Dir. Tomu Uchida, Japan, 1961-1965, 566 mins, in Japanese with subtitles
Cast: Kinnosuke Nakamura, Ken Takakura, Wakaba Irie, Isao Kimura, Rentaro Mikuni
Review by Colin Dibben
Miyamoto Musashi was a swordsman, writer and artist who lived between 1584 and 1645. He is the subject of dozens of films, novels and manga in Japan. In the early 1960s, film company Toei created a five-part saga under the direction of Tomu Uchida, the underrated director of Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji, Fugitive from the Past and The Mad Fox. Kabuki actor Kinnosuke Nakamura plays the hero in all five films.
The series shows Musashi as a rural commoner who becomes a ronin or independent samurai, owing allegiance – in a self-serving and violent way – to quasi-Zen principles rather than the feudal lord and vassal system. In truth, he wants to be the best swordsman in Japan and sets about killing everyone he considers a worthy opponent.
Musashi is shown as a guy who takes no bullshit but also sacrifices the pleasures of ordinary life in his quest to kill. It is hard not to see a deep sociopathy at work in his actions, which brings an interesting tension to the films. That tension may not be enough to hold your interest over 560 minutes.
The films have been restored in 4K but only the fourth film looks that great: the others suffer from a slight softening and compression of the image, especially in the frequent landscape / environment mid-shots. Uchida’s direction includes some nice tracking shots and – in the early films at least – a low level of bloodshed.
Limited edition special features include:
- New audio commentary on Miyamoto Musashi with Japanese cinema expert Jonathan Wroot
- New audio commentary on Miyamoto Musashi II: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights with critic and Japanese cinema specialist Jasper Sharp
- Live by the Sword – new video essay on Miyamoto Musashi in history and popular culture by Jonathan Clements, author of A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shōgun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun
- A Legendary Swordsman – new appreciation of Toei’s Miyamoto Musashi saga by film critic Tony Rayns
- On Otsu and Other Women – new interview with Japanese cinema scholar Jennifer Coates on female representation in Toei’s Miyamoto Musashi saga
- Limited edition 100-page collector’s book featuring translated writing by Miyamoto Musashi, notes on each film in Toei’s Musashi series by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom and a new essay on the films’ stars by Jennifer Coates
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