A History of Unlimited Loyalty Under the gust of spring wind, flowers fall.
I say goodbye to life even easier.
And why is that?
1701. Unable to endure public insult, samurai Takuminokami Asano attempts on the life of court official Kozukenosuke Kira. The court imposes severe punishment: on the same day, the perpetrator is deprived of all his possessions and sentenced to commit seppuku (harakiri). It would seem that Kira got rid of his enemy and he is no longer in danger. However, he soon hires a hundred and a half servants to guard. The fact is that as a daimyo, that is, a large landowner, who is served by dozens of samurai of lower rank, Asano brought shame not only on his family, but also on the name of his subordinates. Revenge is not successful, and offense is not forgiven. So the servants will not rest until they have completed the master’s work, because they are as selfless as he is following the Bushido code.
Every Japanese knows this story from childhood, just as everyone in Russia knows about the fatal wound of Pushkin, who also defended his honor in an illegal duel. Most modern people would rightly consider such principles to be wild. However, it will not be difficult for us to feel sympathy for our distant ancestors. After all, even now reputation carries considerable weight - it is difficult to find a person who would not care if he was humiliated in front of everyone. Everyone faced a similar situation and each one somehow harbored hatred for his abuser. Of course, not all of us wanted him dead, but I think everyone wanted him to experience at least a similar humiliation. Looking at us, the Japanese of the early 18th century might say that modern humans have shredded. It seems that both the Europeans of that time and Pushkin’s contemporaries, who lived a century later, would have said such words. Because now there is hardly a person who will sacrifice his life to protect his good name.
To once again remind of this difference, director Kenji Mizoguchi recreated a world on the screen where people almost every minute care about preserving their honor: they observe all the rituals with pedantic accuracy, they go out of their way so as not to disappoint their superiors and not to retreat one step from the samurai code. Ascetic leisurely action can not boast of diversity and expressiveness: the characters practically do not move and are in constant tension. Their face is rarely illuminated by a smile; even in the family, alone with their relatives, they do not relax and do not forget to pay homage to each other. It’s as if they’re being watched by a Big Brother who, in Orwell’s 1984 novel, was constantly watching everyone. And if he said 2+2=5, then everyone had to say 5, otherwise torture and death. Only instead of Big Brother, they watched the Japanese themselves, and almost everyone sincerely considered the principles of bushido indisputable, even when they contradicted common sense.
The samurai would not be punished if they stopped following the covenant. But they would not be able to escape from judgment and universal censure. Especially after they are called ronin samurai who have lost their status. In their desire to complete what the master began, they resemble an inseparable part of a single whole. And even if the most important detail of this mechanism is destroyed, it will not stop working properly. We all have the same code. Everyone is watched by the same brother, deprived of liberty. Quite eloquently and operator solutions work on this idea, as for 3.5 hours of timekeeping will not be able to find a single close-up. Moreover, each frame is set so that the characters are at a distance of several meters from the camera, and rarely in the frame you will see one person. It feels as if we are not individuals, but just small people, no more and no less than others.
Although the personality of the Japanese of the Genroku era is not pronounced, but their loyalty is quite comparable to the dog. And this despite the fact that dogs are famous for being the most loyal creatures in the world. In addition, in the same Japan, but a couple of centuries later lived the famous Hachiko, who also continued to serve the master after his death for many years. I think Asano was sure that the dog loyalty of his servants will remain unshakable. That is why on this beautiful day in March, he so easily said goodbye to life.
