Akira Kurosawa — Storyteller
An introduction to the life and works of one of the most significant filmmakers you may never have heard of.
Akira Kurosawa is one of the most influential and impressive filmmakers of our time, yet often gets left out of discussions of film history despite his pervasive influence on modern cinema. Often credited with bringing Japanese cinema to the world stage, director and screenwriter Akira Kurosawa also influenced many other filmmakers such as George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, and even spaghetti western director Sergio Leone.¹ Studying filmmakers such as Kurosawa can give us a wider appreciation of the rich multicultural history of cinema.
Born in Tokyo in 1910, Kurosawa found himself caught between two worlds as a child of samurai heritage influenced by both modern cinema and traditional Japanese storytelling in music halls.² His father was “a strict man of military background” who was pleased to have young Akira learn the traditional art of Kendo yet was also open to modernity as he regarded going to the movies as having educational value.³ Kurosawa describes his father’s early encouragement regarding cinema, “wat a time when the idea of watching movies was hardly well-received in educators’ circles, he took his whole family to the movies regularly” (Kurosawa 10). His brother was also a significant influence on him, and he would walk “all the way to Asakusa to see a movie he had said was good” (Kurosawa 56). Kurosawa always artistically inclined. He was interested in literature, music, theatre, and trained as a painter for a time, despite preferring impressionism and postimpressionism to the academic methods that his school emphasized.¹ He joined the leftist Proletarian Art League of Japan for a time but did not find success as a painter.²
Though his family was wealthy, his youth was not without tragedy as he saw firsthand the aftermath of the Kanto earthquake of 1923 when his brother took him to see the carnage.¹ Kurosawa says of the earthquake, “I learned not only of the extraordinary powers of nature, but extraordinary things that lie in human hearts.”³ In 1933 Kurosawa experienced a devastating blow when his brother committed suicide, who he said, “I esteemed and who for me was irreplaceable.”³ Not long after, his real involvement with the world of film came in 1935 with a job at the Photo Chemical Laboratory where he worked under Kajiro Yamamoto and learned all aspects of filmmaking.¹ In reference to his feeling about this time, Kurosawa said,
“I was standing in the mountain pass, and the view that opened up before me on the other side revealed a single straight road.”¹
Soon, Kurosawa began making his own films and writing his own scripts. While he was capable of writing alone, he found the value of bringing in other writers for a balanced perspective and stronger story and frequently used this method.³ His first film, Sanshiro Sugata, exemplifies the cultural clash of old vs. new in a story about two competing schools: Judo versus Jiu-Jitsu. The film is set during the Meiji period at the time of Western vs. Japanese cultural tension.¹ Even from his cinematic debut in this 1943 movie, the themes Kurosawa was concerned with are evident. Before long, Kurosawa ushered Japanese cinema to the world stage with Rashomon, the first widely released Japanese film.² However, at times Kurosawa encountered difficulty in getting funding for his films, especially after 1965.² At times things were so bleak dark that Kurosawa himself suicide several times in part in response to ill health but exacerbated mainly by lack of film work.³ Despite this, Kurosawa continued to make widely critically acclaimed movies into his old age.
One of the most representative examples of Kurosawa’s many influences comes from his early work in the 1951 film The Idiot, a Japanese re-telling of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s famous novel by the same name. This line of inspiration comes as no surprise considering that Kurosawa’s older brother “was addicted to Russian literature.”³ The very nature of the film can be viewed as a comment on cultural tensions. Here, we have a not-quite-western work framed in a distinctly Japanese context. Of Dostoevsky Kurosawa said, “I know of no one so compassionate..ordinary people turn their eyes away from tragedy; he looks straight into it.”¹
A year later, he produced another notable film — Ikiru — about an older man who finds out he has less than a year to live, wherein he laments wasted years. After a few unfulfilled attempts to find meaning, he finally succeeds in building for the future of his community through his City Hall job. This plot progression shows Kurosawa’s markedly Japanese mindset of collectivism and community, as well as his apparent commitment to upholding moral values at the core of his work. Even this seemingly simple story is marked by the contrast of extremes for which Kurosawa is famous. Martin Scorsese puts it aptly when he says he was:
…Stunned by the way the story was told and visualized: the contrast between the quiet tenderness of most of the film and the rigor of the famous, lengthy funeral sequence .⁴
The 1950s were a significant decade for Kurosawa with one of his most influential films, Seven Samurai (1954). The story begins when farmers hire a group of renegade samurai to protect their crops against attacks from bandits. Seven Samurai is Kurosawa’s longest film running three hours and twenty-seven minutes. It is an extensive story with a depth of character development, each of which has different reasons for joining the samurai group. Roger Ebert notes that the main subplots demonstrate “rebellion against social tradition” through low-class Kikuchiyo’s social-climbing to become a Samurai without the proper lineage as well as the high-class Katsushiro’s romance with a village girl.⁵
In line with Kurosawa’s habits of drawing from great stories of the past, Throne of Blood (1957) is based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Yet, the film is not without strong Japanese influence as Kurosawa used ideas from traditional Noh theatre as well as elemental nature.² The Noh influence appears not only in the visual and acting but in the interpretation, where themes of impermanence are emphasized, something that resonates with Noh storytelling as well as with Shakespeare’s work. It is both epic and raw, a familiar cautionary tale set in a new, dynamic environment and culture that tastefully adapts the original text.
Yojimbo is an ideal example of the cross-influence of the cowboy Western genre in Kurosawa’s work. The film tells the story Sanjuro, a brooding rōnin (a lone samurai much like a lone ranger), walks into an izakaya (similar to a saloon) where he learns about a small town’s competing crime groups and pits them against each other. Sanjuro eventually “cleans up” the town, doing away with villainous Unosuke with his excellent fighting skills. An interesting element of contrast is Unosuke’s use of a pistol and Sanjuro’s use of the traditional samurai sword and the clash of old vs. new. The sequel, Sanjuro (1962), is a more lighthearted addition with Sanjuro as a mentor to nine incompetent samurai aspirers.
Another impressive example of Kurosawa’s versatility and a unique result of his Western influence is Ran (1985). Based on William Shakespeare’s King Lear as well as stories about feudal lord Mōri Motonari of the Japanese Sengoku period, Ran follows the story of a warlord who wants to leave his place of power and give it to his three sons, who end up turning on both him and each other as a result of endless lust for power. Kurosawa made this film as an older man himself, perhaps adding to his depth of understanding for the struggles of age and the passing of time.
Finally, Kurosawa’s later career provides what is perhaps his most abstract film, Dreams (1990) — a very personal film for Kurosawa made in part with collaboration from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. It is an anthological amalgamation of 8 highly symbolic stories with characteristic elements and themes such as traditional Japanese culture, humanity’s delicate relationship with nature, and the tragedy of war. One overarching takeaway could be that ack of respect for nature wreaks ruin while harmony with nature creates societal harmony.
Kurosawa’s extensive and illustrious career makes it impossible to summarize his work and impact without leaving significant gaps. Still, even a limited selection of his work demonstrates his mastery of storytelling. Kurosawa’s work is a narrative of extremes: the continuous battle between tradition and modernity, class and ambition, East versus West, and humanity’s balance with nature — all culminating in complex moral themes.
References
[1] Prince, Stephen. The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. 1991. Print.
[2] Stafford, Roy. “Kurosawa: Master of World Cinema.” National Media Museum. 22 August 2010. PDF.
[3] Kurosawa, Akira. Something Like an Autobiography. Vintage Books: A Division of Random House, Ney York. Print. 1983.
[4] Scorsese, Martin. “Akira Kurosawa: Martin Scorsese on the Legendary Director — the Subject of a Multimedia Exhibition.” Architectural Digest. 1 November, 2008. Web Magazine.
[5] Ebert, Roger. “Great Movie: The Seven Samurai.” Ebert Digital LLC. 19 August, 2001. Web. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-seven-samurai-1954
