is a silent Japanese

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

made in 1927 starring

Denjirō Ōkōchi was a Japanese people, Japanese film actor best known for starring roles in jidaigeki directed by leading Japanese filmmakers. Early life and family Ōkōchi was born Masuo Ōbe on February 5, 1898, in Ōkōchi, Iwaya (present-day Ōkōchi, Buz ...

and directed by Daisuke Itō. It was originally released in three parts, all of which were long thought to be lost until portions of the second part and much of the third part were discovered and restored in 1991. Since the film had once been voted in a 1959 ''

Kinema Junpō , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

'' poll as the best Japanese film of all time, its discovery was significant. At the time of its release, Itō was the leader of a new style of

samurai films , also commonly spelled "''chambara''", meaning "sword fighting" films,Hill (2002). denotes the Japanese film genre called samurai cinema in English and is roughly equivalent to Western and swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub-category of '' ...

that featured outlaw heroes and fast-cut sword fighting scenes.

Plot

The three films focus on the travels of the kindly

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

boss

Kunisada Chūji was a popular figure in the Edo period. He was a bakuto (gamblers commonly seen as forerunners to the modern yakuza). His story is mainly responsible for the romanticised "chivalrous bandit" or "Robin Hood" image in Japan. An example was when ...

. The existing print begins with Chuji on the road, fleeing the law while taking care of Kantaro, the son of a dead friend. He leaves Kantaro with Kabe Yasuemon, an honorable local boss, but is shocked to find out that his own men have been committing robberies using his own name. Angry, Chuji hits the road and eventually settles in another town, assuming another name and working as a clerk for a sake brewery. Okuma, the daughter of the brewer, falls in love with Chuji, but he ignores her. When he saves her brother from trouble with the Otozo gang, his identity is revealed and the police close in. Okume kills herself and Chuji flees, but the palsy he had been suffering from worsens and he is finally caught. His henchmen, however, succeed in rescuing him and bring him back to his home village. Unable to walk and confined to bed, Chuji is hidden in a storehouse. His woman, Oshina, discovers that one of his men has betrayed him, but it is too late. Despite the valiant efforts of his men to hold off the police, Chuji is finally arrested by the authorities.

Cast

as Kunisada Chūji * Naoe Fushimi as Oshina *

Ranko Sawa Ranko is a Slavic and Japanese given name. People People with the name Ranko include: Slavic name "Ranko" (Cyrillic script: Ранко) *Ranko Borozan, footballer *Ranko Despotović, Serbian footballer *Ranko Đorđić, Serbian football player an ...

as Okume *Hideo Nakamura as Kantarō *Kichiji Nakamura as Kabe Yasuemon *Motoharu Isokawa as Kihei, a sake brewer *Yujirō Asahina as Masakichi *Seinosuke Sakamoto as Bunzō *Kajō Onoe as Otozō

Reception

In ''Kinema Junpōs poll of the best Japanese films of 1927, part two was number one and part three was number four.

Versions

If the original three parts were projected together, the entire film would have totaled over four hours. The currently restored print combines the discovered sections into one film. A further digital restoration was undertaken in 2011.

References

External links