is a 1961 Japanese

samurai film , 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 '' ...

co-written, produced, edited, and directed by

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

. The film stars

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and ' ...

Tatsuya Nakadai is a Japanese film actor. He was featured in 11 films directed by Masaki Kobayashi, including ''The Human Condition'' trilogy, wherein he starred as the lead character Kaji, plus ''Harakiri'', ''Samurai Rebellion'' and ''Kwaidan''. Nakadai wor ...

Yoko Tsukasa is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best actress at the 17th Blue Ribbon Awards for ''Kinokawa (film), Kinokawa''. She is professor at Tokyo University of Social Welfare and serves as the 2nd head of Nihon Taishōmura theme park. Life ...

Isuzu Yamada was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career spanned seven decades. Biography Yamada was born in Osaka as Mitsu Yamada, the daughter of Kusudu Yamada, a shinpa actor specialising in onnagata roles, and Ritsu, a geisha. Under her mother ...

Daisuke Katō was a Japanese actor. He appeared in over 200 films, including Akira Kurosawa's ''Seven Samurai'', ''Rashomon'', '' Yojimbo'', and ''Ikiru''. He also worked repeatedly for noted directors such as Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi ...

Takashi Shimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981. He appeared in 21 of Akira Kurosawa's 30 films (more than any other actor), including as a lead actor in '' Drunken Angel'' (1948), ''Rashomon'' (1950), ''Ikiru'' (1952) a ...

Kamatari Fujiwara was a Japanese actor. Fujiwara worked regularly and extensively with Akira Kurosawa, and was known for both being adept at comic acting, as well as being able to take on serious roles. Early life and career Early life Fujiwara was born on ...

, and Atsushi Watanabe. In the film, a

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master ...

arrives in a small town where competing crime lords vie for supremacy. The two bosses each try to hire the newcomer as a bodyguard. Based on the success of ''Yojimbo'', Kurosawa's next film, ''

Sanjuro is a 1962 black-and-white Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune. It is a sequel to Kurosawa's 1961 ''Yojimbo''. Originally an adaptation of the Shūgorō Yamamoto novel ''Hibi Heian'', the script ...

'' (1962), was altered to incorporate the lead character of this film. In both films, the character wears a rather dilapidated dark kimono bearing the same family ''mon''. The film was released and produced by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

on April 25, 1961. ''Yojimbo'' received highly positive reviews, and, over the years, became widely regarded as one of the best films by Kurosawa and one of the greatest films ever made. The film grossed an estimated $2.5 million worldwide with a budget of ¥90.87 million. It was unofficially remade by Sergio Leone as the Spaghetti Western film ''

A Fistful of Dollars ''A Fistful of Dollars'' ( it, Per un pugno di dollari, lit=For a Fistful of Dollars titled on-screen as ''Fistful of Dollars'') is a 1964 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, ...

'' (1964), leading to a lawsuit by Toho.

Plot

In 1860, during the final years of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, a ''

'' wanders through a desolate Japanese countryside. While stopping at a farmhouse for water, he overhears an elderly couple lamenting that their only son, not wanting to waste his life as a farmer, has run off to join the "gamblers" who have descended on a nearby town overrun with criminals and divided between two rival bosses. The stranger heads to the town where he meets Gonji, the owner of a small ''

izakaya An () is a type of informal Japanese bar that serves alcoholic drinks and snacks. are casual places for after-work drinking, similar to a pub, a Spanish tapas bar, or an American saloon or tavern. Etymology The word entered the English l ...

'' who advises him to leave. He tells the rōnin that the two warring bosses, Ushitora and Seibei, are fighting over the lucrative gambling trade run by Seibei; Ushitora had been Seibei's right-hand man, but rebelled when Seibei decided that his successor would be his son Yoichiro, a useless youth. The town's mayor, a silk merchant named Tazaemon, had long been in Seibei's pocket, so Ushitora aligned himself with the local

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

brewer, Tokuemon, proclaiming him the new mayor. After sizing up the situation and recognizing that no one in town cares about ending the violence, the stranger says he intends to stay, as the town would be better off with both sides dead. He first convinces the weaker Seibei to hire his services by effortlessly killing three of Ushitora's men. When asked his name, he sees a mulberry field and states his name is Kuwabatake Sanjuro (), where Kuwabatake = "mulberry field" and where Sanjuro ("thirty-years-old"). Seibei decides that with the ronin's swordsmanship, the time is right to deal with Ushitora. However, Sanjuro eavesdrops on Seibei's wife, who orders Yoichiro to prove himself by killing the ronin after the upcoming raid, saving them from having to pay him. Sanjuro leads the attack on the other faction, but then "resigns" over Seibei's treachery, expecting both sides to massacre each other. His plan is foiled due to the unexpected arrival of a ''

bugyō was a title assigned to '' samurai'' officials during the feudal period of Japan. ''Bugyō'' is often translated as commissioner, magistrate, or governor, and other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given offic ...

'' (a government official), which gives both Seibei and Ushitora the opportunity to make a bloodless retreat and cease their war. The ''bugyō'' leaves soon after to investigate the murder of a fellow official in another town. Sanjuro soon realizes that Ushitora sent two men to commit the murder when he overhears them discussing it in Gonji's tavern. With this knowledge, Sanjuro captures the killers and sells them to Seibei, but then tells Ushitora that it was Seibei's men who caught them. An alarmed Ushitora rewards him generously for his help and orders the kidnapping of Yoichiro, whom he offers in exchange for the two prisoners. However, Ushitora double-crosses Seibei at the swap when his brother, Unosuke, shoots the assassins with a pistol; anticipating this, Seibei reveals he had ordered the kidnapping of Tokuemon’s mistress. The next morning, she is exchanged for Yoichiro. Sanjuro learns that the woman, Nui, is the wife of a local farmer who lost her to Ushitora over a gambling debt; Ushitora then gave her away as chattel to Tokuemon in order to gain his support. Sanjuro tricks Ushitora into revealing the safe house where Nui is hidden, then kills the guards posted there and reunites the woman with her husband and son, ordering them to leave town immediately. Pretending to be on Ushitora's side, Sanjuro is able to convince Ushitora that Seibei is responsible for killing his men. The gang war escalates, with Ushitora burning down Tazaemon's silk warehouse and Seibei retaliating by trashing Tokuemon's brewery. After some time, Unosuke becomes suspicious of Sanjuro and the circumstances surrounding Nui's escape, eventually uncovering evidence of the ronin's betrayal. Sanjuro is severely beaten and imprisoned by Ushitora's thugs, who torture him to find out Nui's whereabouts. Sanjuro manages to escape when Ushitora decides to eliminate Seibei once and for all. As he is being smuggled out of town in a coffin by Gonji, he witnesses the brutal end of Seibei and his family as their home is set on fire and they are all cut down while trying to surrender. Sanjuro recuperates in a small temple near a cemetery. However, when he learns that Gonji has been captured by Ushitora, he returns to town. Sanjuro confronts Ushitora, Unosuke, and their gang, taking on all of them by himself in a duel and killing them easily. He spares only one terrified young man, who turns out to be the youth he met on the way into town, and sends him back to his parents. As Sanjuro surveys the damage, Tazaemon comes out of his home, in a samurai outfit and beating a prayer drum. Driven mad, he circles around town and then goes after Tokuemon, stabbing him to death. Sanjuro frees Gonji, proclaims that the town will be quiet from then on, and departs.

Cast

as , a wandering ronin and master swordsman drawn into a gang war. *

Eijirō Tōno was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting more than 50 years, appeared in over 400 television shows, nearly 250 films and numerous stage productions. He is best known in the West for his roles in films by Akira Kurosawa, such as ''Seven Samu ...

as , the

(tavern) owner and the ronin's ally and confidant. *

as , a gun-toting gangster and younger brother to both Ushitora and Inokichi. * Seizaburo Kawazu as , the original boss of the town's underworld. He operates out of a brothel. *

Kyū Sazanka was a Japanese actor. Career Sazanka debuted as a singer in Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other tem ...

as , the other gang leader in town. He was originally Seibei's lieutenant but broke ranks to start his own syndicate in a succession dispute. *

as , the wife of Seibei and the brains behind her husband's criminal operations. *

as , younger brother of Ushitora and older brother to Unosuke. He is a strong fighter, but is very dim-witted and easily fooled. *

as , a sake brewer who claims to be the new mayor. * Hiroshi Tachikawa as , the timid son of Seibei and Orin who shows little inclination to take over his father's gang. *

Yosuke Natsuki was a Japanese actor. He had participated twice in the Dakar Rally as a racing driver. He did a lot of work for the Toho Company and made his debut in the film ''The H-Man''. He appeared in Akira Kurosawa's '' Yojimbo'' in 1961. In the same ye ...

as Farmer's Son, a young man seen running away from home at the beginning of the film who joins Ushitora's gang. *

as , the town mayor and silk merchant who is going insane from fear. * Ikio Sawamura as , the town constable who is completely corrupt and concerned only with keeping himself alive. * Atsushi Watanabe as the town's coffin maker, who is profiting heavily from the gang war but ultimately chooses to help Sanjuro and Gonji put an end to it. *

Susumu Fujita Susumu Fujita () (8 January 1912 – 23 March 1991) was a Japanese film and television actor. He played the lead role in Akira Kurosawa's first feature, '' Sanshiro Sugata'', and appeared in other Kurosawa films including ''The Men Who Tread O ...

as , Seibei's "master swordsman" who deserts his employer before a battle with Ushitora's men, allowing Sanjuro to take his place. *

Sachio Sakai , born , was a Japanese actor. In 1947, he made his film debut with Akira Kurosawa's ''One Wonderful Sunday''. He often worked with Akira Kurosawa and Kihachi Okamoto. Filmography Films * ''One Wonderful Sunday'' (1947) as Ticket seller * '' Dr ...

Ashigaru were infantry employed by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The first known reference to ''ashigaru'' was in the 14th century, but it was during the Ashikaga shogunate (Muromachi period) that the use of ''ashigaru'' became prevalent by various ...

as , the wife of Kohei. She was taken prisoner by Tokuemon because of her beauty after her husband could not pay back his gambling debts. *

Yoshio Tsuchiya was a Japanese actor who appeared in such films as Toshio Matsumoto's surreal ''Bara No Soretsu'' (a.k.a. ''Funeral Parade of Roses'') and Akira Kurosawa's '' Seven Samurai'' (as the firebrand farmer Rikichi) and ''Red Beard'', and Kihachi Okam ...

as , the husband of Nui who lost all of his money gambling and frequently gets beaten for trying to visit his wife. * Tsunagoro Rashomon as , Ushitora's tall enforcer.

Production

Writing

Kurosawa stated that a major source for the plot was the 1942 '' film noir'' classic ''

The Glass Key ''The Glass Key'' is a novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett. First published as a serial in '' Black Mask'' magazine in 1930, it then was collected in 1931 (in London; the American edition followed 3 months later). It tells the story of a ga ...

'', an adaptation of

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

's 1931 novel ''

''. It has been noted that the overall plot of ''Yojimbo'' is closer to that of another Hammett novel, ''

Red Harvest ''Red Harvest'' (1929) is a novel by Dashiell Hammett. The story is narrated by the Continental Op, a frequent character in Hammett's fiction, much of which is drawn from his own experiences as an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency (fic ...

'' (1929). Kurosawa scholar David Desser, and film critic

Manny Farber Emanuel Farber (February 20, 1917 – August 18, 2008) was an American painter, film critic and writer. Often described as "iconoclastic",Grimes, William (August 19, 2008) ''New York Times''Kiderra, Inga (August 21, 2008Obituary: Artist and Crit ...

claim that ''Red Harvest'' was the inspiration for the film; however,

Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also di ...

and other scholars believe the similarities are coincidental. When asked his name, the samurai calls himself "Kuwabatake Sanjuro", which he seems to make up while looking at a mulberry field by the town. Thus, the character can be viewed as an early example of the "

Man with No Name The Man with No Name ( it, Uomo senza nome) is the antihero character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "''Dollars Trilogy''" of Italian Spaghetti Western films: ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), ''For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), ...

" (other examples of which appear in a number of earlier novels, including

's ''Red Harvest'').

Casting

Many of the actors in ''Yojimbo'' worked with Kurosawa before and after, especially

and

Filming

After Kurosawa scolded Mifune for arriving late to the set one morning, Mifune made it a point to be ready on set at 6:00 AM every day in full makeup and costume for the rest of the film's shooting schedule. This was the second film where director Akira Kurosawa worked with cinematographer

Kazuo Miyagawa was a Japanese cinematographer. Career Born in Kyoto, Miyagawa was taken with sumi-e Chinese ink painting from the age of eleven and began to sell his work as an illustrator while a teenager. He became interested in the cinema during the 1920s, ...

. The sword instruction and choreography for the film were done by

Yoshio Sugino was a Japanese martial artist and film choreographer. Early life Sugino was born in Naruto village, Chiba prefecture, in December 1904. When he was a child, his family moved to Tokyo. He first encountered martial arts at Keio University, where ...

of the

Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū Written as 天眞正傳香取神道流 before adoption (1946) of Tōyō kanji. is one of the oldest extant Japanese martial arts, and an exemplar of '' bujutsu''. The Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū was founded by Iizasa Ienao, born in ...

and Ryū Kuze.

Music

The soundtrack for the film has received positive reviews. Michael Wood writing for the ''London Review of Books'' found the film's soundtrack by

Masaru Sato (sometimes transliterated Satoh) was a Japanese composer of film scores. Following the 1955 death of Fumio Hayasaka, whom Sato studied under, Sato was the composer of Akira Kurosawa's films for the next 10 years. He was nominated for Best Music a ...

as effective in its 'jaunty and jangling' approach stating:London Review of Books, Vol. 29 No. 4 · 22 February 2007, page 17, At the Movies, Michael Wood, ''Yojimbo'' directed by Akira Kurosawa.

The film is full of music, for instance, a loud, witty soundtrack by Masaru Sato, who said his main influence was Henry Mancini. It doesn’t sound like ''Breakfast at Tiffany’s'', though, or ''Days of Wine and Roses''. The blaring Latin sound of ''Touch of Evil'' comes closer, but actually you wouldn’t think of Mancini if you hadn’t been told. Sato’s effect has lots of drums, mixes traditional Japanese flutes and other instruments with American big band noises, and feels jaunty and jangling throughout, discreetly off, as if half the band was playing in the wrong key. It’s distracting at first, then you realise it’s not decoration, it’s commentary. It’s a companion to ''Sanjuro'', the sound of his mind, discordant and undefeated and unserious, even when he’s grubby and silent and apparently solemn.

Release

''Yojimbo'' was released in Japan on 25 April 1961. The film was released by Seneca International in both a subtitled and dubbed format in the United States in September 1961.

Reception

Box office

''Yojimbo'' was Japan's fourth highest-grossing film of 1961, earning a distribution rental income of . This was equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately (). Overseas, the film had a September 1961 release in North America, but the box office income of this release is currently unknown. At the 2002 Kurosawa & Mifune Festival in the United States, the film grossed $561,692. In South Korea, a 2012 re-release grossed (). In Europe, a January 1991 limited French re-release sold 14,178 tickets, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately ($87,934). Other limited European re-releases sold 3,392 tickets between 2000 and 2018, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of at least (). This adds up to an estimated grossed overseas, and an estimated grossed worldwide. Adjusted for ticket price inflation, at 2012 Japanese ticket prices, its Japanese gross receipts are equivalent to an estimated (), or

adjusted for inflation In economics, nominal value is measured in terms of money, whereas real value is measured against goods or services. A real value is one which has been adjusted for inflation, enabling comparison of quantities as if the prices of goods had not ...

in . The overseas gross revenue of North American and European re-releases since 1991 are equivalent to approximately adjusted for inflation, adding up to an estimated inflation-adjusted total gross of over worldwide.

Critical response

''Yojimbo'' ranked at #95 in ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' magazine's list of the ''500 Greatest Films of All Time''. A 1968 screening in the planned community of

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. Columbia began with ...

was considered too violent for viewers, causing the hosts to hide in the bathroom to avoid the audience. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design at the

34th Academy Awards The 34th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1961, were held on April 9, 1962, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. They were hosted by Bob Hope; this was the 13th time Hope hosted the Oscars. Legendar ...

. Toshiro Mifune won the

Volpi Cup for Best Actor The Volpi Cup for Best Actor ( it, Coppa Volpi per la migliore interpretazione maschile) is the principal award given to actors at the Venice Film Festival and is named in honor of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, the founder of the Venice Film ...

at the 22nd Venice Film Festival. Michael Wood writing for the ''London Review of Books'' found the film to span several genres and compared it to films such as Seven Samurai,

, High Noon,

The Outlaw Josey Wales ''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' is a 1976 American Revisionist Western film set during and after the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood (as Josey Wales), with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldi ...

, and

Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura ...

, stating, "(The film contains) comedy, satire, folk tale, action movie, Western, samurai film, and something like a musical without songs. As everyone says, this work is not as deep as ''Rashomon'' or as immediately memorable as ''Seven Samurai.'' But it is funnier than any Western from either side of the world, and its only competition, in a bleaker mode, would be Clint Eastwood’s ''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' (1976)." In 2009 the film was voted at No. 23 on the list of ''The Greatest Japanese Films of All Time'' by Japanese film magazine

Kinema Junpo , 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 ...

Sequel

In 1962, Kurosawa directed ''

'', in which Mifune returns as the ronin "Sanjuro" but takes a different "surname". In both films he takes his surname from the plants he happens to be looking at when asked his name: in ''Yojimbo'' it is the mulberry trees that feed the town's silkworms, and in ''Sanjuro'' it is camellia bushes used to make tea.

Legacy

Toshiro Mifune as a lone hero in Yojimbo (1961)

Both in Japan and the West, ''Yojimbo'' has had an influence on various forms of entertainment. In 1964, ''Yojimbo'' was remade as ''

'', a Spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first appearance as the

. The film was followed by two prequels. The three films are collectively known as the ''

Dollars Trilogy ''Dollars Trilogy'' ( it, link=no, Trilogia del dollaro), also known as the ''Man with No Name Trilogy'' ( it, link=no, Trilogia dell'Uomo senza nome) or the ''Blood Money Trilogy'', is an Italian film series consisting of three Spaghetti Weste ...

''. Leone and his production company failed to secure the remake rights to Kurosawa's film, resulting in a lawsuit that delayed ''Fistful''s release in North America for three years. It would be settled out of court for an undisclosed agreement before the U.S. release. In ''Yojimbo'', the protagonist defeats a man who carries a gun, while he carries only a knife and a sword; in the equivalent scene in ''A Fistful of Dollars'', Eastwood's pistol-wielding character survives being shot by a rifle by hiding an iron plate under his clothes to serve as a shield against bullets. A second, looser Spaghetti Western adaptation, '' Django'', was directed by

Sergio Corbucci Sergio Corbucci (; 6 December 1926 – 1 December 1990) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed both very violent Spaghetti Westerns and bloodless Bud Spencer and Terence Hill action comedies. He is the older bro ...

in 1966 and featured

Franco Nero Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...

in the title role. Known for its high level (at the time of its release) of graphic violence, the film's character and title were referenced in two official films (a sequel and prequel) and over thirty unofficial ones.Marco Giusti, ''Dizionario del western all'italiana'', 1st ed. Milan, Mondadori, August 2007. .

Alex Cox Alexander B. H. Cox (born 15 December 1954) is an English film director, screenwriter, actor, non-fiction author and broadcaster. Cox experienced success early in his career with '' Repo Man'' and ''Sid and Nancy'', but since the release and co ...

, ''10,000 Ways to Die: A Director's Take on the Spaghetti Western'', Oldcastle Books, September 1, 2009. . The 1970 film ''

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo is a 1970 Japanese drama film directed by Kihachi Okamoto. It is the 20th of a series of films featuring the blind swordsman Zatoichi. The main character is based on a fictional character, a blind masseur and swordmaster. He was created by nov ...

'' features Mifune as a somewhat similar character. It is the twentieth of a series of movies featuring the blind swordsman

Zatoichi is a fictional character created by Japanese novelist Kan Shimozawa. He is an itinerant blind masseur and swordsman of Japan's late Edo period (1830s and 1840s). He first appeared in the 1948 essay , part of Shimozawa's ''Futokoro Techō'' se ...

. Although Mifune is clearly not playing the same "Yojimbo" as he did in the two Kurosawa films (his name is Sasa Daisaku , and his personality and background are different in many key respects), the movie's title and some of its content do intend to suggest the image of the two iconic ''

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 H ...

'' characters confronting each other. '' Incident at Blood Pass'', also made in 1970, stars Mifune as a ronin who looks and acts even more similarly to Sanjuro and is referred to simply as "Yojimbo" throughout the film, but whose name is actually Shinogi Tōzaburō. As was the case with ''Sanjuro'', this character's surname of ''Shinogi'' () is not an actual proper family name, but rather a term that means "ridges on a blade". Mifune's character became the model for

John Belushi John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his c ...

's Samurai Futaba character on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

''. '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' pays narrative and visual homage to ''Yojimbo'' during the cantina scene early in the film. When

Luke Skywalker Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the protagonist of the original film trilogy of the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Portrayed by Mark Hamill, Luke first appeared in ''Star Wars'' (1977), and he returned in ''The E ...

approaches the bar, he is accosted by Ponda Baba and Doctor Evazan, who like the gamblers confronting Sanjuro inform him of serious criminal penalties they have received elsewhere (death sentences in 12 jurisdictions) to intimidate him. Obi-Wan Kenobi intervenes just as they threaten Luke's life, and after he briefly wields his

lightsaber A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout the '' Star Wars'' franchise. A typical lightsaber is depicted as a luminescent plasma blade about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the o ...

the camera likewise shows a severed forearm on the floor to demonstrate the character's prowess with the weapon. Similarly, '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'' (2017) was also heavily influenced by ''Yojimbo''. In the film's third act,

's attire is visually reminiscent to that of Sanjuro's, both characters are also framed in

Wide shot In photography, filmmaking and video production, a wide shot (sometimes referred to as a full shot or long shot) is a shot that typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surro ...

and are portrayed as ''lone heroes'' with both having to deal with a larger threat by themselves, Sanjuro confronts Ushitora, Unosuke, and their gang while Luke confronts the entire First Order. During his showdown with

Kylo Ren Kylo Ren is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. He first appeared as the main antagonist of ''The Force Awakens (2015)'', in which he is portrayed by Adam Driver. Driver reprised his role in the sequel films '' Star Wars: T ...

, Luke's last line is "See you around, kid" which recalls Sanjuro's last line, "Aba yo", meaning "See you around". ''

The Warrior and the Sorceress ''The Warrior and the Sorceress'' is a 1984 Argentine-American fantasy action film directed by John C. Broderick and starring David Carradine, María Socas and Luke Askew. It was written by Broderick (story and screenplay) and William Stout (sto ...

'' is another resetting of the story, this one in a fantasy world. '' Last Man Standing'' (1996) is a

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

-era

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...

directed by

Walter Hill Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 1 ...

and starring

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

. It is an official remake of ''Yojimbo'' with both Kikushima and Kurosawa specifically listed in this movie's credits as having provided the original story. At the closing of Episode XXIII of the animated series ''

Samurai Jack ''Samurai Jack'' is an American animated action-adventure television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. Tartakovsky conceived ''Samurai Jack'' after finishing his wor ...

'', a triumphant Jack walks off alone in a scene (and accompanied by music) influenced by the closing scene and music of ''Yojimbo''. In Episode XXVI, Jack confronts a gang who destroyed his sandals, using Clint Eastwood's lines from ''A Fistful of Dollars'', but substituting "footwear" for "mule". The influence of ''Yojimbo'' in particular (and Kurosawa films in general) on the animated series has been noted by Matthew Millheiser at DVDtalk.

References

;Notes

Footnotes

Sources

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External links

* * * *
''West Meets East''
an essay by Alexander Sesonske at the Criterion Collection
A Comparison of ''Yojimbo'', ''A Fistful of Dollars'' and ''Last Man Standing''
*

' at the

Japanese Movie Database The , more commonly known as simply JMDb, is an online database of information about Japanese movies, actors, and production crew personnel. It is similar to the Internet Movie Database but lists only those films initially released in Japan. Y. ...

{{Authority control 1961 films 1960s Japanese-language films 1960s action drama films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese action drama films Jidaigeki films Films directed by Akira Kurosawa Samurai films Films set in the 1860s Toho films Films with screenplays by Akira Kurosawa Films with screenplays by Ryuzo Kikushima Films produced by Ryuzo Kikushima Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka Films scored by Masaru Sato 1961 drama films 1960s Japanese films