I suppose in most ways this is a standard
period tale of a Wandering Yakuza Swordsman who has so much blood on his
hands that he can never settle down, never return to a normal life. There
is always someone out there looking for revenge for those he has killed -
a family member, a friend, a member of the clan. This is such a common theme
in Japanese films that I wonder where it originated. From their literature,
legends or was it influenced by our Westerns which had similar themes? It
makes for great cinema though - the Lone Man taking on the world and never
in the same place for long - thus allowing the films to take in a lot of
Japan. They become walking pictorials of rural Japan where the films had
to be shot. It was of course the complete opposite of what was then contemporary
Japanese society which had become based on stability, Salarymen and staying
in the same company for their career. I am curious as to whether this theme
was based on any historical reality or was a complete romantic fabrication
of filmmakers and writers. Not that these Lone Wolfs were slicing and dicing
large groups of men who were usually polite enough to stand back and attack
him one at a time but that there were these wandering Yakuza's or Ronin's?
This has two things of note beyond the film itself. It is directed by Nobuo
Nakagawa before he was famous for becoming the Godfather of Japanese horror.
He had actually been directing films since the 1930s - every type - and it
wasn't till a few years after this film that he directed Black Cat Mansion
in 1958 that set him down that road. I love the period detail of this film
- the small towns that are passed through, the inns they stay in and the
costumes. It is a constant stream of people walking through the set, filling
up the screen all differentiated by how they dress and what occupation they
are performing. Usually just a drop by such as a bride on the road going
to her wedding and the wonderful outfit she has on. I love the look of Japanese
period films if done well as this one is. He made this for Shintoho Pictures,
which was a small production house without the resources that some of the
other studios had - and that is partly why they allowed Nobuo to later make
the low budget horror films - they had nothing to lose. This is shot in black
and white.
In one of his earliest films the lead actor is also of interest. A much thinner
than we are used to - Tomisaburô Wakayama. His younger brother Katsu
Shintaro was also just getting started in the film business. Their father
was a well-known Kabuki actor who used the name Katsutōji Kineya. Both brothers
entered into the business as well - Tomisaburô even toured America
with an acting troupe. On the side though he was also studying martial arts.
Shintaro studied the musical instrument the shamisen. It took me a few seconds
to recognize Tomisaburô even though I knew he was in the film.
He was 26 at the time and still has a bit of a baby face and was yet to fill
out into the hulking growling action star he was to become. Not that he doesn't
acquit himself just fine in the action scenes in this one.
But this is more of a drama interrupted at times by short action scenes and
is based on a play by Shin Hasegaw, who was famous for his dramatic works
in the Matatabimono genre - wandering Yakuza . Chutaro is on a long quest
to find his birth mother. She left him when he was five years old and he
has been looking for her all over Japan. He is a Yakuza of sorts but does
not belong to any clan. On his travels he picks up a companion, Hanji, who
is a smaller older man and also a Yakuza who sells his services. The two
of them come across a group of Clan men walking from the opposite direction
and they clash, with Chutaro killing their leader. His clan keeps trying
to kill Chutaro for the rest of the film - not with great success - in one
scene he beats them off with a large water ladle. It is more a fun scene
than a bloody one as Chutaro first introduces himself in Yakuza fashion before
they get down to fighting. What these films often point out is that most
of these characters in the films are not great swordsmen but when your Clan
leader is killed you are called to duty.
Chutaro convinces Hanji to give up the Yakuza life and go be with his mother,
sister and brother. But trouble follows him too and Chutaro has to save him
from a couple of the Clan. Hanji's sister is a cutie pie played by Yôko
Katsuragi and Chutaro begins to think that perhaps he too can settle down.
Especially when he finds two very young girls walking on their own to get
to their mother and takes them under his care. But first he desperately,
painfully wants to find his mother (Isuzu Yamada - Throne of Blood, Yojimbo)
- it is a hole he needs to fill - who he is told owns a restaurant in Edo
but every step of the way he is dogged by men looking for revenge.
