| Samurai Movies (32) |
May 19, 2022
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| [Killing] In the movie of 'Zan', the protagonist, a young ronin, couldn't use his sword until the last scene. He somehow had a mental block for killing people. A famous Korean director once said that the young protagonist ronin was different from any other samurai in all of the previous samurai movies from this country and that was a pure human being. The movie was released in 2018. 'Zan''s English name was 'Killing'. Now that he read the Korean director's remark, he felt something new, maybe it was a rethinking about how it felt for samurais to kill people. He recently read a novel which was written about the fifth Tokugawa Shogun 'Tsunayoshi'. From his high school textbook, Tsunayoshi was an eccentric Shogun who implemented a law to cherish animals, but to an extreme, for instance, if one kicked a dog, that person would be punished severely like being imprisoned on a remote island. But, the new study reevaluated him. After several decades of the Edo Period starting, there remained the old way of thinking and behaving. The novel introduced that people left sick horses untouched, they even left dead horses without burying them; dogs were used as  prey for hawk hunting by daimyos; samurai sometimes killed citizens for the slightest things without giving them chances of a public trial; samurai would easily commit seppuku after their lords' death to show they loyalty, etc. Tsunayoshi wanted to change the situation ~lives were treated too lightly ~ and made new laws many times in order to make life more precious. Even though he made laws to change people's behaviors, violence still surrounded him and within his circle. For example, a samurai failed in his attempt to kill his boss in the castle, so Tsunayoshi executed him. But regular citizens expected the dead samurai's subordinates to complete the mission. Finally 47 subordinates of the sumurai successfully killed the boss. This is why Tsunayoshi had to do extreme things, although later he was ridiculed as the 'Dog Shogun'. But, his policy produced 'Genroku Culture' ~good literature, good arts and crafts, plays and dances, etc. The Genroku Emperor's years were from 1688 to 1704. He checked on the internet about it: [Genroku Time] In the Edo Period, around the Genroku Emperor's years, the fifth Shogun's ruling was about 30 years (1680 - 1709), it was called the 'Genroku Time'. It was a time that the Shogunate government was stable. Society changed from the primary swordmanship principle to an academic principle which respected laws, morals and culture. Although the Shogunate's financial situation was in crisis, industrial development was remarkable, a monetary economy developed and urban life improved. A bright and active 'Genroku Culture' flourished in Osaka and Kyoto and other areas. Tokugawa Tsunayoshi played an important role to make the Edo Era a peaceful era. The years that the movie of 'Zan' was based were chaotic years. Powerful countries came, and basically this country's national and municipalities' workers were samurai, i.e. worriers. When he watched the movie again, he realized that the outlaws were treated differently from other samurai movies. Normally outlaws don't have characteristics and are just evil. When the young ronin approached the group of outlaws, first they showed mixture of hostility and fear, then the young ronin told some jokes and then they showed hesitation whether they should believe him or not. This type of scene expressed the pure heart of a human being, which the Korean director pointed out. (To be continued ...) |
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No.478
*now that :今にしてみると
*cherish :愛護する、めでる
*imprison :牢屋に入れる
*prey :獲物
*trial :裁判
*loyalty :忠誠心
*ridicule :嘲笑する
*principle :主義
*evil :悪、邪悪