Kenji Mizoguchi - Genroku Chûshingura - 47 Ronin (1941)

Lord Asano resists a bribery attempt by a member of the Shogun's court. His honesty, however, is useless against the corruption of the administration, and he is forced to commit harakiri. His samurai are dispersed as masterless ronin. The leader of the samurai, Oichi, plots with a loyal band of ronin to seek revenge for their master's dishonor.

El 14 de Marzo de 1701, en la real capital de Edo, Lord Asano ataca a Lord Kiru mientras se encuentra en tierra sagrada. Como resultado de esta grave ofensa, Asano es obligado a practicarse el harakiri, su casa es abolida y sus propiedades abandonadas. Sin embargo 47 de los samurais de Asano juran vengar a su amo.




In the feudal society of 1701 Japan, the samurai code of honor is slowly becoming irrelevant as provincial laws, nepotism, and bureaucracy replace ritual and tradition. The elder ceremonial lord, Kira (Mantoyo Mimasu), fails to instruct Lord Asano (Yoshizaburo Arashi) on proper court etiquette, primarily due to Lord Asano's oversight in offering a bribe to the corrupt Kira, and openly insults the young lord. In a fit of anger, Lord Asano slightly wounds Kira, and is sent before the court for judgment. The court has relational ties to Kira, and exacts a swift, severe punishment for the unrepentant Lord Asano to commit hara-kiri.
Lord Asano's house is abolished, his property is confiscated, and his samurais are reduced to the ignominious state of ronin (masterless samurai). Lord Asano's most trusted samurai, Chamberlain Oishi (Chojuro Kawarasaki) petitions for the restoration of the house under Lord Asano's brother, a futile request designed to conceal the samurais' blood pact to avenge Lord Asano's disgrace. But in an unexpected turn of events, the petition draws public support, and the samurais are forced to await its final outcome before plotting their course of action. Meanwhile, Oishi's reputation becomes tarnished as he is compelled to act out a charade of disinterest and self-service in order to cast off suspicion for his ulterior motive - to lead the samurais into a final, noble act of vengeance.




Genroku Chûshingura, also known as The Forty-Seven Ronin of the Genroku Era, or in the case of Kenji Mizoguchi’s two-part, 220-minute adaptation, The Loyal Forty-Seven Ronin (1941-42), is one of Japan’s great historical legends. Retold in countless theatrical versions and perhaps several dozen films, Ronin tells the story of a band of masterless samurai (ronin) who exact revenge for the death of their beloved master and then commit hara-kiri. In her book Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation 1945-1952, Kyoko Hirano notes, "It is said that whenever a film studio fell into financial distress, it would produce a film based on this story, for a guaranteed hit."



In fact, Mizoguchi’s 220-minute black-and-white version reversed that trend. The film was not only not a hit, but it broke one studio — Koa, where part one was filmed — and nearly bankrupted a second — Shochiku, which took over the production of part two. The film is also a curious one for the director, whose career is more notable for sweeping historical works (Sansho the Bailiff) and grim women-centered melodramas (The Life of Oharu) than for action-oriented samurai movies. And indeed, there’s surprisingly little action in his version of a story noted for its violence, betrayal, suicide, and social upheaval. The project was more or less forced on Mizoguchi and his studios by a government that was taking increasing control of film production and mandating a cinema that would inspire loyalty among the people as the country sank deeper into World War II. Ronin was an ideal project for this purpose, with its powerful images of loyalty at any cost and the heroic pleasures of self-sacrifice to a greater good, and Mizoguchi responded enough to the more contemplative, downbeat elements to make it one of his most intriguing pictures.



Based on a historical event, Kenji Mizoguchi's adaptation of The 47 Ronin is a visually resplendent, understated and elegant film on loyalty, fraternity, and honor. Despite the overt manipulation of the Japanese government to showcase the film as a propaganda tool during World War II, The 47 Ronin transcends its intended nationalistic purpose by favoring character development over glorified, sweeping battle sequences. Throughout the film, Mizoguchi uses precise composition, framing, and space in order to reflect the rigidity of the deeply rooted tradition and class structure of feudal Japan: the overhead shot of Lord Asano's isolated confinement behind a folded screen; the loyal samurais pleading for justice before the biased court; the locked gate separating the vassal from witnessing his master's fate; Oishi's reverent visit to Lady Asano (Mitsuko Miura) on the anniversary of her husband's death. Inevitably, it is the undying allegiance and personal sacrifice of the samurais that elevate them to legendary status. Like the Genroku samurais of Lord Asano, Mizoguchi's The 47 Ronin is a stellar moment in an otherwise ignoble and tragic period of Japanese history.

Script/Guión: Kenichiro Hara & Giken Ida (Play: Seika Mayama)
Music/Música: Shirô Fukai
Cinematography/Fotografía: Kôhei Sugiyama (B&W)
Cast/Reparto: Yoshizaburo Arashi, Utaemon Ichikawa, Chojuro Kawarasaki