Daibutsu, Kamakura

Daibutsu, Kamakura
Daibutsu in Kamakura, June 2010. There were thousands of school kids visiting that day. It was still great fun.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Samurai Banners - Furin Kazan


Last Sunday I watched Samurai Banners (
Furin Kazan). This movie is a samurai historical drama based on the sengoku period battle strategist Yamamoto Kansuke, a general for the great warlord Takeda Shingen. The movie stared Toshiro Mifune who played Kansuke. Furin Kazan means "wind, forest, fire and mountain" and was the battle standard of Takeda Shingen. It comes from Sun Tzu's The Art of War and essentially means "Move as swift as a wind, stay as silent as forest, attack as fierce as fire, undefeatable defense like a mountain."

The ruthless yet brilliant strategist Kansuke advises Shingen on much of his battle strategy and helps the Takeda to expand their power and control over various neighboring clans. However, the movie culminates with the famous 4th Battle of Kawanakajima against Uesugi Kenshin in which Kansuke makes a fatal error in strategy. The blunder nearly causes defeat for the Takeda. Although the Takeda were not defeated, they also failed in their long quest to crush Kenshin's armies and to march into the Uesugi territory of Echigo.

This was another good samurai movie even though there is actually relatively little samurai action. Most of the action takes place in the final battle at Kawanakajima. The movie included the famous account of Uesugi Kenshin breaking through the Takeda lines and personally attacking Takeda Shingen as Shingen sits on his camp stool. Shingen calmly thwarts Kenshin's sword attacks with his battle fan. Kenshin was unable to take Shingen's head but as Kenshin retreats, he looks back at Shingen with a smile. There is doubt among many historians as to whether this confrontation between two of the most famous samurai warlords actually took place, but it was still a cool scene nonetheless.

4 comments:

  1. Great movie. I have this on a VCR tape. This is one I will not give up. Even though the movie shows the Takeda winning the Battle of Uedahara was historacally false (The fact Murakami Yoshikiyo actually defeated the Takeda was true). Mifune and Nakamura were awesome in Samurai Banners. The SA has more info on the Battle of Uedahara.

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  2. I am going to have to look up Uedahara as I am not familiar with that battle. It was also interesting how the movie indicated that the Takeda were victorious at Kawanakajima even though it was at the most a draw but my feeling is is that the Uesugi put a world of hurt on the Takeda and there were far more Takeda casualties then what has been written.

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  3. Swift as the winds, Silent as the forest, Fierce as the fires, Immovable as the mountains! Loved this saga. You should see Heaven & Earth and the 2007 NHK Taiga Drama Furin Kazan. - Great year long drama but Gackt as Usegi Kenshin??? Come' on!

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  4. Yes, I missed that one and would have liked to have watched it.

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