"Aru Kengo No Shogai (Samurai Saga)" (1959)

What happens when you take Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac," set it in feudal Japan and give the lead to Toshiro Mifune? 

In 1959, Toshiro Mifune was averaging half a dozen films a year, yet, I'm willing to bet many of my readers have never heard of this film. Admittedly, it didn't make it to a US release until 1973, and while the Criterion Channel now offers it on their streaming platform, a decent DVD version has yet to be released. (If Criterion does release it, I will happily buy a copy.) I discovered it via a grainy capture on Youtube some time ago - and I was enthralled. Today I found a decent downloadable version with subtitles here. 

"Life of an Accomplished Swordsman" may be a better translation for the title, but "Samurai Saga" is less of a mouthful and is what you can sometimes find it as. Mifune had previously worked with director Hiroshi Inagaki on the three "Samurai Trilogy" films based on Eiji Yoshikawa's sprawling novel about Musashi MIyamoto.

I am unable to read the Japanese opening credits and have not been able to find anything on who designed the costumes for either the Musashi trilogy or "Samurai Saga," I must lament that fact, because we're talking some proper eye candy.  However, Yoshiaki Ito is credited as the Art Director and Production Design was by Kisaku Ito. (Psst! Criterion! I'm looking at you. Do a nice DVD release!) 

Our story begins in 1600 at an outdoor theater by the Kamogawa River in Kyoto. A group of samurai allied to Lord Tokugawa who have come to see Okuni sing and dance. It's a great scene with a lot of bustling as people come to watch, vendors hawk snacks, and the scene for a confrontation is set. As it happens, we have a painting from about 1603 depicting Okuni dancing with a sword before an audience in just such a theater. (Historical aside: this is generally recognized as the origin of kabuki drama.)

Immediately, We Have Weirdness. These dancers are wearing hairstyles that are much, MUCH later than the period this is supposed to be. I wonder if Toho Studios was able to wrangle some geisha and maiko to perform  the dances, because that's the vibe I'm getting. Yet, when you look at the almost slouchy, kosode with the soft, narrow obi tied on the hip, those are right in the ballpark they should be. And it is a weirdness because there are other women in that crowd scene with hairstyles that look correct for the period. Did the studio not have enough period-appropriate wigs for the cast? I am stumped, because the costumes look quite good for the period. Check out the "boy" costumes, complete with swords, in the second row of dancers and compare to the figure of Okuni in the painting. 

  

Okuni (Eiko Miyoshi), is old and not particularly attractive - her updo is similar to what one might see on a sex worker of the period. (See my post on the character of Kiku in "Shogun.") She has received a threatening letter warning her not to perform that day. She takes the stage, even as members of the audience speculate as to what will happen next. 

More importantly, a handsome young samurai named Karibe Jurota (Akira Takarada) catches sight of the lovely Princess Chiyo (Yoko Tsukasa, in red and white below) as she and her friends waft into the theatre to take their seats. These ladies look like they stepped right out of the Okuni screen painting. Chiyo-hime is particularly stylish in a dan-gawari uchikake.  

Okuni manages to warble a few nervous notes, until a voice thunders from the back of the theater, accusing her of disloyalty to her late lord and patron Toyotomi Hideyoshi by performing on the anniversary of his death. 

Komaki Heihachiro (Mifune) appears, dressed in the livery of Lord Ishida's retainers. His broad nose with flaring nostrils is a departure from the usual flamboyant beaks seen in depictions of Cyrano de Bergerac. I suspect this might be to do with the legends of tengu, long nosed, dangerous beings of supernatural origins. Long noses are also seen in depictions of Westerners that appear in the Black Ship Scrolls. 


Some of the Tokugawa faction. 

Nice shot of the back of Heihachiro's dobuku. It looks like applique of a pine tree motif. 

Okuni flees the stage, the Tokugawa faction leap out of their seats, and one of them hurls a lame "big nose" insult, which Heihachiro promptly uses to demonstrate that he's not only heard 'em all, he can do much, much better, for he is a poet. Mifune performs the poetry with the stately movements and chants that evoke Noh performances, interspersed with his usual lightning sword-work, but a non-Japanese audience might not get that. So the English subtitle are rhymed couplets for the subtitles, precisely because Japanese poetry doesn't rhyme. Kudos to whoever did the translation. 

This sets in motion a later ambush of one of Heihachiro's similarly liveried friends, Akaboshi (Akihiko Hirata), in which Heihachiro again defeats superior numbers with his mad martial skills.
 
Left: Akaboshi in Ishida livery, different dobuku. Right: Namae is disheveled but still gets pretties to wear. 

Above: A better look at Chiyo's dan-gawari uchikake.

We are treated to a series of scenes in Heihachiro's neighborhood, establishing his kindness to the people around him: a local girl who is crazy or simple (can't really be sure), Heihachiro's "day job" teaching boys to read and write, the innkeeper and wife with whom he lodges, and his relationship with Lady Chiyo. He's always loved her, she looks on him like a brother. 

You know where it's all going. Let's have screen shots! 

 
Left: Heihachiro tells his comrades how he defeated the Tokugawa. Right: Writing poetry at a scenic overlook. Note the gourd and the poems tied to tree branches.

 
Jurota makes some "nose" comments: Heihachiro like's the kid's spirit. Jurota takes on the Tokugawa. He and Heihachiro bond. 

 L
This uchikake with the stripes and morning glories is so gorgeous - and I suspect it was based on this 16th c. portrait of Oinu no Kata. 

  The balcony scene: Chiyo has her uchikake worn koshimaki-style around her waist in a summery style. So pretty. 

Heihachiro and Jurota are among the losing side at the pivotal battle of Sekigahara and Jurota dies of his wounds. (These guys are in fairly simple, basic armor fighting on foot, and things get pretty muddy.)

 

Chiyo takes lay Buddhist vows and we see her some years later living at a temple. She and the young nun await Heihachiro's monthly visit. As a lay nun, Chiyo still gets some elegant brocade for her uchikake.

Even ten years after the battle, the shogunate is looking for men who supported the opposition. Akaboshi betrays Heihachiro to ambushers and while he gives a good account of himself, a man drops a roof tile on his head, fatally wounding him. 

Heihachiro makes it to the temple at dusk, hiding his injury beneath his hat, tells his news and at last reveals his true feelings for Chiyo. In his final battle he duels the falling cherry blossoms. 

I have always loved the Cyrano story, not for the blockheaded blindness of Roxanne, but for the big heart and indomitable spirit of Cyrano. "Samurai Saga" is faithful to the spirit of the original, and frankly, transplanting the story from France to Japan is a good fit for an adaptation. Mifune is at turns funny and heartbreaking, Akira Takarada makes an appealing Jurota - and yes, he's supposed to be a bit dull, and Yoko Tsukasa's radiance as Chiyo reminds me of Olivia de Havilland. Aside from the hair weirdness in the opening sequence, the costuming is very good for the period it purports to represent. 

You may be able to help bring "Samurai Saga" to DVD. Contact Criterion here. I just did.