Samurai Assassin (1965)

Director Kihachi Okamoto, who went on to helm the haunting samurai classic Sword of Doom, brings to the screen a dramatic story of a critical event in 19th-century Japan that marked the beginning of the end for the samurai era. It concerns the assassination of Naosuke Ii, then Japan’s defacto ruler, by a force of 17 ronin on one snowy day and includes the fictionalized events leading up to it as revealed in Jiromasa Gunji’s novel.

Although cloaked in the guise of a samurai movie by its setting and sword-bearing players, Okamoto shoots Samurai Assassin as a crime drama, complete with dry, 1950s-style narration. The leading conspirators act as the story’s detectives by attempting to sniff out traitors in their midst following an initial failed assassination attempt.

Their two leading suspects are Tsuruchiyo Niiro (Toshiro Mifune) and Einosuke Kurihara (Keiju Kobayashi, both leading swordsman, yet seemingly from opposite ends of the social spectrum. Much the events leading up to the fateful assassination deal with the efforts of the lead conspirators to learn the character and motivations of these two men and their relationship with one another in hopes of proving their guilt.

Mifune is in familiar territory by playing a crass and bitter ronin, who we learn through flashbacks was once a promising young man who excelled in swordsmanship and studies. The only trouble was that Tsuruchiyo was a bastard son of a samurai, whose identity remained a secret thanks to his mother and a merchant acting as his benefactor. This missing information leads Tsuruchiyo to desperation and ruin when he’s unable to marry the woman he loves due to her father’s disapproval.

Five years later, he’s a penniless ronin willing to do just about anything to secure a position for himself, even if that means killing Elder Naosuke Ii and risking the strong chance that his death might destabilize an isolationist country already shaken by foreign intrusion from America.

The film becomes somewhat of a character study of Tsuruchiyo and his downward spiral as he becomes the unwilling and ultimately unwitting instrument in the destruction of the people who matter most to him.

The only bright spot in Tsuruchiyo’s life is his friendship with Einosuke Kurihara, forged and bound in their shared interest in swordsmanship and near-equal skills. Einosuke is a well-to-do retired samurai who has devoted himself to study, particularly of ideas pertaining to democracy originating from outside of Japan. His belief that Japan must embrace a new system of government isn’t compelling enough for his fellow conspirators who discover that he has a connection to Naosuke through his wife. This is enough to label Einosuke as the traitor and force Tsuruchiyo into a confrontation with him.

All of this drama takes up most of the film length, which leaves precious few minutes for the climax as the emboldened conspirators rush Naosuke as he is being escorted out of his mansion in Edo by a retinue of soldiers. Up to this point there is very little action, but there is a nicely choreographed swordfight near the end as Mifune is forced to defend himself from nine sword-bearing assailants in tight quarters. What swordplay is available is well done and serves the story appropriately. In this way, the film is much like the story of the 47 ronin, as told in several movie adaptations, where a lot of dialogue and character building stacks up to one explosive display violence.

The final scene certainly lives up to Okamoto’s reputation for creating hell on earth through violence. Combatants go down with howls of terror and pain amid thick snowfall. Blood spills forth and men turn into craven animals relishing in the butchery of their fellow man. Although this provides a graphic account of a historical event, the careful buildup, or breaking down rather of Mifune’s character gives it far greater dramatic depth as we witness the destruction of a man’s soul in the process. In this way, Okamoto provides somewhat of a warm up to Sword of Doom.

What is lacking in Samurai Assassin is the atmosphere and visual flair that Okamoto brought to latter projects. The film has its moments, but is all too conventional most of the time. Okamoto also assumes the viewer already knows about events like the assassination at Sakurada Gate and the Ansei Purge. There is enough explanation in the film to learn quite a bit, but you have to pay close attention and this same attention may already be used up while trying to sort out the players and conspiracies.

Samurai Assassin is a complex and engrossing film with fine performances from its leads that may require a little extra effort to get into initially. However, a little patience pays off in the end.