Miyamoto Musashi (1954)/Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)/Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)

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Miyamoto Musashi (1954)/Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)/Duel at Ganryu Island (1956) – H. Inagaki

Also known as Samurai I, II, and III, Hiroshi Inagaki’s five-hour epic (released in three parts), tells the story of fabled samurai Musashi Miyamoto (1584-1645; played by Toshiro Mifune, of course), who progresses from headstrong youth to samurai-in-training to both wise and strong. This may be a version of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey (it is from a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa) but undoubtedly Japanese in content and execution.  The young orphaned Musashi cannot control his strength or his emotions but after fighting in the Battle of Sekigahara (1600) and subsequently being captured by a monk (Kurôemon Onoe) and imprisoned and forced to study the way of the samurai, he emerges a more focused man.  Every woman in the film falls in love with him but he chooses to suppress his desire, even for his true love Otsu (Kaoru Yachigusa). Instead he embarks on a training mission – to test his strength against the warriors of the house of Yoshioka.  There are some nefarious and deceptive characters surrounding the head of this house, including Toji (Daisuke Katô) who seeks to use Musashi’s former benefactress and her daughter Akemi (Mariko Okada) against him.  But ultimately he prevails and with compassion.  However, he attracts the attention of a more willful but also skilful and power-hungry samurai Kojiro Sasaki (Kôji Tsuruta) who now wishes to challenge him to a duel to determine who will be the Shogun’s swordsmanship teacher.  Musashi declines, postponing the duel for a year, and heads off to be a farmer, protecting a small village from bandits, with a young boy and an old reformed scoundrel as disciples.  He grows in wisdom but he faces two final challenges:  the acceptance of love from Otsu and the ultimate dule with Sasaki.  I’ve omitted numerous minor characters and a few subplots from this description but suffice it to say that the end result is epic indeed.  Of course, it feels a bit bombastic as the epic Westerns of the 1950s also feel – but it is also stunning in its beauty (in Eastmancolor, but sadly not widescreen format).  Duels take place at sunset or in silhouette.  The characters and objects are laid out in harmony across the screen. The colors of the sky, the ground, the water, are subtle (if occasionally artificial), even as the costumes may be brilliant in their hues.  Mifune handles the role with his usual aplomb (and the occasional familiar mannerism from his Kurosawa films).  Although bushido (the code of the samurai) is at the heart of the film, we don’t actually learn much about it – instead, this is a drama of the heart and the sword, leaving history and philosophy behind.  Inagaki manages it all well, though one wonders how it would have looked with Kurosawa at the helm.  Less stately, more dynamic perhaps?  That said, I was fully absorbed by the beauty and spectacle on offer here.