Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island

In Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956), Musashi's rival Kojiro Sasaki seeks an ambitious post in capital city of Edo but his lack in restraint during a duel causes him to lose a chance at the position. Although a swordsman of almost supernatural talent, he lacks the spiritual depth that Musashi has acquired over the years. In the meantime Musashi settles in a village and takes up farming. Akemi, now a geisha, visits him and is coerced by bandits into aiding a plan to kill him and sack the village. Finally, Musashi accepts Kojiro's challenge to a duel on the island of Ganryu. Shortly before shooting the final part of Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai trilogy, Toshiro Mifune had completed Record of a Living Being (1955), a deeply personal film by Akira Kurosawa about the threat of nuclear war. Although well-regarded by critics in Japan, Kurosawa's film failed at the box office. Compared to the first two films in the trilogy, Samurai III allows Mifune to create a more complex and introspective character. Whereas the first two films were photographed by Jun Yasumoto, this time Inagaki collaborated with Kazuo Yamada, who does beautiful work throughout, but especially during the climactic seaside duel. After this film Yamada photographed major Inagaki films such as The Rickshaw Man (1958), also starring Mifune; Chushingura (1962), a color and widescreen version of the classic tale of the loyal 47 ronin; and Inagaki's final two collaborations with Mifune, Samurai Banners (1969) and Incident at Blood Pass (1970). Samurai III also contains a performance by Takashi Shimura, one of Kurosawa's favorite actors and one of the best Japanese actors of the postwar era in general, as a court official. Producer: Kazuo Takimura Direction: Hiroshi Inagaki Script: Tokuhei Wakao and Hiroshi Inagaki, based on Hideji Hojo's adaptation of the novel Musashi Miyamoto by Eiji Yoshikawa Director of Photography: Kazuo Yamada Lighting: Tsuruzo Nishikawa Art Direction: Hiroshi Ueda, Kisaku Ito Music: Ikuma Dan Cast: Toshiro Mifune (Takezo/Musashi Miyamoto); Michiko Saga (Omitsu); Haruo Tanaka (Kumagoro); Koji Tsuruta (Kojiro Sasaki); Takashi Shimura (Court official Sado Nagaoka); Kichijiro Ueda (Priest Ogon); Kaoru Yachigusa (Otsu); Minoru Chiaki (Sasuke); Kokuten Kodo (Priest Nikkan); Mariko Okada (Akemi); Daisuke Kato (Toji Gion). C-105m. by James Steffen Sources: Galbraith, Stuart IV. The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. London: Faber and Faber, 2001.