He mocks the Iyi clan, saying that if the men he humiliated were true samurai, they would not be hiding out of shame. As proof, Hanshirō removes their labelled topknots from his kimono and casts them upon the palace courtyard. After a brief but tense sword fight, Hikokuro suffers a double disgrace: his sword is broken and his topknot is taken as well. ![]() Hikokuro then visited Hanshirō's hovel and, with great respect, challenged him to a duel. Before coming to the Iyi estate, he tracked down Hayato and Umenosuke and cut off their topknots. Saitō refuses, calling Motome an "extortionist" who deserved to die.Īfter provoking Saitō's laughter by calling the samurai moral code bushido a facade, Hanshirō reveals the last part of his story. He explains that, if Saitō does so, he will die without saying another word. Therefore, Hanshirō asks Saitō if he has any statement of regret to convey to Motome, Miho, and Kingo. He explains, however, that they have every right to ask him whether justice has been exacted for their deaths. Finishing his story, Hanshirō explains that his sole desire is to join Motome, Miho, and Kingo in death. A few days later, Kingo died, and Miho lost the will to live and died, leaving Hanshirō with nothing. It is now clear that Motome had requested a delay so he could visit his family and put his affairs in order. Later that evening, Hayato, Umenosuke, and Hikokuro brought home Motome's mutilated body, and described and mocked his death before leaving. When Kingo also fell ill, Motome left one morning, saying he planned to take out a loan from a moneylender. When Miho became ill with tuberculosis, Motome could not bear the thought of losing her and did everything to raise money to hire a doctor. Realizing the love between Motome and Miho, Hanshirō arranged for them to marry. In order to support Motome and his own daughter Miho, Hanshirō rented a hovel in the slums of Edo, taking up work as a fan and umbrella craftsman while Motome became a teacher. To prevent this, Hanshirō's closest friend took his place instead, leaving Hanshirō responsible for his teenage son, Motome. His lord decided to commit seppuku and, as his most senior samurai, Hanshirō planned to die alongside him. In 1619, his clan was abolished by the Shōgun. While waiting for the messengers to return, Hanshirō recounts his life story to the assembled samurai, starting with the admission that he did know Motome. When messengers are dispatched to summon them, all three decline to come, with each claiming to be too ill to attend. To the shock of Saitō and the Iyi retainers, Hanshirō successively names Hayato, Umenosuke, and Hikokuro - the three samurai who coerced the suicide of Motome. Just as the ceremony is about to begin, Hanshirō is asked to name the samurai who shall behead him when the ritual is complete. Enraged that any samurai would "pawn his soul", the House of Iyi forced Motome to disembowel himself with his own bamboo blade, making his death slow, agonizingly painful, and deeply humiliating.ĭespite this warning, Hanshirō insists that he has never heard of Motome and says that he is sincere in wanting to commit seppuku. Upon examining Motome's swords, his blades were found to be made of bamboo. Infuriated by the rising number of "suicide bluffs", the three most senior samurai of the clan-Yazaki Hayato, Kawabe Umenosuke, and Omodaka Hikokuro-persuaded Saitō to force Motome to follow through and kill himself, ignoring his request for a couple of days delay. Motome had arrived at the palace a few months earlier and made the same request as Hanshirō. Saitō scornfully recalls the practice of rōnin requesting the chance to commit seppuku on the clan's land, but in fact hoping to be turned away and given alms. To deter him, Saitō Kageyu, the daimyō's senior counselor, tells Hanshirō the story of another rōnin, Chijiiwa Motome-formerly of the same clan as Hanshirō. A rōnin called Tsugumo Hanshirō arrives at the estate of the Iyi Clan and says that he wishes to commit seppuku within the courtyard of the palace. The film takes place in Edo in the year 1630. The film continues to receive critical acclaim, often considered one of the best samurai pictures ever made. ![]() ![]() It tells the story of the rōnin Hanshirō Tsugumo, who requests to commit seppuku (harakiri) within the manor of a local feudal lord, using the opportunity to explain the events that drove him to ask for death before an audience of samurai. The story takes place between 16 during the Edo period and the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. Harakiri ( 切腹, Seppuku, 1962) is a 1962 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Masaki Kobayashi.
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