The Twilight Samurai

The Twilight Samurai (Japanese: Tasogare Seibei) is a Japanese live-action film directed by Yoji Yamada, released in 2002. It is based on prose by the writer Shuhei Fujisawa and is set in the middle of the 19th century, a few years before the Meiji Restoration. The main character is Seibei Iguchi, an impoverished lower-ranking samurai trapped in a menial clerical post, played by Hiroyuki Sanada. Seibei's superiors discover that he is a pupil of a skilled swordsman and was trained in fighting with the short sword kodachi. It is this skill that becomes important for the rest of the plot. The film shows the martial art as Japanese swordsmanship with the katana and kodachi, conceived realistically and without stylisation. In one scene Seibei faces an opponent armed only with a bamboo stick instead of a sword. The main duel takes place indoors, and Seibei's opponent in it is Zenemon Yogo, played by the dancer Min Tanaka. At the 76th ceremony the film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, the first Japanese film to be nominated in 22 years. At the 26th Japan Academy Film Prize it won twelve awards, among them Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay; Sanada received the award for Best Actor and Min Tanaka for Best Supporting Actor. The film The Hidden Blade (2004) is cited as the second part of Yamada's trilogy.

Martial arts in this work

Origin

The screenplay is based on prose by Shuhei Fujisawa, but sources differ on how many works. The English Wikipedia lists a single short story, titled in English The Bamboo Sword (Japanese: Takemitsu shimatsu). The Japanese Wikipedia names three works by Fujisawa: たそがれ清兵衛 (Tasogare Seibei), 竹光始末 (Takemitsu shimatsu) and 祝い人助八. The Japanese title of the film takes the title of the first of them and means literally "Twilight Seibei", that is, the hero's name with a nickname; the international distribution title The Twilight Samurai replaces the character's name with samurai.

Fight choreography

The sword scenes (Japanese 殺陣, tate) were prepared by the choreographers 久世浩 and 夏坂祐輝. Director Yamada insisted on consistent realism: he shot the night scenes in real darkness, and the indoor duel was given raw choreography instead of stylised action. Seibei's opponent in this duel is played by Min Tanaka, a dancer associated with butoh and with Body Weather workshops, for whom it was an acting debut; according to the Japanese Wikipedia, he stood out precisely in the fight scenes. Hiroyuki Sanada originally planned a career as an action actor, studied Shorinji kempo and later Kyokushin karate, in which he earned a black belt, and was a member of Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club. We did not find in the sources that he trained in any school of Japanese swordsmanship.

People and martial arts

• Yoji YamadaDirector
• 久世浩Fight choreographer· Koryu Bujutsu
• 夏坂祐輝Fight choreographer· Koryu Bujutsu
• Hiroyuki SanadaActor — as Seibei Iguchi· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)
• Min TanakaActor — as Zenemon Yogo· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)

Awards

• Won · Japan Academy Film Prize (26th), Best Picture (2003)
• Won · Japan Academy Film Prize (26th), Best Actor (Hiroyuki Sanada) (2003)
• Won · Japan Academy Film Prize (26th), Best Supporting Actor (Min Tanaka) (2003)
• Nominated · Academy Awards (76th), Best Foreign Language Film (2004)