Rashomon

1
Rashomon/???

• -Do you still believe in yourself?

2
Who is Akutagawa?

• ?? ???
• Born in March 1 1892 and died in July 24, 1927.
• Studied English literature at Tokyo Imperial
  University.
• Wrote over 150 short stories, including The
  Nose, The Spiders Thread, The hell Screen, In a
  Grove, Kappa. He did not write a full length
  novel. He ended his life by suicide with the word
  ????????? (dim uneasiness)

3
The West and The East

• Akutagawa was often inspired by India and Chinese
  fairy tale.
• What does Akutagawas cultural inspiration from
  India and China tell us?
• Before the end of Russo-Japanese War, Japan had
  been influenced both culturally and mentally by
  India and China. India and China had been Japans
  West for long time.
• It tells us that the West is absolutely
  changeable according to several social factors.
  It is not a pure concept at all. We must be aware
  of this when we study a culture.

4
?? ?(Akira Kurosawa)

• -Born in March 23, 1910 and died in
• September 6, 1998.
• -A witness of Japans national
  changing
• from the military dominant
  imperial country
• to the economic giant.
• -Kurosawas best-known films are
  set in
• Japans feudal period (13th-17th
  century)
• Some of his plots are
  adaptations of William Shakespeares work Ran
  based on King Lear, and Throne of Blood, based on
  Macbeth. Also, he worked on film adaptation of
  The Idiot by Dostoevsky. Later in his life he
  worked on Hollywood project Tora! Tora! Tora!

5
Filmography of Akira Kurosawa

• Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
• The One Most Beautiful (1944)
• Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945)
• They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail (1945)
• No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
• One Wonderful Sunday (1946)
• Drunken Angel (1948)
• The Quiet Duel (1949)
• Stray Dog (1949)
• Scandal (1950)
• Rashomon (1950)
• The Idiot (1951)
• Ikiru aka To Live (1952)
• The Seven Samurai (1954) Record of a Living Being
  (1955)
• The Throne of Blood aka Spider Web Castle (1957)

• The Lower Depths (1957)
• The Hidden Fortress (1958)
• The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
• Yojimbo aka The Bodyguard (1961)
• Sanjuro (1962)
• High and Low aka Heaven and Hell (1963)
• Red Beard (1965)
• Dodesukaden (1970)
• Dersu Uzala (1975)
• Kagemusha aka Shadow Warrior (1980)
• Ran (1985)
• Dreams aka Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990)
• Rhapsody in August (1991)
• Madadayo aka Not Yet (1993)

6
Allegory VS Akutagawa and Kurosawa

• Both of the authors prefer to talk about their
  stories as allegory.
• Why? What is the power of allegory?
• Allegory can be more than real, because it leaves
  us room to think and imagine what is happening in
  the actuality. A directly spoken story sometimes
  has an already determined interpretation. We,
  readers, occasionally have more difficulty to
  participate in the story. Taking advantage of the
  power of our imagination allows us to think about
  the story deeply and gain our own truth from
  there.

7
So, what is the truth?

• It was certainly me, Tajoumaru, who killed that
  man?Tajoumaru?
• In Rashomon everybody makes something up, and
  certainly tells a lie not only for the audience
  but also for themselves.
• However, their way of speech tells us that each
  of them is with certain degree of reality on
  their stories. They convey their story very
  realistically.
• What is the truth in this story?

8
What do you see in this picture?

• For you, is this a picture of a
• looking back young woman, or
• the side face of an old woman?

9
Fact/Reality/TruthTruth is in a grove

• Fact is the most objective thing. Fact is
  something as it is. However, we always fail to
  tell a fact accurately because of the limitation
  of language an limitation of perception.
  Incidentally, this is one of main themes embodied
  in Rashomon and In a Grove.
• Reality is a matter of feeling. As long as we
  feel something is real after the serious
  exploration of the matter, even though it is
  different from the fact, we are able to say it is
  real.
• Truth is the most subjective one. It is a choice
  of reality. We collect several pieces of object
  to get the entire image of the object. Truth
  depends on which piece we employ.

10
The background of Rashomon

• Why did Kurosawa need to talk about fact,
  reality, and truth? What makes him speak about
  the dilemma of humans memory, and unreliability
  of human?

11
Society at that time (1950)

• ???????????????
• So, what? Only one Why up on top of this gate.
  Theres
• always 5 or 6bodies, no one worries about them.
• Youre right. Yes, each year is full of
  disaster I, for one, have seen hundreds of
  people killed like tiny insects
• 1937-1945 Second Shino-Japanese War.
• 1941-1945 World War ?/ Asian Pacific War
• 1945 8 15, Japan surrendered to the United
  States, England, Soviet Union, and China, which
  is the end of its imperialism.
• Death was everywhere at that time, because of the
  war.
• However

12
The Tokyo War Crimes Trials

• ????????????????
• Well, men are only menThats why they lie. They
  cant tell the truth even to themselves.
• May 3, 1946 to Novenber 12, 1948 The Tokyo War
  Crimes Trials. ?People started to know what the
  Japanese imperialism and their military have
  done, in addition to their own tragedies. In this
  trial, some of the suspects did not convey the
  truth
• After all, what is to be trusted nowadays? Look,
  we all want to forget something undesirable to
  see. So we construct stories to replace.
• Its easier that way
• Easier that way?

13
Eyes speak more than words?

• Even nowI remember his eyes. it was a cold
  hatred of me. ?Masago (the woman)?
• Characters often emphasized that his/her eyes
  tell something. Eyes has an impact but leads to
  misunderstanding.
• There is a cultural cliché in Japanese context
  the people do not look at eyes.
• What Kurosawas usage of eyes in the movie
  reflect on?

14
Invisible authority

• Yes, indeed. Excuse me?
• ?the man who captured Tajoumaru?
• The characters speak/repeat the questions by
  themselves. We cannot hear the authority
  speaking.
• What is the significance of this new style of
  monologue?
• Where is the police?

15
Authority is nowhere but in our imagination.

• 1945-1952 GHQ occupation.
• The invisible authority might be behind us.
  Authority is always invisible. Authority is an
  imaginary creation. There is no authority in the
  world. Every authority can be disillusioned. We
  might need authority occasionally, but we should
  be aware that it is based upon our imagination.

16
The baby in the last scene

• Does the baby really act as an implication of a
  hope?
• It depends on the version of story you have
  gained from this story.