Harakiri (1962)
What befalls others today, may be your own fate tomorrow.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi · Writer: Shinobu Hashimoto
Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.
Where to watch
Criterion Channel
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Trailer
Director
Masaki Kobayashi
Cast
Tatsuya Nakadai
Hanshiro Tsugumo 
Akira Ishihama
Motome Chijiiwa 
Shima Iwashita
Miho Tsugumo 
Tetsuro Tamba
Hikokuro Omodaka 
Masao Mishima
Tango Inaba 
Ichirō Nakatani
Hayato Yazaki 
Kei Satō
Masakazu 
Yoshio Inaba
Jinai Chijiiwa 
Hisashi Igawa
Retainer 
Toru Takeuchi
Retainer 
Yoshirō Aoki
Tatsuo Matsumura
User Reviews (2)
This is an amazing Japanese classic written and filmed without flaw. The action unfolds in story-telling within story-telling. This is a film about truth. Whose truth? That is the unfoldment. In a perverted way, this amazing piece of work has become predictive of Western corporate banking. Perhaps you'll see what I mean at the end of the film.
**It's a film that might scare modern audiences a bit, but it deserves the opportunity we want to give it.** In addition to having a very strong film industry, Japan is a country with a very rich past that we in the West tend to devalue. A somewhat ethnocentric attitude, more typical of small minds. For a long time, the Japanese were a people divided by several feudal princes who fought among themselves, disputing power and regional influence. It was in this context, moreover, that the first contact between the Japanese and the Portuguese took place, the first Westerners to disembark, demonstrably (Marco Polo speaks of the Japanese, but he probably never went there), on the islands of Japan, where they took the first firearm, the Christian faith and a strong cultural influence: even today, in the Japanese language, there are hundreds of words directly imported from Portuguese. The …
