Casually flipping through the "Bushido" by Niwato Inazō (1862-1933) in the Business Japan series, I felt that the spiritual dogmas praised in the book that enjoyed a religious height coincided with the idealism projected by Akira Kurosawa in The Seven Samurai.
In "Seven Samurai", seven people with inexplicable identities are engaged in the rapid decay of fighting for the peasants, but we still respect them as samurai, and affirm that their behavior is the embodiment of some kind of spirit of sailing against the current, and the reason is quite interesting.
In the fallen samurai, pride and self-esteem are still the same, the ultimate reason why the seven samurai can make the trip is obviously not a bowl of white rice in front of them, but a kind of righteous chivalrous demeanor, the so-called samurai, is no longer a group dedicated to the lord to attack the city and plunder the land, they can also be idle people who help the weak and righteous, etc., they maintain the true righteousness of Bushido, so at the end of the film, collectively upgraded to real samurai, even Kikuchiyo such a fake, but also because of the embodiment of the spirit of Bushido and finally recognized, the spirit of the samurai, so it was reinterpreted This is the soul of Akira Kurosawa's idealism.
Nitodo Inazō summarized the spirit of Bushido into seven categories: righteousness, courage, benevolence, courtesy, sincerity, honor, and loyalty, of which righteousness, he interpreted, was the decisive mind, that is, the will to make up its mind without hesitation based on reason.
The appearance of Shichirōji is an excellent interpretation of righteousness - Qilangji, dressed as a hawker, came in laughing and laughing, and Kanbei: "Are you still alive?" Shichirō smiled slightly, "I covered my head with water weeds in the moat." When the castle collapsed, I thought it would be over this time. "There is a nameless and unprofitable hard battle, can you participate?" This time I'm going to die. Shichirōji just smiled and gladly agreed, which was a righteous act.
Regarding Yong, Nitoto said that unless it is done in righteousness, there is no value, and it is true to live when it is to live, and to die when it is to die. Dying for something that is not worth it, he is ridiculed by Bushido as "dog death".
Kikuchiyo learned to take the gun, although successful, but still belonged to the courage of the puppet, but his death, the meaning is completely different, when it was, Kuzo was shot and killed by the mountain thief hiding behind the crack in the door, Kikuchiyo found the point of fire, without hesitation (this is also the embodiment of righteousness) with the knife rushed to the mountain thief, fell down, struggled, forced the mountain thief with the knife, killed him with the last strength, and then fell in the rain and mud, explaining the word yong with the last blow of the blood boiling.
The so-called benevolence, which Shinto explains as the heart of compassion, is actually borrowed from Mencius's saying that "the heart of compassion is the end of benevolence". In the film, Ren is reflected in the promise of the kanbei to the peasants, and for the farmers' request, the kanbei initially said, "There is no room for consideration." But he added, "It's harder to defend than to attack, you said that there is a mountain behind the village, right?" In the dialogue with the peasants, the atmosphere seemed to ease, "It is not easy to find so many reliable samurai, it is not possible to have a warm heart, and I am tired of fighting and getting old." ”
At this time, there was the sob of the farmer Liji, and the porter on the side said, "Fortunately, if you are not a farmer, the dogs are not as good!" The guards heard the discoloration, took the bowl of rice, and looked at Li Ji, "I will not eat this bowl of rice casually!" ”
In the end, what made the guards make up their minds was undoubtedly his compassion. Similarly, Katsushiro, who dreamed of becoming a samurai, also showed his benevolent side early on, when the farmer and Ping slapped Riki because the rice was stolen, crying and picking up a few grains of rice on the ground, clanging, a pile of money fell in front of him, it was Katsushiro who helped him, it can be said that from this moment on, he has become a samurai spiritually.
Nitodo explains benevolence, including benevolence to the weak and the loser. The samurai's benevolence to the loser is also explained in the film, but this momentary compassion is quickly overwhelmed by the anger of the peasants - in the first confrontation, the samurai captures a mountain thief, and the peasants' opinion is "Take the pickaxe and kill him!" "We don't need samurai to do it, we do it!" Kuzo said, "Wait a minute, this guy has already begged for forgiveness, so we don't have to kill him." ”
Kuzo, who was full of benevolence toward the losers, was a true samurai who met the essence of Bushido.
Nitodo said that etiquette is tolerance and compassion, not jealousy, no boasting, no arrogance, no indecency, no self-interest, no anger, no evil thoughts. The scene where Katsushiro and Shino are dating is discovered by Kuzo, who is practicing martial arts, but Kuzo has never leaked the wind and has taken the initiative to save food for Katsushiro. The samurai found the blind mother-in-law, and the mother-in-law said, "I hope to die early, but I am afraid that there will be so much pain in the underworld." ”
Heihachi comforted, "No, there are no bandits in the underworld, and there are no famines." On the eve of the decisive battle, Katsushiro and Shino Yu will be discovered, Shino's father Manzo will make trouble, and Shichiro ji sincerely persuades Manzo: "People need comfort each other without knowing life and death, you think about it for young people, this is not too much!" "This is tolerance and compassion, and Shichirōji and Gorobei always smile at each other when things happen, which is not anger."
Jiuzang snatched the gun and returned, sent the musket to the survey guard, and then returned to his position to close his eyes and rest, without saying a word, which is the most typical not boasting, not arrogant, not seeking self-interest.
The so-called sincerity is a lofty standard of faithfulness. In connection with the performance of the surveyors and guards before and after the entire battle, talking about strategy, emphasizing tactics, knowing oneself and knowing the other, and doing what he said, he was indeed worthy of this bowl of rice.
The second of the seven samurai to die, Goro Bingwei, with a heart of blood, gave his confidant, and the most unforgettable thing was a sentence he said when he agreed to the invitation of the kanbei guard, "I understand the suffering of the peasants, but I accept this task, mainly because of your character." This is heartbreakingly sincere, and the soldier dies for the confidant, and he finally verifies the opening statement with his own life.
Kuzo initially refused the invitation of the Kanbei on the grounds that in order to seek the highest state of kendo, the samurai did not forget to practice while the samurai rested, showing his sincerity for his ideals in life.
He quietly came to the guest house where the samurai rested, silently joined the ranks of the crowd, and also showed a sincere sincerity for the great righteousness that was rarely seen in the era of the demise of the samurai, and even his death also confirmed his absolute sincerity under the cold face.
By the way, the loyalty of The New Todo mainly refers to "the common happiness and suffering of the monarch who is in decline", and it does not exist in the film, so it is best to understand loyalty and sincerity as a loyalty to one's own beliefs.
In the chapter "Reputation," Nitoto says that the sense of honor contains the dignity of the human person and the consciousness of value. In connection with Japan's culture of shame, reputation also implies anger when dignity is harmed.
The samurai led the villagers to start practicing, Kikuchiyo wore samurai armor, led the peasants to carry a load of samurai equipment, Kikuchiyo said, "This is the peasants captured by the desert samurai, armor, spears, bows, there are all here!" Unexpectedly, the guards looked angry and didn't say a word, and Qilangji, who had been treating people and being angry, was also pale, "This armor was obtained by the peasants who stabbed the samurai to death, you, are you still a samurai?" The guards hurriedly hit the round field, "Forget it, people who have not been deserted warriors will not understand this feeling." ”
The real flashpoint of this scene, the contradiction, is that the dignity of the samurai has been violated, and the peasants are not as simple and pitiful as the samurai think, but the reason why this fact makes the samurai angry is because everyone deeply understands the sadness of their own fate, the harsh reality is that they must fight for the peasants who have damaged the reputation of the samurai, no wonder the taciturn Kuzo also said a surprising sentence, "I really want to kill the people of this village!" ”
As part of the essence of Japanese culture, bushido dogma does not die with the demise of the samurai class, and Akira Kurosawa attaches the spirit of Bushido in his understanding to seven people who have lost and never acquired samurai status, thus acquiring a nostalgic and filler style of writing that has passed away and the spirit remains.
However, for the other side of Bushido, we have better have a clear understanding, and Kurosawa's contemporary Japanese director Imai Ishi in 1963 had a Berlin Golden Bear "The Cruel Story of Bushido" handed down, the spearhead pointed to the negative impact of the Bushido spirit on the collective unconscious of modern Japanese people, it is best to compare it with "Seven Samurai".