, also titled ''Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai'' and ''Cruel Tale of Bushido'', is a 1963 Japanese

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

and

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...

film directed by

Tadashi Imai was a Japanese film director known for social realist filmmaking informed by a left-wing perspective. His most noted films include '' An Inlet of Muddy Water'' (1953) and '' Bushido, Samurai Saga'' (1963). Life Although leaning towards left-win ...

. It was entered into the 13th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...

. It continues to receive critical acclaim, often considered one of the better samurai pictures ever filmed.

Plot

The story covers seven generations of a family, from the beginning of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

to the early 1960s, and the extremes its members take out of devotion and unswerving loyalty to lord, country or company, at the cost of their lives and those of close relatives. Susumu, the last in line of male heirs, finally decides against this stance after his fiancée's suicide attempt.

Cast

* Kinnosuke Nakamura as Jirozaemon / Iikura / Sajiemon / Kyutaro / Shuzo / Shingo / Osamu / Susumu * Eijirō Tōno as Shibiku-Shosuke Hori * Kyōko Kishida as Lady Hagi * Masayuki Mori as Lord Tambanokami Munemasa Hori * Shinjirō Ehara as Shibiku-Shosuke Yasutaka Hori * Takeshi Katō * Yoshiko Mita as Kyoko Hitomi * Ineko Arima as Maki, Shuzo's wife * Isao Kimura as Hirotaro Iguchi (as Ko Kimura) * Michiko Araki as Shigeno, Kyutaro's mother * Emiko Azuma as Hori Tamba's wife * Yoshi Katō as Takahiro Hori * Choichiro Kawarazaki as Young man at village * Kikko Matsuoka as Sato, Shuzo's daughter *

Kō Nishimura was a Japanese actor. Known in the Western world, West primarily for supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's ''The Bad Sleep Well'' and ''Yojimbo (film), Yojimbo'', Kihachi Okamoto's ''Sword of Doom'', Yoshitaro Nomura's ''Zero Focus ...

as Yamaoka * Masao Oda as Gohei *

Ryosuke Kagawa was a Japanese actor. His son was child actor Sō Shuntarō. He appeared in more than 400 films between 1928 and 1986. His final film role was in the 1986 film ''Dixieland Daimyō'' directed by Kihachi Okamoto. Selected filmography * '' Sto ...

as Kōzuki Genza * Satomi Oka as Fuji * Nobuo Kawai as Shimoda * Kei Satō as Saburobei Konoe * Misako Watanabe as Yasu, Sajiemon's wife * Kei Yamamoto as Kazuma Noda * Eijirō Yanagi as Gonnosuke Shizuta

References

External links

* 1963 films 1963 drama films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Tadashi Imai Films with screenplays by Yoshikata Yoda Golden Bear winners Jidaigeki films 1960s samurai films 1960s Japanese films Films scored by Toshiro Mayuzumi {{1960s-Japan-film-stub