• 木挽町のあだ打ち (Samurai Vengeance)

8/21/26 (Fri)

The Japanese title of Minamoto Takashi’s entertaining period flick, based on a best-selling book, translates to Revenge at Kobikicho, referring to a former district that boasted one of Edo’s three great Kabuki theaters, the Moritaza (near today’s Kabukiza). I was taken by the odd spelling of the word “revenge” in the title, only later realizing its significance. The English title as usual throws in “samurai” for marketing purposes, but the only real samurai swordfight in the film is not what it seems. This is, in fact, less a warrior bloodfest than a comedy-mystery.

The setting is 1810. A woman coming out of a crowded performance at the Moritaza – playing, as it happens, the ultimate vendetta drama Chushingura (The 47 Ronin) – is suddenly approached in the snowy streets by a ruffian. The “woman” turns out to be a samurai, Kikunosuke, in disguise, and the ruffian, Sakubei, is the one who killed the man’s father back in rural Mino (today’s Gifu). Kikunosuke throws off his bright red kimono to reveal a warrior’s outfit and sword underneath. People quickly gather to watch a real-life revenge drama, and the theater obliges by turning its spotlights (did those exist in 1810??) onto the fighters. After a vigorous battle, Kikunosuke emerges with the attacker’s head and declares loudly that he has achieved his vendetta. It seems odd that the hunted would seek out his hunter or that they would coincidentally meet on the streets in faraway Edo, especially given Kikunosuke’s disguise. But that doesn’t seem to occur to anyone amid all the excitement. When this scene repeats itself at the end of the film, we see it in a whole new light (shades of One Cut of the Dead).

Some 18 months later, a man named Soichiro, describing himself as Kikunosuke’s relative, arrives in town seeking information about the incident. He finds it hard to believe that the gentle country bumpkin Kikunosuke would be involved in such violence and wonders how he even found his way to Edo. He interviews witnesses who were observing from the theater, including the barker, playwright, fight choreographer, prop guy, and onnagata (female-role specialist), each of whom has back stories (one was born in a brothel, one worked in a crematorium, etc) that have put them on the margins of society – perfect for the theater. Soichiro asks the circumstances of the battle in detail and seems keen to know, among other things, where the body is buried.

**SPOILERS BELOW**

As the pieces come together, we learn that Kikunosuke and Sakubei, far from being rivals, were acting in cahoots with the theater people. Kikunosuke’s father, who was also Sakubei’s master, had been framed for a top retainer’s embezzlement scheme. An insider had delivered documents to him that would have cleared him, but when that insider is found hanged and mutilated, the father realizes what he is up against. Feeling suicide would be an admittance of guilt, he asks Sakubei instead to kill him, which will allow his son to undertake an official vendetta – on the surface – and win glory. The shocked Sakubei adamantly refuses but is given little choice. They concoct a scheme whereby the father pretends to go crazy and tries to murder his son, at which Sakubei intervenes and kills the father in defense. He then escapes with the documents. He is to hide out and wait until the proper time to release the evidence. Meanwhile, Kikunosuke, supposedly on the trail of the killer, travels to Edo and meets with the playwright, an old acquaintance of his mother.

Soichiro reveals that he is in fact Kikunosuke’s in-law and a ronin who had been dumped by the lord. His inquiry was a means of seeking Sakubei in order to obtain the documents proving the retainer’s guilt. But first they need to complete the vendetta, preferably without actually killing anyone. We learn that Sakubei has been hiding all this time in the bowels of the theater, biding his time.

The theater people dive into the project with glee. The playwright composes a script, the choreographer stages it, the prop guy designs a severed head, and the onnagata gives female acting lessons to Kikunosuke (who needs to disguise himself until the right moment). The barker is instructed to yell out when the fight occurs so that they can attract witnesses.

The fight thus takes on a new perspective. Despite some mishaps with the fake head – it is mistakenly being used on stage in a Kabuki show (Terakoya, where the father has to decapitate his son) and must be retrieved in time, the nose breaks off and must be repaired – the plan goes swimmingly. (The swordplay itself is rather mediocre, but that may have been intentional since the fighters are supposed to be amateurs.) The vendetta accomplished, the carefully preserved documents can now be revealed, exposing the retainer, exonerating the late father, winning praise for the loyal son, and allowing Soichiro to regain full samurai status and serve his master again. Sakubei passes Kikunosuke a message from the father, telling him to live his life fully.

In the final scene, the lord of Mino pays a visit to the Moritaza with a large retinue, including Soichiro. As the theater people bow to pay their respect, the lord spots Sakubei, now one of the theater crew, and quietly thanks him for his help before marching away with his men.

The story is thrown off balance at times by some questionable humorous bits, mainly involving the fake head, e.g., the funny faces Sakubei makes when posing, the breaking of the nose at a crucial moment. Still, the story is cleverly structured so that just enough information comes out with each scene, maintaining the tension throughout. It reminded me of The Samurai and the Prisoner in dividing the mystery among numerous characters (samurai mysteries must be a thing this year). Emoto Yusuke as Soichiro, the film’s nominal star, seemed to be trying too hard to make his character interesting and did not feel natural. His character tics should have been reined in. Others, however, were fine, especially Watanabe Ken as the playwright and Takahashi Kazuya as an onnagata with a decidedly un-onnagata face. Yamaguchi Makiya (A Samurai in Time) and Ishibashi Renji also brought gravitas to their roles.

As for the Japanese title, the ada in adauchi (revenge or vendetta) is purposely spelled out in hiragana alphabet rather than with the usual kanji character. Kikunosuke’s mother, taking advantage of a homonym, purposely replaces 仇 (enemy) with 徒 (futile, pointless) in a letter to the playwright, so that adauchi can be read “meaningless battle”, serving as a theme of sorts for the film. We realize then that the film’s title had been adjusted to avoid giving that away, a nice touch.

The street scenes were colorful – loved the sea of umbrellas in the opening and the grand entrance of the lord at the end. While they didn’t take much advantage of the Kabuki setting, I’m glad they made room for at least bits of classic pieces like Dojoji and Terakoya. Some parts are not quite clear, like why the murder of the father had to be staged at all given that no one but the three players seemed to be there, or how the great lord at the film’s end would recognize a lowly servant like Sakubei. But all in good fun, I suppose. The film wasn’t aiming for anything deeper than entertainment, at which it succeeded. An enjoyable piece.