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HSamurai Movies (1)

September 22, 2021

He wondered why recently there were so many good samurai movies. He was a big fan of movies: domestic movies and foreign movies. When he would go to a video rental shop, he would regularly go to the historical movie corner first and checked out the new samurai movies. He sensed that good samurai movies started maybe about twenty years ago. But, why? When he was young, there had been a popular samurai drama on TV which was broadcasted on Sundays. In the Edo period, a former vice shogun traveled with his two secret service subordinates around the nation. It was a secret journey in which the old man pretended to be a common citizen and looked around each local city's situations. In the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate ruled the nation. Each domain within the country was called 'han'. Each lord of a clan ruled their domain and people. It was like the relationship between the prefectures and the central government in this country today, but, whereas, the number of the prefectures are 47, there were around 270 'han's at that time. Needless to say, it was a long journey for the secret agents. The dramas' stories were almost the same every time, although their locations were different. On one episode, he remembered, when they were traveling, the former vice shogun and his two secret service agents, happened to meet a couple who had a problem. He forgot the exact problem: they might have been sick, or might have been chased by somebody, or might have lost their money. While they were helping them, they came to know that there were bad politics in this 'han'. People in this 'han' were poor and hopeless. A bad executive retainer cooperated with a wealthy merchant and they got money illegally. The lord of this 'han' was too weak to control his retainers. The former vice shogun revealed their crimes, but the bad people tried to kill them. When a lot of "bad-side" samurai surrounded them, one of the secret service agents took out something from his kimono and showed it, saying, "Stay back! Stay back! Haven't you seen this emblem? This person is the last vice shogun XXXX. Be obedient!" Looking at the emblem: it was the family crest of Tokugawa. They figured out who the old man was, and all of the people of the "bad-side" suddenly ducked and bowed. Even the citizens who had asked for help didn't know who he was, and ducked and bowed. The "bad people" were arrested and the former vice shogun went to the lord of this domain and reprimanded him about his carelessness. The lord swore to change. They started on their next journey in order to make this nation a better country ... the ending song played, "Life has been both ease and pain. There will appear a rainbow after the tears ..." Everybody in this country knew this song. He checked on the internet and came to know that the series had lasted about four decades until a decade ago, leaving more than 1,200 episodes! They had changed their star actors and actresses many times. Now some of the channels were rebroadcasting them. But how could they have lasted this long? But, now that he thought of it, there were around 270 'han's in the Edo period, so there were enough storylines for four decades worth of shows! Maybe this TV dramas' effects were big. Now people had a stereo typical image about the Edo period: common people were always poor and oppressed by bad policies, there were a lot of bribes between high ranking retainers and wealthy merchants, etc. But this was not only the TV program's faults. Remembering his student days, he learned only a few things about the Edo period: ・In the Edo era, there were strict classes for occupations, from the highest : samurai, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. Famers were ranked second highest, but their lives were harsh. They had to give half of their crops, rice, as a tax. In that era, rice was used as a tax and salary for samurai. ・The country closed each harbor to foreign countries. Only China and Holland were allowed to trade through only one harbor in Nagasaki. When American warships came, the government opened some harbors to foreign countries. Soon afterwards the Meiji Revolution happened and the samurai era came to an end. ・In the Edo era, some unique cultures bloomed like ukiyoe, tea ceremony, sushi, etc.   ・There were some samurai codes, which helped make them modest and stoic, and sometimes even poor, even though they were in the ruling class.    (To be continued ...)

No.447



*domain : 藩
*shogunate : 幕府
*whereas : だが一方、しかるに
*needless to say : 言うまでもなく
*retainer : 家臣
*reveal : あばく
*obedient : 従順な
*duck : 身を伏せる
*reprimand : 叱責する
*oppress : 服従させる
*bribe : 賄賂
*craftsman : 職人
*code : 規律、規則
*ruling : 支配