Seppuku (1962)

Director:

Masaki Kobayashi

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay)
Yasuhiko Takiguchi (novel) ...
(more)

Release Date:

4 August 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An elder ronin samurai arrives at a feudal lord's home and requests an honorable place to commit suicide. But when the ronin inquires about a younger samurai who arrived before him things take an unexpected turn.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Hara Kiri | Ronin | Suicide | Poverty

Awards:

8 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Hanshiro Tsugumo
Akira Ishihama	...	Motome Chijiiwa
Shima Iwashita	...	Miho Tsugumo
Tetsurô Tanba	...	Hikokuro Omodaka
Masao Mishima	...	Tango Inaba
Ichirô Nakatani	...	Hayato Yazaki
Kei Satô	...	Masakazu
Yoshio Inaba	...	Jinai Chijiiwa
Hisashi Igawa	...	Retainer
Tôru Takeuchi	...	Retainer
Yoshirô Aoki	...	Umenosuke Kawabe
Tatsuo Matsumura
Akiji Kobayashi
Kôichi Hayashi
Ryûtarô Gomi		(as Katsuo Gomi)
Jô Azumi	...	Ichiro Shimmen
Nakajirô Tomita
Shichisaburô Amatsu	...	Retainer
Kenzô Tanaka
Shin Nakahara
Tsuneo Ikeda
Minoru Miyagi
Takaaki Kadota
Ichirô Yamamoto
Gen Takasugi
Satoshi Nishida
Tetsurô Komiyama
Shûichirô Narita
Noboru Kasuga
Shinpachi Kura
Kenji Hayashi
Shôtarô Hayashi
Shimezô Kataoka
Fumiya Ozawa
Kônosuke Takemoto
Rentarô Mikuni	...	Kageyu Saito

Directed by
Masaki Kobayashi

Writing credits
Shinobu Hashimoto		(screenplay)
Yasuhiko Takiguchi		(novel "Ibun rônin ki")
Yasuhiko Takiguchi

Produced by
Tatsuo Hosoya	....	producer

Original Music by
Tôru Takemitsu

Cinematography by
Yoshio Miyajima

Film Editing by
Hisashi Sagara

Production Design by
Shigemasa Toda

Stunts
Hideki Kato	....	fight choreographer

Production Companies

• Shôchiku Eiga

Distributors

• Shôchiku Eiga (1962) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Signal International (1964) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1975) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Japanski Sinemaskop (1964) (Yugoslavia) (theatrical)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (1965) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Tempo Films (1963) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Eureka Entertainment (2011) (UK) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Raro Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD) (with Sanbiki no samurai)

Also Known As:

"Harakiri" - International (English title) (imdb display title), UK, USA
"Hara-kiri" - France
"Harakiri" - West Germany
"Harakiri" - Italy
"Harakiri" - Finland
"Harakiri" - Greece
"Harakiri" - Brazil
"Harakiri" - Argentina
"Harakiri" - Serbia (imdb display title)
"Harakiri" - Sweden
"Harakiri" - Poland
"Harakiri" - Hungary

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X | France:U | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:15 (DVD rating) | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Shôchiku Eiga

Trivia:

Stage-trained actor Tatsuya Nakadai and older film actor Rentarô Mikuni could not agree on an acceptable speaking voice while sharing the film stage. Nakadai spoke loudly and Mikuni spoke softly each citing their related acting experiences for their choice. They strongly disagreed with each other. The director, Masaki Kobayashi, halted filming and stated that he would not resume until both the actors came to an agreement. They did; stopping the shooting for three days!

Quotes:

Hanshiro Tsugumo:The greatest delicacies taste of nothing when eaten alone.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Jeanie's Magic Box (1972)

A Gem of Japanese Cinema

Harakiri is an excellent human drama set in feudal Japan that involves a ronin presenting himself to a powerful clan and asking to commit harikiri. However, through a series of flashbacks we see that this ronin is motivated by more than the idea of dying honorably. The events that follow are a critique of the feudal system and a celebration of dying for one's beliefs.

Every frame in Harikiri is wonderfully composed and a treat to view. The cinematography is crisp, the sets wonderful and the actors are spectacular. Much can be said about this film's technical merits as well as its social implications. I found out about this film through my love of Akira Kurosawa's samurai dramas (who else...) and I must say that it is very different from Kurosawa-sans work although it draws inevitable comparisons. Due to its themes, Harikiri is more of an anti samurai film. Generally Kurosawa's work seems to glorify the honor of the samurai and celebrate them as Japanese heroes by showing them gloriously in battle. Kurosawa is the Japanese John Ford, taking an icon from his culture and celebrating it. Harikiri exposes the virtues that Kurosawa portrays as being "a facade" to directly quote the film.

I say this so as not to mislead any potential viewers, I do not know enough about Japanese history to judge what the samurai really stood for and really I am not concerned with the idea. This is the only Kobyashi film I have seen and it has been brought to my attention that many of his films deal with similar themes. All in all I think that Harikiri is a wonderful film that offers a new take on feudal Japan.