Twilight Samurai

Twilight Samurai, a film directed by Yoji Yamada, gives an excellent depiction of Japanese life and history in the mid 1800s. The main character of the film is a poor widowed Samurai-Seibei Iguchi. The movie starts off with one of Seibei’s daughters narrating her father’s life story. She explains that after her mother died, her father took care of the two sisters and their senile grandmother. He lost the desire to fight with the sword and dedicated his life to taking care of his children and mother.


A major subplot of the movie is Seibei Iguchi reuniting with his childhood love Tomoe .Tomoe recently divorced her drunk husband and is in search of company. She spends her free time teaching Seibei’s daughters how to cook and take care of the house. It is evident from the film that Seibei and Tomoe fall in love. Seibei Samurai even challenges her drunk ex-husband to a duel after the husband comes barging into Tomoe’s house drunk one night.


Towards the end of the movie, Seibei Iguchi is called to kill a samurai who has been ordered to commit seppuku and refuses to do so. This tension arises after the lord of Seibei’s clan has died and a new leader must be chosen. This part of the narration was a bit confusing to me since I am still unclear of the organization of each Samurai clan. Perhaps some one can provide more clarification in the forum.


I would definitely use parts of the film to provide my students background knowledge of 19th century Medieval Japan. Students can also learn about the different ranks and levels of the Samurai class within Medieval Japan.
edited by fmakhani on 1/17/2012
edited by fmakhani on 1/17/2012