The Complicated Life of the Samurai

Duty compels two old friends to fight to the death in Vendetta for a Samurai (決闘鍵屋の辻, "Duel at the Kagiya Crossroads"). Based on a real, famous act of vengeance in 1632, it deliberately sets out to show the difference between reality and the legend. Appropriately, it was written by Akira Kurosawa, whose famous work about different perspectives, Rashomon, had been released two years earlier. It was directed by Kazuo Mori who, while no Kurosawa, does a decent job rendering the surprising strangeness of a lethal encounter.

The film also stars many Kurosawa regulars, including Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura who play Araki and Jinza, respectively, the two friends set against each other. But the vendetta, known historically as the Igagoe vendetta, was between a young man, Kazuma Watanabe, and the killer of his father, a nobleman named Matagoro. Araki was a famous swordsman who was married to Watanabe's sister while Jinza happened to be bound in service to Matagoro.

The film begins with a deliberately artificial, fantastical scene of Mifune cutting down dozens of men before facing off against a jeering Shimura. When the film switches to the "reality", Araki and Jinza are introduced sitting comfortable, sharing a drink, discussing how they will soon become enemies.

While the bulk of the film is meant to show the reality, there is a kind of dream of bushido alive in the heads of the participants. When one of Kazuma's supporters played by Daisuke Kato is spotted by Jinza spying on him, trying to find the whereabouts of Matagoro, Jinza greets him in a friendly manner and merely inquires as to Araki's health. In the days leading up to the encounter, Araki and his compatriots solemnly discuss treasured memories as they slowly work out Matagoro's travel route east from Osaka.

Then, in contrast to all of the sentimentality and stoicism, the famous duel is messy as hell. The strongest part of the film is entirely in the performances of Mifune and Shimura in this meeting. They exchange looks of horror, surprise, and confusion as one kills the other. It's the kind of thing one would compulsively try to interpret for many years afterwards. It's no surprise historians and mythmakers have done the same.

Vendetta for a Samurai is available on The Criterion Channel.