The backbone of Japanese cinema is arguably the Samuari saga and this year’s Japanese Film Festival has a fascinating take on the genre.
A little The Crucible a little bit The Merchant of Venice, a little bit Casino Royale, BUSHIDO is like a cinematic game of Go, a story of honour and hubris, justice and revenge, accusation and scuttlebut.
Wrongfully accused of a crime, Kakunoshin Yanagida is cast out from his hometown and stripped of his samurai status. Resigned to life in an Edo tenement house with his daughter Okinu, Kakunoshin carves out a meagre living making handcrafted signature stamps.
An instinctively superior Go master, Kakunoshin enjoys the strategy of the game rather than the gambling that goes with it in tournament houses around the town. He uses the stones rather than his sword to practise the aesthetics of bushido.
But a chance encounter over a game of Go pitting him against the unscrupulous merchant Genbee Yorozuya, pulls Kakunoshin into a world of gambling and debt. For him, Go is no mere pastime—it’s a battlefield where honour itself is at stake.
Honour is honourable but attaining high moral ground can be clouded by hubris. Honour can be a hypocrite. When rumours of the truth behind his exile emerge, Kakunoshin seizes the chance to clear his name and avenge his late wife. But as righteousness collides with reality, it is Okinu who must bear the price of her father’s revenge. A daughter’s duty dishonoured by malevolent male pride.
Missing money fuels the rumour mill and Kakunoshin’s absence gives grist to gossip.
Award winning director Kazuya Shiraishi’s first period drama, Bushidō is a masterful piece of traditional storytelling infused with contemporary cinematic techniques.
Adapted from a famous rakugo piece, the story of Bushidō is brought vividly to life by lead actor and former pop idol Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and supported by a compelling performance from Jun Kunimura as Genbee.
Rich with the spectacle of traditional dress and decors and the intensity of samurai duels, Bushidō unfolds a tale of honour, pride, swordplay and sacrifice, meticulously staged as an ancient game of Go.
Go.
