaves. As Sanjuro leaves the village, he tells the farmer’s son, the one life he has spared, “Go home. A long life eating porridge is best.” Kurosawa’s Yojimbo seems to be less a mythic story itself than it is a cinematic myth-buster. It is at least a buster of the old occidental myth about the Japanese as a people of group mentality shunning individualism. Indeed, Mifune’s portrayal of the yojimbo Sanjuro seems to be the origin of the Western anti-hero that has been a mainstay of American film for almost half a century. Essay © Norris Archer Harrington - A screenwriter and educator, Norris graduated from the Act One: Writing for Hollywood with the LA class of 2001. A former Navy diver, Norris teaches commercial deep sea diving at the College of Oceaneering and is currently working on "Red Diver," a screenplay set in the world of Navy diving. |
