''Hana - the Tale of a Reluctant Samurai'', known in Japan as , is a 2006 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 ...

by director

Hirokazu Kore-eda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including '' Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...

. The film was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

who also gave it an English-language dub.

Story

The story takes place over one year during Japan's

Genroku was a after Jōkyō and before Hōei. The Genroku period spanned the years from the ninth month of 1688 to the third month of 1704. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 415. The period was ...

era, beginning at the start of 1702. A young and inexperienced samurai, Aoki Sozaemon, has come from

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

to Edo. Living in a slum, he waits to locate and take revenge against his father's killer, to restore honor to his clan's name. However, his impoverished, revenge-driven life takes a negative toll on him, as does his discovery that his intended victim, another low-status samurai, has a wife and young children. Eventually, Soza must decide: to kill, or not kill? Making up the backdrop of the film are the many other residents of the slum, including children, the landlord, a group putting on an amateur play, as well as a young widow, Osae, with whom Soza becomes romantically involved. Unbeknownst to everyone, also living in the slum are a small group of

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

, members of The 47 Ronin, hiding and planning before their revenge attack on

Kira Yoshinaka was a ''kōke'' (master of ceremonies). His court title was '' Kōzuke no suke (上野介)''. He is famous as the adversary of Asano Naganori in the events of the Forty-seven rōnin. Although his name (義央) has been long pronounced as "Yoshi ...

's mansion. This occurs one year later at the climax of the film.

Cast

Junichi Okada is an actor and a former member of Japanese boy band V6, which was under the management of Johnny & Associates. He joined Johnny & Associates at the age of 14. Music career In the summer of 1995, Okada participated in ''Johnny's Pre-School'' ...

as Sōzaemon "Sōza" Aoki *

Rie Miyazawa is a Japanese actress and former teen idol. She is regarded as one of Japan's top actresses, and her accolades include six Japan Academy Film Prizes and three Kinema Junpo Awards Miyazawa began her career as a child model, seeing wide exposur ...

as Osae *

Tadanobu Asano , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in ''Electric Dragon 80.000 V'', Kakihara in ''Ichi the Killer'', Mamoru Arita in '' Bright Future'', Hattori Genosuke in ''Zatoichi'', Kenj ...

as Jubei Kanazawa *

Arata Furuta is a Japanese theatre and film character actor. Biography Furata has a broad range that goes from playing serious salary men, to '' bushi'' in period drama roles, and even women. He works with the theatrical troupe called Otona Keikaku and oft ...

as Sadashiro *

Terajima Susumu is a Japanese actor. Though he has played a wide range of characters, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of ''yakuza'' figures, most notably in the films of Takeshi Kitano. Terajima made his acting debut in 1986's ''A Homansu''. He ...

as Kichiemon Terasaka *

Teruyuki Kagawa is a Japanese actor, kabuki actor and boxing commentator. Biography Born in 1965, his parents are the kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke III and the cinema actress Yuko Hama. His grandmother is the film actress Sanae Takasugi. In the Kabuki world ...

as Jirozaemon Hirano *

Jun Kunimura is a Japanese actor who has performed in Japan, Hollywood and Hong Kong. He won Best Supporting Actor and the Popular Star Award at the 37th Blue Dragon Film Awards for his performance in the South Korean horror film '' The Wailing'', directed ...

as Isekan *Seiji Chihara as Tomekichi

Reception

Film critic Andrew Thayne of the Asian Movie Pulse said that "Koreeda makes an unconventional take on the samurai film, as a young samurai struggles with his role as both samurai and son."

References

External links

*
''Hana''
at

Letterboxd Letterboxd is an online social networking service co-founded by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011. It was launched as a social app focused on sharing opinions about, and love of film, and is maintained by a small team in Auckland, New ...

Funimation 2006 films 2000s Japanese-language films Films directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda Shochiku films Jidaigeki films Samurai films 2000s Japanese films {{2000s-Japan-film-stub