Hara-Kiri (1962)

• Year: 1962
• Released: 04 Aug 1964
• Country: Japan
• Adwords: 9 wins & 3 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056058/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/harakiri
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hara-kiri
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Japanese
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery
• Runtime: 133 min
• Writer: Yasuhiko Takiguchi, Shinobu Hashimoto
• Director: Masaki Kobayashi
• Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita
• Keywords: revenge, suicide, japan, flashback, samurai,

	8.6/10
	85/100
	100% – Critics
	97% – Audience

Hara-Kiri Storyline

In 1630, after a long period of peace in Japan following the end of the clans, thousand of samurais do not have masters and are living in absolute poverty. The ronin Hanshiro Tsugumo and former samurai of Lord of Geishu arrives at the house of Lord Lyi requesting a spot to commit hara-kiri (an honorable form of suicide). Tsugumo is received by Umenosuke Kawabe, who tells the story of the young samurai Motome Chijiiwa that arrived at the house also asking for a place to commit hara-kiri but expecting to receive coins instead. The warrior Hikokuro Omodaka convinces the clan to force Chijiiwa to really commit suicide using his bamboo blade as an example to other samurais that would appear using the same pretext to receive coins from the master. Tsugumo discloses that the lad Chijiiwa was his son-in-law that was forced to the situation expecting to raise some money to treat his sick wife and baby son. Further, Tsugumo had arrives in the house expecting to die not committing suicide, but revenging Chijiiwa, his daughter and his grandson.

Hara-Kiri Play trailer

Hara-Kiri Photos

Hara-Kiri Torrents Download

Hara-Kiri Subtitles Download

Hara-Kiri Movie Reviews

Does to the Samurai genre what Wild Bunch did to the Western!

Having seen this film the mind becomes clouded with the innumerable things to say about it. Only praise comes to mind. Kobayashi has crafted The great samurai film for the rebel generation and he mixes a deftly handled criticism of authoritarian hypocrisy with a very touching piece of human drama.

The plot is deceptively simple: an old samurai (touchingly portrayed by Tatsuya Nakadai of “Ran”, “Kagemusha” and “Sword of Doom”) arrives at a clan castle to commit seppuku in their yard, and then tells his tale, seemingly trying to gain time at first. What seems to be the rambling of an old man soon turns out to be a grieving account of how this man (and, more significantly, his loved ones) was wronged by the clan. Then comes the violent revenge (this is where you think “Wild Bunch with katanas”, though they do up the ante toward the end with guns…).

Kobayashi’s direction is masterful, keeping an unbearable suspense during the mostly talky film, handling the touching scenes with care and maturity and giving us a sweeping fight to top all that. The 133 minutes running time never feels half that long! At the heart of it all though, is Nakadai, who, despite an excellent CV, delivers his greatest performance ever. His Tsugumo evokes a wounded panther, grieving an grieving until it gives in to fury. Nakadai’s performance alone marks the film as essential viewing.

If you’re open to samurai flicks, this will rank among the finest films you’ve ever seen.

Sort of an “Anti-Samurai” flick

This film was very well-made and the story is excellent. The story begins with a man asking his local warlord permission to commit ritual suicide. His reason is that the country has been at peace so long that ronin (out of work and master-less Samurai) have no income and nothing to do. So, instead of the indignity of just wasting away, a vicious and painful suicide is apparently the best option! Instead of instantly granting this request, the Counselor tells the suicidal ronin about a similar request that occurred recently and how the ronin who killed himself probably only asked for permission to die as a ruse to get money from the warlord! In other words, this other man had hoped that his request would NOT be granted and he would instead been given a small income. But, not wanting to see the Bushido code perverted, the warlord demanded that this man commit ritual suicide–even though the sword the ronin had was made of bamboo and doing the painful ritual was super-painful and difficult with such a sword.

This story was pretty interesting but how it related to this second ronin is what makes this story so interesting. Plus, I loved how the story ended.

Overall, I think this is a bit of an “anti-Samurai” film, as it talked how adherence to the rules of Bushido actually could be very cruel and violate the spirit of the feudal system. The inherent cruelty and desire to only worry about appearances instead of right and wrong make this an excellent and intriguing movie. Good stuff.

horrific scene

It’s 1630. There is peace in the land and many samurai have become poor homeless vagrants. Hanshiro Tsugumo is a samurai whose clan has fallen. He comes to the home of a feudal clan to ask permission to commit seppuku within the courtyard. Kageyu Saito is a senior counsel and he tries to deter the man with the story of another ronin Motome Chijiiwa from the same clan. They forced him to do the job despite he has sold his blade. All he has is a blade made of bamboo. It’s a brutal painful event. Nevertheless, Hanshiro insists on continuing with his seppuku and then he reveals that he did indeed know Motome.

The first recollection is actually quite compelling. It catches my attention culminating in one of the most memorable horrific scenes. The rest of the movie can’t really compare. It’s another series of recollections and it’s not as compelling. I think it would be just as good to compress the second half and keep the big final fight.