The Sleepy Eyes of Death - The Chinese Jade
               
Director: Tokuzô Tanaka
Year: 1963
Rating: 7.0
This is the first in a series of twelve films starring Ichikawa Raizō that ran from 1963 until his death in 1969 from cancer. The character he plays is a master swordsman of the Full Moon Cut Technique named Nemuri Kyōshirō, an orphan and a ronin. The popularity of this character went back to the books written by Renzaburō Shibata in the 1950s. The first films based on the books starred Tsuruta Kōji in three films for Toho. The Sleepy Eyes of Death series was produced by Daiei and others were made after Ichikawa's death. These though were picked up by an American distributor years ago and popularized outside of Japan. Ichikawa became a huge film star during the 1960s after first training in the art of Kabuki. He performed in all sorts of roles but is most famous for his various swordsman characters. He took on a complicated morally ambiguous character in this series but even more so in the Satan Sword series in which he kills innocents for practice. Another famous series of films he was in were the Shinobi no Mono in which he played a ninja.



He has an intriguing look to him in this film. Not handsome in the classical Japanese manner but he has a long narrow saturnine face with dark thick eyebrows that begin near his nose and shoot upwards giving him a slight villainous look. And brownish hair coloring pointed down on his forehead with a long nose and a wide mouth with sideburns running down to it. His eyes are narrow giving the series their title. His voice is very deep and resonant as if on the stage. He is an anti-hero with his own set of principles of staying uninvolved if possible. He restlessly goes from town to town and feels uneasy and bored if there is no action, "Without some new excitement every day, I begin to feel like I'm dead,". No need to worry on that point. Trouble always finds him. Some have compared this series to Zatoichi also being produced by Daiei. They both are restless travelers who find death everywhere they go. But Zatoichi even with his gambling, drinking, killing and whoring is a lovable character with a true sense of justice. Nemuri at least so far is much harder to read and less approachable,



In the opening scene he is attacked by six ninjas out on open ground at night. He warns them that if he takes out his sword they will die. He does, they die in a swirl of fast action like cutting through cheese and he calmly walks away having no idea why someone sent them to attack him. And though the who becomes clear, the why is less clear. Just leave him alone. It turns out to be Lord Maeda (Sonosuke Sawamura) of the Million-koku Kaga Clan who fears that Nemuri will ally himself to two men trying to blackmail him. Next, he sends a honey-pot, his ward Chisa (Tamao Nakamura) to either seduce him or kill him. She gives him a story of needing protection from the twosome - Zeniya Gohei (Saburô Date) and Chen Sun (Tomisaburo Wakayama) hoping to manipulate Nemuri into killing them and then she or the Clan will kill him. Nemuri asks her if she is willing to pay through her body, she refuses - ok I would never work for a woman who had such low morals. Wanting to kill him is fair, but not prostituting herself.



Both sides are villains - Lord Maeda is scum and Zeniya and Chen Sun are greedy and rapacious. Chen Sun is a master of Chinese Boxing - the Shorinji Boxing Technique aka Shaolin Temple Boxing - a real thing and he uses it to kill a number of assailants and tells Nemuri that they will face off some day. The film has a mournful chilly feel around it - not an ounce of humor and Nemuri gives off less warmth than a stone. We learn very little about him other than he was an orphan and taken care of by an old Master who shows up to advise his pupil to find a woman.



In future films I understand more of his background is revealed. The film probably has less violence than some might expect with a lot of narration and drama interspersed with slices of killing and dead bodies left behind. That worked fine with me. It is the first in the series and they feel the need to establish his character. At the same time, his is not a character that you immediately embrace. I liked it enough to watch the next one.



As a point of interest, it is mentioned a few times that the Kaga clan rule over a million-koku fiefdom. Back in those days - the Edo period of the Tokugawa Shogunate - a koku was a measurement of rice grown and harvested. 10,000 koku was enough to make a Lord a Daimyo, so a million is huge and the plot revolves around proof that the twosome have that if shown to the Shogun will end Lord Maeda's rule. Directed by Tokuzô Tanaka who was a solid genre director at the time - helming a few Zatoichi films, other Sleepy Eyes of Death films, a Shinobi no Mono film and a Hoodlum Soldier film.