Summary
Between the opening credits and the first shot, three title pages describe the geo-political climate in Japan at the time of the film: civil wars between local rulers have ravaged the country, leaving it divided and often lawless. Bandits terrorize villages, taking what they like and leaving the villagers impoverished. The first shot then opens on a gang of 20 or so bandits approaching a hillside on horseback. They stop and look over the edge, and the camera follows their gaze to reveal a small village in the valley below. They are about to “take” the village (which likely means to overrun the village, steal all they can, and kidnap the young women) when one of the leaders reminds the gang that they recently already took all of the rice from that village and there would be nothing left to steal. They all agree to leave for now and come back to take the village when the barley crop is ripe. As they ride away, a villager (Yohei) who was gathering brush just below the crest of the hill peeks his head up to watch them leave. He seems to have heard their conversation, looks afraid, and starts down the hill to warn the village.
The next shot opens on many villagers (likely the entire village) sitting in a large circular crowd with their heads down, as one woman in the circle cries. The crying woman complains of the difficulties that the village has recently faced, which include heavy taxes, forced labor, war, drought, and now bandits. Two young girls hang on to her clothes and cry as well. She seems to be driving the village toward panic, as one man echoes her exclamation that they are “better off dead.” One man stands and suggests that they should tell the magistrate that he has to protect them, but other villagers say that the magistrate is useless. Finally, a young man named Rikichi stands and says that the village should kill the bandits. Yohei says that he could not possibly do it, and another man (Manzo) tells Rikichi that he is being crazy. Rikichi becomes angry, and asks him why they are able to kill defeated samurai but not bandits. Manzo says that they could never defeat that many bandits, and that they should instead just hand over their barley when the bandits come and beg for the bandits to leave enough for the village to survive. Rikichi storms off in anger, squats far from the rest of the villagers, and puts his head down to cry. Another man (Mosuke) stands from the center of the crowd and says that they should all go ask the village elder what to do. As an ominous piece of the orchestral score begins, the whole village stands and walks outside the center of the village to a house with a mill across the river.
Establishing shots of the elder’s house emphasize the water-powered mill, repeatedly cutting closer and closer on the turning wheel. Inside the house, we are shown a close-up of the Old Man Gisaku sitting with his eyes closed while two villagers sit behind him in anticipation. Off-screen, Rikichi tells the old man his idea of fighting back, and Manzo interrupts him occasionally to argue against the idea. Finally, the old man opens his eyes and agrees that the village should fight. Manzo tries to argue with the old man, but he tells the village they will hire samurai to protect themselves and that he saw another farming village do the same thing when he was younger. Tensions rise as Manzo still tries to change the old man’s mind, by questioning how the village will pay the samurai. Rikichi suggests they pay the samurai with their remaining rice, and live on millet (barley) instead. The camera closes in on the old man for a close-up as he advises the villagers to find hungry samurai.
In the next scene Rikichi, Yohei, Mosuke, and Manzo are in a larger town or city looking for samurai. They are dressed in their farmer’s clothes, and frantically survey the people that walk through the center of the town, many of whom are samurai (distinguished by their bun, clothes, and swords). The scene cuts back and forth between tracking shots of various samurai walking past and close-ups on our four villagers as their heads turn to watch the samurai strut past. Rikichi walks out of the frame, presumably going to speak with a Samurai. Suddenly, the soundtrack is interrupted by screams and a wide shot shows many villagers scattering as a samurai throws Rikichi to the ground. The samurai yells at Rikichi for offering him charity (food in exchange for work), pointing out that his social class outranks the farmers. He calls Rikichi a fool and walks away proudly. Rikichi remains bowed on the ground, crying, until Mosuke walks up to him and begins brushing the dirt off his clothes.
In the next scene it is raining hard outside of the inn at which the four villagers stay in the larger town. They look at the barley growing there, notice that it is already ripe, and grow worried that the barley in their village will ripen soon, too. Rikichi tells them not to worry because the barley in the mountains, where their village is, will take longer to ripen. As Rikichi goes back inside, three young men (also staying at the inn) run past and ask him sarcastically if he has yet found any cheap, strong, and foolhardy samurai. Later that night, the four villagers sit against a wall in the shelter looking defeated as two of the young men play cards and a blind man plays the lute in a corner. Another man at the shelter comes in to the room with a tray full of buns and offers a piece to the lute player. The lute player does not respond, and the two men playing cards make a joke about his blindness. The man with the food turns and offers it to them but they decline, saying they would rather eat horseshit, and also telling him not to bother offering it to the samurai sleeping in a corner of the shelter because they beat him up when he was drunk and now he has passed out. Finally he offers it to the farmers in exchange for a cup of rice, who do not respond to his offer, while the young men tell him that the farmers only eat millet. The man walks to the other side of the room and begins grumpily eating the buns alone as Yohei watches. Yohei laments that they could have bought 40 of the buns if they still had the rice that was stolen by the bandits last fall, and the Samurai make fun of his complaining. Yohei continues complaining about the situation to himself and his companions as the sleeping samurai (who was beaten up) rises and goes up to the farmers. This samurai offers to help them, saying he was only defeated the previous night because he was starving. The two mean samurai threaten to fight him, however, and wake up their third companion (the largest of them) to help. The weak samurai slinks back to his bed to avoid the fight, yelling at the blind lute player to stop his playing. The four farmers, who had stood up during the excitement, sit back down disappointedly.
The next morning Manzo and Rikichi are fighting as Yohei and Mosuke try to pull them apart. Manzo wants to go back to the village and try to strike a bargain with the bandits when they come, and Rikichi still wants to fight the bandits, even though they have been unable to find any samurai to help them. Rikichi provocatively asks Manzo what the village has to offer the bandits this year in exchange for mercy and suggests that Manzo give up his daughter, Shino, to them. As Manzo and Rikichi are washing the dirt from their scuffle off of themselves in a stream, a samurai (Kambei) comes out of the town with many townsfolk following him, and stands at the edge of the stream. As everyone watches on in amazement, Kambei pulls out his dagger and cuts off his bun of hair, which is an incredibly important status symbol to samurai. Then someone hands him a razor, which he gives to a monk, and the monk begins to shave Kambei’s head for him. Mosuke asks a woman what is happening, and she tells him that a thief is hiding in a barn inside the town. They go to look at the barn, and another young samurai (Katsushirō Okamoto) follows them. Two men stand at a distance from the barn with weapons, watching it. Katsushirō asks them how many thieves there are and one of the men tells him that there is only one but that he took a young child hostage and threatened to kill the child if they attack. Mosuke asks what they know about Kambei, and one of the guard men tells him that they do not know him but he agreed to help as soon as they asked, and said he needed two rice balls and to trade clothes with a monk.
As Kambei puts on the monk’s clothes next to the stream, another samurai (Kikuchiyo) sits and watches him closely. Kambei takes the rice balls and walks back toward the barn, and everyone follows him. They all stop and let him go on alone as he gets closer to the barn, but Kikuchiyo aggressively pushes his way through the crowd and kicks over a water bucket to sit and watch in front of the crowd. Kambei goes to the barn door and tells the thief that he is only a monk who has brought food for him and the child, because the child must be very hungry. The thief threatens him not to come any closer, but Kambei opens the door and continues to offer him the rice balls. Finally, the thief tells him to throw the rice balls to him inside the barn. Kambei throws the rice balls inside, waits a moment, and jumps inside the barn. A moment later the thief sprints out of the barn and stops about 10 feet away, wobbling on his feet. The hostage’s mother runs to the barn as Kambei comes out with the child, and Kambei throws the thief’s bloody sword on the ground, just as the thief collapses onto the ground, dead. Kikuchiyo walks over to look at the body, and pokes at it with his long sword (which is too long for him). As Kambei walks away silently, Kikuchiyo begins celebrating over the body and the townspeople run to join him. Kambei and the monk trade clothes back as Katsushirō watches admiringly, and the four farmers watch hopefully.
As Kambei walks down a country path away from the town, rubbing his shaved head, the four farmers follow him and discuss his honor and skill. In the background, we hear a musical theme, which will become the anthem of the titular band of samurai. Rikichi begins approaching Kambei, when suddenly Kikuchiyo runs up, pushes Rikichi out of the way, and jumps and shouts in celebration as he approaches Kambei. Kambei asks him what he wants and they begin sizing each other up as if they might fight. Katsushirō then runs up between them, bows to Kambei, and begs to be his disciple. Kambei tells him that he is a ronin and does not take disciples, and asks him to stand and speak with him as they walk. Kambei walks away and Katsushirō follows. Behind them saunters Kikuchiyo, followed by the four farmers. As Kambei and Katsushirō walk together, Kambei tells Katsushirō that he is mistaken. Kambei says that he may have seen many battles, but has always been on the losing side, and that Katsushirō should not follow him. Katsushirō tells Kambei that he will follow him anyway, but Kambei says that he forbids it. Kambei walks away as Katsushirō remains in his spot, looking disappointed. Rikichi begins running toward Kambei again but again Kikuchiyo pushes him out of the way and runs up to Kambei himself. He grunts at him but says nothing, and begins threateningly circling Kambei, who asks him repeatedly what he wants. Katsushirō runs over and scolds Kikuchiyo for being insolent, but Kikuchiyo tells him to stay out of it. Kambei asks Kikuchiyo if he is a samurai, which offends Kikuchiyo because he should be recognizable as a samurai. When Kikuchiyo tells him that of course he is a samurai, Kambei slyly replies “I wonder,” and walks away with Katsushirō. Finally, Rikichi sees his chance and chases after Kambei and Katsushirō. Just before the scene cuts away, he runs in front of them, bows on the ground, and begins begging Kambei for help.
In the next scene, Kambei and Katsushirō are in the barn with the four farmers and the mean young men, discussing how to save the village. Kambei says that the plan will not work with only two or three samurai because there are just too many bandits. Kambei asks the farmers a few questions and decides that they will need at least seven samurai, including himself. Rikichi says to his companions that they can manage seven, but Manzo says that the old man only requested four. Kambei hears this conversation and reminds them that he has not accepted their offer yet, but is only thinking about it. He discusses the difficulty of finding that many samurai who would be willing to fight for no pay, says that he is tired of fighting anyway, and prepares to leave with Katsushirō. Rikichi begins crying, Kambei and Katsushirō to look at him, and the mean young men at the inn begin making fun of Rikichi. Their leader says that it would be better to be born a dog than a peasant and tells the farmers that they should go hang themselves, but Katsushirō steps in to defend the farmers. He argues with the bad samurai, who asks him why he does not help them if he cares so much. Katsushirō picks up his sword, and the two smaller samurai hide behind their larger companion as he and Katsushirō walk circles around each other for a moment. Kambei makes them all stop before they actually fight each other. The leader of the bad samurai takes a bowl of rice and shakes it in front of Kambei’s face, telling him that the peasants starve themselves on millet only to be able to provide plain white rice to the samurai they hope to hire. He seems to intend to show Kambei that the peasants are pathetic, but instead he strikes a sympathetic nerve in Kambei, who tells the farmers that their rice offering will not go to waste.
In the next scene Manzo and Mosuke return to their village and tell the rest of the village that Rikichi and Yohei stayed behind to gather more samurai, so that they can have seven in total. In the next shot Manzo and Mosuke are in the old man’s house, and tell him that seven samurai will come. The old man laughs to himself and says that he thought they would need at least ten samurai, but knew if he asked for ten they would end up with fifteen, so he only asked for four. Manzo also tells the old man that he is worried that the girls in the village will go crazy over the samurai, and that if one of the samurai touches a village girl, chaos will ensue. The old man tells him that he is being foolish to worry about such a thing when they are in such danger from the bandits.
Back in the larger town, Rikichi asks a new samurai for help in the middle of a street as Yohei and Katsushirō watch from inside their inn. Kambei calls to Katsushirō from further inside, and tells him to hide behind the door and whack the ronin (a word for a masterless samurai) with a large stick when he enters. Katsushirō seems surprised and hesitant but Kambei encourages him, and he hides behind the door as Yohei hides further inside the room to avoid the conflict. As the new samurai enters, Katsushirō swings the stick down at him, but he catches it with his hand without even looking and throws Katsushirō to the other side of the room. Kambei immediately stands and apologizes, explaining that they wanted to test his skill. Kambei then asks him to join them for a fight against a gang of bandits, but when the new samurai finds out that they are working for farmers and will not be paid except with food, he says that his ambitions are higher than that and leaves. Katsushirō laments that they lost a good swordsman, and the four of them go back to the front of the inn to watch the samurai pass by on the street. Back in the town, as Manzo and Mosuke walk away from the old man’s house, Manzo stops and squats in the middle of the path. He wonders out loud to Mosuke whether the other six samurai will be as good as the first one, but Mosuke tells him to stop worrying until the samurai actually arrive.
In the large town or city, Yohei, Rikichi, Katsushirō, and Kambei continue looking for more samurai. The shot tracks along with certain samurai that pass by, switching to others when the one it is following passes another samurai. Finally, Kambei tells Rikichi to go after one of the samurai, and Rikichi begins to follow him. He catches up with the new samurai (Gorobei) as he is watching and talking with a group of children. Back at the shelter, Katsushirō asks Kambei if he should do the trick with the stick again, and Kambei tells him, “sure, it is good practice for you.” As Gorobei approaches the house, however, he sees the pattern of footprints outside the entrance and realizes that someone is hiding behind the door. He pauses, begins laughing, and calls inside, “surely you jest.” Kambei rises to meet him, apologizing. Some time later, Gorobei is still considering Kambei’s proposition inside the inn. He finally agrees, tells Kambei that he is most convinced by Kambei’s compelling character, and calls him a friend. Kambei asks Gorobei what his name is and Gorobei tells him, joking that the name is “fit for a giant.” Everyone laughs, and the farmers begin to look hopeful again.
In the next scene, Rikichi prepares a fire outside the shelter in the large city and calls inside to Yohei to wash the rice. When Yohei does not respond, Rikichi goes inside to find Yohei sitting next to the rice jar looking morose. Yohei tells Rikichi that someone stole the rice and Rikichi becomes angry, calls Yohei an idiot for not protecting the rice, and hits him. Yohei cries, and says that he was very careful and even slept with the jar of rice in his arms all night. Rikichi says he will have to go back to their village to get more and prepares to leave, but Yohei asks what they will do while they wait for him to return, which causes Rikichi to realize that they will be unable to feed the samurai they are hiring while he is gone. Yohei begins picking what is left of the rice off of the floor, when someone throws several coins down on the ground in front of him. Yohei and Rikichi look up to find Katsushirō standing over them. Katsushirō turns away as Yohei and Rikichi look at him in amazement. He turns back around to find Yohei bowing and thanking him, but tells them to stop and hide the money because Kambei is returning soon.
Analysis
The title pages bring the audience into the setting of the film, explain the historical context in which the film will take place, and introduce us to the film’s subject (by discussing the fearful villagers and terrifying bandits). This exposition helps to explain questions that the audience may later encounter, such as: why is there no government, military, or police that can protect the villagers? These title pages transition smoothly to the first shot by creating a parallel between the final line of the title pages (“the thunder of hooves”) and the sound of the bandits’ horses. The emphasis on the horses in the text, the audio, and the imagery give a sense of the power the bandits have over the villagers, and foreshadow the major role that the horses will play in the conflict between the villagers and the bandits. They take advantage of a classic technique in film that signifies the dominance of, and generates fear of, some element, by shooting it from below: as the bandits sit on their horses on the cliff above the village, they are shot from ground or standing level, which gives the sense that they loom over the village and the audience. Their position on the hill above the village further highlights their power over the villagers and indicates the fear that they are supposed to instill in the villagers and the viewer. This scene also functions to advance the exposition as the bandits very clearly lay out their plans for the viewer and initialize the action in the film by accidentally revealing these plans to Yohei. Finally, we are shown some key aspects of Yohei’s character in his response to overhearing the bandits; his expression, position below the ground, and body language indicate that he is fearful and weak, though he also worries and cares for his village.
In the scene in the center of the village, the crying woman (and some of the responses to her) reveal the difficulties the village has faced. Her diatribe further explains the socio-political landscape and is quite expository, but also generates an intense emotional response from the viewers that helps us sympathize with the plight of the villagers and hope for their salvation. She also first introduces the theme of hope and hopelessness, which is central to the film, when she exclaims that the villagers should all just hang themselves; taking one’s own life because of the hopelessness of one’s situation comes up repeatedly throughout the film. When Rikichi and Manzo fight about how to deal with the bandits, we are introduced to one of the major conflicts of the film: Manzo and Rikichi will continue to fight over this issue throughout the film, and they represent the more general conflict between those who wish to appease the bandits and those who wish to fight. We will later find out that they also represent a contrast between those villagers who have already lost everything to the bandits (Rikichi) and those who still have something left to lose (Manzo), which motivates their opposing strategies. We see Yohei further characterized as weak and fearful, Rikichi as angry, daring, and temperamental, Manzo as cautious and resigned, and Mosuke as level-headed and empathetic. In the villagers’ actions as a whole we are shown their collective spirit (all gathered together in the center of the village, all standing to walk together toward the elders’ house), which highlights the significance of Rikichi’s abandonment of the circle in anger when others do not want to fight as well.
Kurosawa’s focus on the mill’s wheel outside of the old man’s house is clearly deliberate and may serve several purposes or hold any number of meanings. It may be that he simply wanted to highlight the old man’s importance in the community through his association with the mill, which is the village’s most important structure. It could foreshadow the village’s decision to feed the samurai all of their rice and only live on their barley (millet is ground in the mill, while rice is not), or the dramatic method of cutting in on it could foreshadow the destruction of the mill during the fighting later. The turning of the wheel that the shot captures could be intended to represent the cyclical nature of the farmers’ lifestyle, as well as the cyclical nature of the attacks by the bandits (which come with the seasons as the crops are harvested). In this way, the wheel’s slow and steady turn may also be intended to highlight the steady march of time toward the next harvest and bandit attack, and raise the stakes by demonstrating to the viewer the time pressure on the villagers’ decisions. Inside the mill, the old man’s closed eyes and contemplative expression characterize him in opposition to Rikichi and Manzo as cool-headed, wise, and able to think beyond his own immediate emotions. His advice to “find hungry samurai” indicates a reality of the era, which is that famine was widespread and even some within the socially elevated samurai class struggled to feed themselves. It also indicates that it will be hard to find samurai willing to fight for farmers, and that they may only be able to convince desperate ones. This sentiment is confirmed in the village when Rikichi finally does approach a samurai and is thrown on the crowd and insulted in response—though the samurai could likely use the food, he refuses to help Rikichi. He is “still a samurai,” and refuses to accept “charity” from a farmer. The desperate visual searching of passing samurai prior to this moment further underscores the difficulty of finding desperate enough samurai to help the farmers.
The ripening barley outside of the inn in the large town emphasizes the time pressure on the four farmers tasked with finding samurai, while the heavy rain is used to create a gloomy atmosphere that conveys their mood. Next, the three men also staying at the inn who torment the farmers are used to articulate the low status of farmers in society at the time. Their constant mockery and disbelief that the farmers will find anyone draws out the feeling of hopelessness that defines much of this early section of the film, and establishes a key conflict of the first part of the film between those that despise the farmers and those that are sympathetic toward them, like the viewers. The response of the mean young men to the man with the buns highlights their indiscriminate cruelty, which helps to vilify them and disqualify their hatred of farmers, further aligning the audience with the farmers. Yohei’s reaction to the man with the buns further draws out the desperation and losses suffered by the farmers, and the help offered by the pathetic, drunk, and starving samurai again points to the near hopelessness of finding the help they need. Manzo’s and Rikichi’s fight the next morning is a continuation of the conflict between them, which has been heightened by the tensions and failures of the previous day, and Rikichi finally points out Manzo’s motivation for a peaceful resolution: he wants to protect his daughter. Rikichi’s assertion that the village gives up Manzo’s daughter in exchange for peace this year indicates that Rikichi may have lost someone in a previous encounter with the bandits, which we later find out to have been his wife.
The scene in which Kambei rescues the child from the thief in the barn serves to introduce the viewer to Kambei, Katsushirō, and Kikuchiyo. That Kambei is introduced in the act of cutting his knot, an important status symbol for samurai, and shaving his head is crucial for his characterization. It suggests that Kambei is less concerned with his status than he is with protecting the innocent, behaving honorably, and upholding his own moral code. His thoughtful, deliberate actions and skillful rescue demonstrate his intelligence and swordsmanship, while his readiness to help those in danger and his refusal of pay highlight an honor that the audience recognizes as righteous, as opposed to the type of honor that prevents samurai from taking charity from farmers. His lack of celebration after rescuing the child also establishes his humility in direct contrast to Kikuchiyo, who dances giddily over the slain thief. Kikuchiyo’s lack of humility is also shown in his prideful posturing as he watches Kambei execute his rescue. Meanwhile, Katsushirō is introduced as a young, excitable, and curious samurai, who quickly develops a fanatical devotion to Kambei.
The characterizations of these first three samurai continue as they walk down the path outside of the town and interact with each other and the farmers. We are introduced for the first time to Kambei’s rubbing of his own shaved head, which becomes a signifier of his careful thinking and moral reasoning. Kikuchiyo’s arrogance and abrasiveness are brought out when he shoves Rikichi out of the way to get to Kambei first. It is unclear, however, what he wants from Kambei—he possesses a haughtiness that suggests he wishes to challenge Kambei, a successful warrior, as a way of proving himself (something other samurai will do later in the film). His sword, which is too long and looks awkward and ridiculous, affirms this posturing. The sword can be a symbol of a samurai’s status, and Kikuchiyo, in an attempt to appear to be a great warrior, has chosen one that is so long as to be unwieldy and make him look ridiculous. Finally, we see a clearer articulation of Katsushirō’s fanaticism, deference, and immaturity when he begs to be a disciple of Kambei’s even after he is repeatedly told no. This begging also further brings out Kambei’s humility when we witness his rejection of Katsushirō’s praise and deference, and when he asks Katsushirō to rise and walk with him as an equal. This humility is again contrasted with Kikuchiyo’s pride when Kikuchiyo takes great offense that Kambei would doubt he is a samurai. This statement also foreshadows the revelation that Kikuchiyo was in fact born a farmer and not a samurai.
The interaction between Kambei and Katsushirō, the farmers, and the other men in the inn represents the climax of the film’s early secondary conflict between those that hate the farmers and those that sympathize with them. At this point the farmers and the audience have come to place a great deal of hope in Kambei, the righteous samurai, but his indecision on the issue leaves a great deal of uncertainty. We are then able to derive a great deal of satisfaction from the way that the contempt and animosity of the bullies at the inn only drives him toward the decision to help the farmers. We also see the first undeniably positive characterization of Katsushirō, when he stands up against to the men at the inn in defense of the farmers, though we also see yet another example of his immaturity in his quickness to pull his sword during such an argument. The bullies’ fear and their hiding behind the largest of them when Katsushirō threatens them also points to a cowardice or lack of honor that we are meant to associate with this hatred of the lower class: mistreatment of those of lower status is a crutch that some lean on to elevate themselves despite a lack of real merit. Our conclusion then, that these types of people should be dismissed, enables the audience also to dismiss the argument that the farmers should just “kill themselves” (repeated here, with similar wording to the crying woman in the first village scene), which helps us to begin to overcome the sense of hopelessness that was so pervasive in the opening scenes of the film. Additionally, this scene also provides important exposition: Kambei considers the task and explains that they will need seven samurai to defend the village, though it will be difficult.
In the farming village, Manzo further articulates his motivating fear of losing his daughter to a powerful man; it is notable that the fear of her being stolen by the bandits or seduced by the samurai manifests in a similar way. His discussion with the old man in this scene, which immediately follows the old man’s joke about the villagers’ inability to properly follow his instructions, foreshadows the problems that Manzo will cause for the village in his efforts to protect his daughter. We see the falling action of the conflict between samurai pride and sympathy for the farmers when the first samurai that Kambei tries to recruit rejects their offer because they will be working for farmers. However, we are shown that this will not continue to be a major obstacle when the group soon finds and recruits Gorobei. Gorobei is immediately signaled to be a caring samurai when he is shown playing with children as Rikichi approaches him, and his intelligence and amiable demeanor are demonstrated when he immediately recognizes Katsushirō’s trap from his footprints but, rather than become angry, laughs and asks if Kambei is playing some kind of joke. Additionally, we are shown the camaraderie that is immediately established between these two morally driven samurai, which sets up Gorobei’s role in the film as Kambei’s right hand man. We later see Katsushirō demonstrate compassion for the farmers in his own way, by using the resources available to him (though he may not yet be a great fighter, he is wealthy) to support the cause that his new role model has taken up, when he gives Yohei and Rikichi money to help them recover from the theft of their rice. In that same scene, we also see another example of Rikichi’s short temper and Yohei’s pitiable weakness or defenselessness.
