The Seven Samurai

Introduction

“The Seven Samurai” can be considered director Kurosawa Akira’s most renowned masterpiece. However, not a lot of people are familiar with the story of the film as it was made nearly 70 years ago. 

This article will explain the summary of “The Seven Samurai” as well as the cast of the film.  To learn about this excellent film that represents Japan, we hope that you read this article until the very end. 

Summary of The Seven Samurai

“The Seven Samurai” is Kurosawa Akira’s masterpiece which was first released in the year 1954. The film stars Mifune Toshirō and Shimura Takashi. It is set in the Sengoku Period of Japan and is about villagers hiring 7 samurais to protect their village from nobushi or wandering samurais. Together they overcome the difference in social class and cooperate to protect the village. 

The running time is 207 minutes, but the film is composed of two parts; a first half and latter half with an interval of 5 minutes in between.

The production cost of this film was over 200 million yen, and this is equal to 7 times the cost of a general film which was made at that time. From the fact that filming was delayed a number of times, we can see that it was filmed under tough circumstances. However, these efforts paid off with the film becoming a huge hit and a commercial success.

Extra attention was put into historical accuracy and the action scenes. Instead of the original kabuki-like moves of the battle scenes in past films, a more realistic and dynamic approach was taken.

Back then, entertainment movies were not popular among film critics in Japan, and they paid very little attention to this film. However, with the film making more than 200 million yen at the box office, it gained more interest and popularity.

Additionally, this film is known for being one of the most famous Japanese films. In the 15th Venice International Film Festival of 1954, it won the Silver Lion Award. The film greatly inspired the works of many film directors in Japan and overseas.

In 1960, the film was remade as “The Magnificent Seven” in the U.S. with a jidaigeki turned into a Western film. It topped the poll in BBC’s “The 100 greatest foreign-language films” in 2018 and also ranked 7th out of all best 100 films.

The original version was re-released in the U.S. in 2002 and made $271,841 in the box office. Since the film is from nearly 70 years ago, the original was filmed the traditional way; however, there is a 4K remastered version of this available today, and we highly recommend you to watch the film in this version.

Synopsis of The Seven Samurai

As previously explained, the film consists of a first half and a latter half. We will now provide you with the full synopsis of either of these parts in The Seven Samurai.  

The first half of The Seven Samurai

The story begins in a farming village in the woods of the late Sengoku Period. People of the village are in constant fear of being attacked by nobushis who had become bandits. 

One day, one of the villagers overhears the conversation of the nobushis in the mountains. It becomes clear that they are planning an attack on the town with 40 nobushis to steal the rice at the time of its harvest. From past experiences, the villagers were already aware that the local magistrate would not protect them; therefore, they were in the depths of despair. 

Amidst all this, a young farmer named Rikichi insists that they fight the nobushis. The other villagers disagree but with Rikichi’s persuasion, the village elder Gisaku chooses to fight. Their plan was to firstly look for broke and hungry samurais to hire as guards of the village.

4 villagers Rikichi, Mosuke, Manzō and Yōhei are chosen to head to lodging houses in post-station towns in search of samurais who might be able to help them. They keep asking samurais they come across for help, only to be rejected one after another. The villagers are at a loss of what to do.

Meanwhile, a bandit breaks into a nearby farmhouse, takes a child hostage and barricades himself inside. Who came into the rescue of the child was an elderly samurai named Kanbē, disguised as a monk. After witnessing Kanbē’s heroic act, a young samurai named Katsushirō asks Kanbē if he could be his apprentice. Kanbē is also approached by Rikichi to help with fighting the nobushis.

However, Kanbē turns down Rikichi’s request because he believes it takes at least 7 samurais to protect a village. People who saw them have this conversation pressed Kanbē  to cooperate and he is left with no other choice but to accept this very difficult task.

Members who followed Kanbē include the friendly Heihachi, his former buddy Shichirōji, Gorōbē who is deeply charmed by Kanbē’s personality, Kyūzō with excellent sword skills, and finally Katsushirō. Additionally, a man named Kikuchiyo tags along, completing the members of The Seven Samurai.

When the group arrives at the village, the villagers are frightened at the sight of the samurais and do not come out to greet them. Kikuchiyo thinks quickly and makes a false alarm by shouting, “The Nobushis are attacking!” Kikuchiyo was actually a former farmer who left this village in hopes of becoming a samurai.

The villagers who believed that they were under attack ask the samurais to help them, which breaks the ice in between. Kanbē and the men come up with ways to protect the village, and also teach them what to expect in battle. Meanwhile, Katsushiro had fallen for Shino, the daughter of Manzō and there is mutual attraction between them.

While making plans, it is decided that the villagers are to protect the village’s defense line by themselves. However, there arose a problem because this made it difficult for them to protect the several houses built beyond the stream. Some villagers began to get selfish and started to protect their own homes only, and it seemed the bond between them was falling apart.

From the sight of these villagers, Kanbē extracts his sword and explodes with anger. He once again teaches the villagers the mindset they should have in preparation for battle; it was nearly time.

The latter half of The Seven Samurai

One day after rice harvesting, the nobushis finally make an appearance to spy on the village. The samurais catch the nobushis and are able to extract the location of their headquarters. To forestall the enemies’ attack, the samurais head to their headquarters and set the place on fire.

However, among the women who were captured by the nobushis was Rikichi’s wife. She notices Rikichi and jumps into the fire, Rikichi goes after her to save her, and Heihachi in an attempt to stop Rikichi is killed by gunshot. Back in the village, everyone mourns the death of Heihachi but they are interrupted by the attack of the nobushis, marking the beginning of battle.

Their entry is prevented by the fence and moat which was prepared earlier; however, the village elder Gisaku is killed after trying to protect the houses beyond the defense line. Although sacrifices were made, the plan seemed to be working as the nobushis divided and were decreasing in number.

Meanwhile, quite a number of villagers are killed in battle because Kikuchiyo had deserted his post. Gorōbē is also shot and killed. The battle is temporarily suspended with sunset, and some of the exhausted villagers begin to run away.

And in the heavy rain, the remaining 13 nobushis attack the village once again. Kanbē intentionally lets them inside the village and ambushes them, marking the beginning of the final battle. Nobushis were defeated one after another, some escaped, and it was getting pretty clear which side was going to win the battle.

However, the chief of the nobushis who was thought to have escaped, kills Kyūzō by gunshot. Kikuchiyo is also shot but manages to kill the chief before he dies. This brings the battle to the end and there is finally peace in the village.

There were 3 samurais who survived. Kanbē mutters, “This again was a losing battle” and makes a remark that “the victory belongs to the peasants (villagers), and not to us”. The film ends with the samurais’ gaze leading to 4 graves with swords struck into each of the heaps of soil.

The Cast of The Seven Samurai

The Seven Samurai is known for its amazing cast of talented actors. We will be introducing 5 actors out of the 7 who played the seven samurais.

Mifune Toshirō

As everyone already knows, he is referred to as ‘Mifune of the world’. Mifune was born on April 1, 1920. He was 34 when The Seven Samurai was released in 1954. In this film, he plays a rōnin named Kikuchiyo.

Mifune became internationally acclaimed for his performance and was nominated for best actor in the British Academy Awards. After that, as many of you already know, he became the representative actor of Japan.

In the film, he has many highlight scenes of his own, and we are able to enjoy the youthful and wild performance of Mifune Toshiro.

Shimura Takashi

The great actor, Shimura Takashi was born on March 12, 1905, and he is an essential part of Kurosawa Akira films. In The Seven Samurai, he plays Kanbē who is the leader of the samurais and his character and Mifune’s character are both considered leading roles. This film became his representative work. 

Shimura is known as a regular in Kurosawa films, and is highly acclaimed overseas. 

Miyaguchi Seiji

Miyaguchi Seiji was born on November 15, 1913. In this film he plays Kyūzō, the shrewd swordsman. Kyūzō is a character who does not say very much, but his excellent sword fighting skills shine throughout the film. 

Although Kyūzō is killed with a bullet shot in the end, he notifies the direction of the shooter which was of great help to the rest of the samurais. Miyaguchi won the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1983, and is also a great actor who represents Japan. 

Kimura Isao

Kimura Isao was born on June 22, 1923. Kimura plays the youth, Katsushirō in this film. His character is the youngest of the seven samurais with very little fighting experience. Towards the end, he witnesses many of his fellow samurais die one after another, and is unable to do anything about the situation until the battle is over. 

Kimura is also a regular in Kurosawa Akira films as he made an appearance in films such as  “To Live” and “High and Low”. However, he passed away at the young age of 58 from esophageal cancer. 

Katō Daisuke

Katō was born on February 18, 1911. He plays Shichirōji, the former buddy of Kanbē. Katō was originally an apprentice Kabuki actor, and starred in several films under the stage name, Ichikawa Enji.

Katō was born to a family of actors, and the brothers Nagato Hiroyuki and Tsugawa Masahiko are his nieces. Other than Kurosawa Akira, he also worked with director Ozu Yasujirō and appeared in his films as a regular. He gained popularity as an excellent supporting actor in many Japanese films. 

Film Reviews of The Seven Samurai

Finally, we would like to list some reviews of The Seven Samurai from famous movie review websites overseas. We can see how highly the film has been rated overseas. 

IMDb（☆8.6/10）

In 1954, Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai” left its mark on the history of international films.

Everything about this film is marvelous. Although it has a long running time of approximately 3 hours and a half, every second of every minute is unbelievably well-made. Kurosawa’s skilfull and captivating filming techniques, beautiful art direction and unforgettable characters all combine to create the most intelligent and finest movies of all time. The first hour of the film is spent on the portrayal of the “four-dimensional” characters. When watching this film, the audience takes in every aspect of the characters; they trust and grieve and in the end believe in everything about them. “The Last Samurai” created the basis of all action films of the present, and this can even be seen in films such as “Predator” or “Alien”. The combat scenes are amazing and the quick-paced editing is groundbreaking. You are bound to change your mind about trouble with subtitles or watching long films, because Kurosawa will never disappoint you with his absolute film making. “Yojimbo” and “High and Low” are also greatly recommended.   

Rotten Tomatoes（☆4.7/5.0）

The film’s energy and strength is expressed throughout with theatrical relish and talent. 

The energy springs out at you from the screen like a sword. 

Those who enjoy Western films will find this picture to be of great sport. 

The actors responded to Kurosawa’s sensitive and intelligent directions with impressive performances. In “The Seven Samurai”, Kurosawa displayed his talent in putting violent action on screen, and this was a massive excitement for the audience. 

Kurosawa san made yet another high ranking film. 

One of the best films ever made.

“The Seven Samurai” is a spectacle of human spirit and an interplay of hope and questions we have about the way the world should be. Finally, the film is an epic in which idea and action combine within a surprising range. 

Reelviews（☆5.0/5.0）

The most popular exported films of Japan are definitely samurai movies. Books have been written on this genre and more than one mail-order video business has made quite a profit from shipping samurai tapes and DVDs all over the world. The best jidaigeki film is Kurosawa Akira’s “The Seven Samurai” from 1954, and this film not only influenced the way people viewed the samurai genre, but also elevated its status. The film was influential, not only to the Japanese audience but to fans overseas, and its popularity led to the creation of the remade film, “The Magnificent Seven”. Japanese film critics of the 1950’s were dismissive of the film, but since then the film has achieved an almost mythical status. A group of critics from the 2000’s selected this film as the best Japanese film of all time. 

The Seven Samurai in Summary

The running time of 207 minutes is quite long, but “The Seven Samurai” is a classic which makes you forget how long it is. Just by looking at overseas reviews, you can tell how high the quality of the film is. If you are interested, we highly recommend you watch the film, “The Seven Samurai”.