Yojimbo, or Bodyguard in English, is a 1961 film directed by Akira Kurosawa. This film is of the jidai-geki or period piece genre, and stars Toshiro Mifune as the titular character, a wandering swordsman without a name. The film starts with a shot of the swordsman walking down a path and then choosing a random direction by throwing a stick up in the air and following the path it points at. The story starts with the swordsman witnessing a family quarrel between a father and son, where the son wants to abandon his life as a farmer to gamble, which is a decision the father is clearly opposed to. Learning of the corruption and misdemeanour of gamblers in the nearby town from the father, the swordsman visits it. He finds out about the existence and gets some information about the two factions of gamblers in town, one led by a man named Ushitora and his brothers, and the other led by Seibei, from a grumpy restaurant owner. He proves his worth to Seibei, made a deal with him to become a bodyguard, and came up with the alias Sanjuro Kuwabatake from seeing a 30 year old mulberry field. From here on, we see Sanjuro play the two factions against each other in his effort to clean up the town from its corruption.
One of the major themes in the movie is the concept of safety versus recklessness. The film portrays safety as cowardly, as shown most prominently by constable Hansuke, who sucks up to both factions and Sanjuro to avoid getting hurt, and by master Homma, who worked for Seibei but ran away when Seibei announced they were going to attack Ushitora’s group. Safety is also shown as unprofitable, which is why the farmer’s son left his father in the beginning of the movie. Recklessness is shown by the actions of the various gamblers and convicts who work for the two factions; by adhering to a life of crime, they gamble their lives and money, as well as the farmer’s son. Both safety and recklessness are looked down upon; safety is looked down upon by the gamblers, and recklessness is looked down upon by their opposers: the farmers, and the restaurant owner. Interestingly, we see Sanjuro acting the smart middle ground between the two ideas, and looks down upon both extremes; he is visibly angered at the cowardly man whose wife was taken away by Ushitora’s partner Tokuemon and simply ignores Hansuke, but he also shows his distaste towards the farmer’s son’s actions, and even uses the gamblers’ aggressiveness to his advantage in his plans. The restaurant owner sees all of Sanjuro’s actions as reckless and dangerous, but Sanjuro was able to calmly explain the reasons for his actions to him, showing that Sanjuro is a calculating individual that does not go into either extreme.
The clothing worn by the characters is a clear indicator of their status. Lowly thugs and lower ranking family members of the factions leaders wear rugged, dirty, and simple patterned clothes. They are usually square or stripe-patterned, and look simple and cheap compared to the other characters. Sanjuro and master Homma and higher-ranking people such as Ushitora and Seibei wear hakama pants while the lower ranking male characters only wear shorts. Sanjuro and Homma wear a similar, non- patterned top with crests on the back of their neck and elbows to show that they are master swordsmen. Ushitora wears a more elaborate pattern jacket over his normal top. However, Seibei, who is another faction leader, wears a striped pattern like the lower ranking members, perhaps to show that he is in the weaker and less important faction. We see this from the smaller amount of screen time and characterization he, his wife, and his faction has compared to Ushitora’s faction, whose two younger brothers are major antagonists to Sanjuro, as well as the fact that Sanjuro gets in more trouble with Ushitora’s faction than with Seibei’s faction.
This was the first samurai film I’ve watched and I was very impressed, especially by Sanjuro’s manly characterization and his trickster-like mischievousness and cleverness. The other characters are given enough development to add importance to their interactions with Sanjuro, who Kurosawa made clear should be the center of attention at all times when he is on screen by the camerawork, where he is located in the scene, and by Mifune’s strong acting. There’s some offensive language, but that is the biggest concern for the faint of heart, as the combat scenes are bloodless.