is a 1945 Japanese

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

, based on the

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

play ''

Kanjinchō ''Kanjinchō'' (勧進帳, ''The Subscription List'') is a kabuki dance-drama by Namiki Gohei III, based on the Noh play '' Ataka''. It is one of the most popular plays in the modern kabuki repertory. Belonging to the repertories of the Narita ...

'', which is in turn based on the

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. It is Japan's oldest major theater art that is still regularly performed today. Noh is often based on tales from traditional literature featuri ...

play '' Ataka''. It depicts a famous 12th century incident in which

Yoshitsune Yoshitsune may refer to: * Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159–1189) ** ''Gikeiki'', a Japanese chronicle, sometimes known in English by Helen Craig McCullough's translated title ''Yoshitsune'' ** ''Yoshitsune'' (TV series), a 2005 Japanese television ...

and a small group of samurai cross into enemy territory disguised as monks. The film was initially banned by the occupying

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...

(SCAP), likely due to its portrayal of feudal values. Kurosawa blamed bureaucratic sabotage by the wartime Japanese censors, who also disapproved. It was later released in 1952 following the signing of the

Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war, military occupation and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and inclu ...

Plot

In 1185, the

Heike clan The was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period of Japanese history – the others being the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Tachibana. The clan is divided into four major groups, named af ...

fights against the

Minamoto clan was a Aristocracy (class), noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the Imperial House of Japan, imperial family who were excluded from the List of emperors of Japan, line of succession and demoted into the ranks of Nobili ...

. After a bloody

naval battle Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. The armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be broadly d ...

in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

Yoshitsune Minamoto was a commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian period, Heian and early Kamakura period, Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles that toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-br ...

defeats the enemy and the survivors commit suicide. When the triumphant Yoshitsune arrives in Kyoto, his brother, the Shogun Yoritomo, is uneasy and orders his men to arrest Yoshitsune. However, Yoshitsune escapes with six loyal samurai led by

Benkei , popularly known by the mononym Benkei (), was a Japanese warrior monk (''sōhei'') who lived in the latter years of the Heian Period (794–1185). Benkei led a varied life, first becoming a monk, then a mountain ascetic, and then a rogue war ...

and they head to the country of his only friend Hidehira Fujiwara. Near the border, after crossing the forest disguised as monks, their porter discovers that they are Yoshitsune and the six samurai and advises that the fearful Kajiwara and his soldiers are waiting for them at the border to arrest them. Yoshitsune disguises himself as a porter and at the barrier, Benkei has to convince Kajiwara that they are six monks traveling to collect donations to repair the Todai temple in Nara.

Cast

Denjirō Ōkōchi was a 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, Buzen), Fukuoka Pr ...

* Tadayoshi Nishina as

Susumu Fujita 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 On the Tiger's Tail'' (as Togashi, commander of the ...

as Togashi * Masayuki Mori as Kamei *

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) ...

as Kataoka *

Ken'ichi Enomoto was a popular Japanese singing comedian, mostly known by his stage name Enoken (エノケン). A major innovator during his heyday, Enoken's stage shows, radio appearances, and film roles were a major influence within Tokyo theatre before Worl ...

as porter *

Akitake Kōno was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than sixty films from 1943 to 1973. Career Kōno started acting with the Zenshinza theater troupe before joining the Toho Company, Toho studio in 1942. Mostly a character actor, he appeared in film ...

as Ise *

Yoshio Kosugi was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 120 films from 1924 to 1967. Career First appearing on stage as a shingeki actor, he was initially recognized for his role as Yasha in ''The Cherry Orchard''. He made his film debut in the 1920s a ...

as Suruga * Dekao Yokoo as Hitachibo * Yasuo Hisamatsu as Kajiwara's messenger * Shōji Kiyokawa as Togashi's messenger

Production

According to

Stephen Prince Stephen Robert Prince (September 13, 1955 – December 30, 2020) was an American film critic, historian and theorist. He was a Professor of Communication Studies and was a Professor of Cinema at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ( ...

was in preproduction on a film about the

Battle of Nagashino The was a famous battle in History of Japan, Japanese history, fought in 1575 at Nagashino Castle, Nagashino in Mikawa Province (present-day Nagashino, Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture). The allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu (38,000) ...

and

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

's use of firearms to defeat an enemy clan mounted on horseback with swords and spears, but his vision surpassed his resources. In the last years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Japan was suffering from extreme privation and

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

had to make do with severely restricted means, such as spotty electricity often leaving them unable to light their sets. So Kurosawa switched to a new film, writing the script for ''The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail'' in a single night and promising the studio he would need only one set to make it. Prince writes that Kurosawa subverts the famous twelfth-century incident that the film adapts by depicting Benkei in full

-style costume and "furnishing the seriousness and reverence that everyone expects from the story" with Noh flute and drum music throughout. The director also radically adds a new character in the porter played by comedian

, whose "jabbering undercuts the pomposity of the feudal rituals". According to Prince, Japanese censors found it rude that Kurosawa was making fun of a sacred historical incident and, perhaps because of this, they did not give their file on the film to the censors of the

Release

Japanese censors failed to give a file on the film to the censors of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, thus 1945's ''The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail'' was banned as an "illegal, unreported" production. It was not released in Japan until 1952.

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

has released ''The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail'' on DVD in North America as part of two 2009 Kurosawa-centered box sets; ''The First Films of Akira Kurosawa'', the 23rd entry in their

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...

series, and ''AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa''.

Analysis

Critic David Conrad has said that the character of the porter, who does not exist in the original Noh or kabuki plays, prefigures Kurosawa's later commoner characters like the woodcutter in ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shinobu Hashimoto. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura, it follows various people who describe how a ...

'' and the villagers in ''

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai action film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Taking place in 1586 in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a villag ...

''. "The presence of a low-class character among the high and mighty helps anchor the story in familiar ground, and the porter is free to express thoughts that proper samurai leave unsaid... Each of Kurosawa's later ''

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 ...

'', and many of his '' gendaigeki'' as well, would use characters of different castes and classes to achieve something similar to this dynamic. His stories play out in three-dimensional social worlds, allowing him to explore events and themes from multiple perspectives."

Notes

References

Sources

* *

External links

* *
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
' 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. ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Men Who Tread On The Tiger's Tail 1945 films Films directed by Akira Kurosawa Jidaigeki films Samurai films Films set in the 12th century 1950s Japanese-language films Japanese black-and-white films Toho films Japanese films based on plays Films with screenplays by Akira Kurosawa Japanese drama films 1945 drama films Films set in Ishikawa Prefecture Cultural depictions of Minamoto no Yoshitsune 1950s Japanese films Censored films