Samuari Movie Weekend - Samurai II: Duel at Ichimonji Temple

My family is out of town for a few weeks so I have been watching some samurai movies. Last weekend was Samurai I and Kagemusha. This weekend I finished the Samurai trilogy about Miyamoto Musashi, Samurai II and Samurai III as well as the great Kurosawa film Ran. I will write about Samurai II here.

Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijōji no kettō - 続宮本武蔵一乗寺決闘)

Although the title would make it seem that this is an action film, it is more then that. Yes, there are many incredible duels, especially between Musashi and the chain-and-sickle master at the beginning is one of the more violent scenes in the trilogy, but also shows the two-sword fighting technique that Musashi mastered. Also, the attempted ambush by 80 followers of Seijiro Yoshioka is amazing.

But the movie mainly deals with Musashi's quests for spiritual enlightenment. Samurai II deals with Musashi's progress from mere warrior to samurai as well as the failures of his fellow samurai as shown by the dishonorable acts of the followers of the Yoshioka school. Throughout the movie, Musashi moves to a more thoughtful and gentler use of his sword while his samurai rivals deteriorate into undisciplined thugs and the Yoshioka school is transformed into rabble. Musashi learns from his challenges and combat while his rivals are destroyed by those same challenges. One can see Musashi's continuing transformation most vividly when he finally faces the leader of the Yoshioka. Musashi overwhelms his opponent but when the moment comes when Musashi is prepared to finish him off, he stops realizing that killing him would be wrong. Musashi leaves his defeated opponent alive.

Musashi can only reach his problems of spirit through the gauntlet of threats. He is a pilgrim in search of answers to his questions. Since this is the second installment of the trilogy, it is missing any major resolutions. But the film compensates with fierce battle scenes and incredible dueling sequences.

Samurai Battles of Kawanakajima, Nagashino & Sekigahara

I recently finished reading two books by Stephen Turnbull, a prolific author of samurai history as well as another book by the author Anthony Bryant about the famous battle of Sekigahara.

The first book was called "Kawanakajima 1553-64: Samurai Power Struggle".

The book detailed a series of five battles between two of the most famous samurai warlords in Japanese history, Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin. The book described the battles in pretty good detail laying out the tactics and strategies of both armies. One of the things I especially liked about the book were the detailed battle drawings. They were very realistic and may be fairly accurate as to how samurai battle might have looked like. One issue for me is the author's relative lack of references. Other than that it was a very interesting book.

The second book I read from this author is called "Nagashino 1575: Slaughter at the Barricades".

This book was also very interesting. This book was about the battle at Nagashino castle between the forces of the Takeda clan led by Takeda Katsuyori, Takeda Shingen's heir, and the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose territory the Takeda invaded. This book, like the first one, provided good detail about the famous battle that eventually led to the collapse of the Takeda some years later. The book described how the Oda/Tokugawa forces utilized 3,000 gunners but many historians now feel that the real number of gunners were closer to 1,000. Whatever the real number was, the outcome was that the Takeda forces were annihilated and the survivors had to retreat back to their home province of Kai. The Takeda never again were a threat outside their borders and the clan was finally completely destroyed in 1582 by Ieyasu and Nobunaga. Once again, a lack of many references from the author is one of the issues I had.

The third samurai battle book I read was called "Sekigahara 1600: The Final Struggle for Power".

Sekigahara is the great battle between the eastern alliance led by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western alliance led by Ishida Mitsunari following the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who had ruled Japan since Oda Nobunaga's death in 1582. Ieyasu was victorious which allowed him to claim the title of Shogun three years later in 1603. This book by Anthony Bryant was in a similar format to those by Turnbull. It also explained the battle and the tactics involved in great detail. One thing I thought was a little cheesy was the author's use of photos from the outdoor Sekigahara War World attraction. He admits the place is a little cheeky at the end of the book but I think the pictures are pretty goofy. See a couple pics below:

Overall this book was pretty good. The maps and diagrams of the battle were excellent. Since I think this is the most important samurai battle in Japanese history, I recommend those interested to read this book.

Samurai I:Miyamoto Musashi 宮本武蔵

Last weekend I watched Samurai I (Miyamoto Musashi 宮本武蔵) a film by Inagaki Hiroshi with Toshiro Mifune playing the character of Miyamoto Musashi, one of Japan's most famous samurai swordsman. Samurai I is the first of three and I plan to watch Samurai II and III this weekend. Samurai I was pretty entertaining. It followed the young Musashi, at that time known as Shinmen Takezo, as he fought for the losing side at the battle of Sekigahara and later how he tried to elude the authorities who were searching for him. Eventually he was befriended by a monk and taken to Himeji castle where he is locked up in a room to contemplate himself. He is eventually released and is then given the samurai name Miyamoto Musashi.

Musashi is probably most famous for his book "The Book of Five Rings" a book on strategy, tactics and philosophy that is still studied today. I have not yet read the book but I just picked it up at the Little Tokyo Library here in downtown Los Angeles. I will start reading it this weekend since I just finished reading the book called "Samurai William" which follows the adventures of William Adams, the first Englishmen in Japan who became a retainer to Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

I think I will also pick up Ran, another great Akira Kurosawa film that I last saw a few years ago.

Company shows off new robot suit in Tokyo

This is really cool. I can see the future when these types of suits can help a paraplegic to walk or to assist people in lifting heavy objects.

MSNBC.com

Company shows off new robot suit in Tokyo

Device equipped with sensors that read brain signals directing limbs

The Associated Press

updated 6:45 a.m. PT, Tues., Aug 4, 2009

TOKYO - Employees of a Japanese robotics company have been showing off a rehabilitation suit designed to help people with mobility problems on the streets of downtown Tokyo.

Cyberdyne said its 22 pound (10 kilogram) HAL — short for hybrid assistive limb — is equipped with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.

Wearing HAL, the three people took an hour-long train ride Monday from Tsukuba, north of the Japanese capital, to downtown Tokyo.

"HAL is to help people with weak leg muscles and mobility problems ... We wanted to show HAL is very useful for our daily life," said company official Takatoshi Kuno.

Belted to the waist, HAL relays brain signals to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees, which then provide robotic assistance to people with weak limbs.

HAL comes in three sizes — small, medium and large — and has a one-leg version for a 150,000 yen ($1,570) monthly rental fee, while a two-leg unit goes for 220,000 yen ($2,300) a month. It was unclear when HAL would go on sale to the public or what the price tag will be.

The robotics company declined to say how much it cost to manufacture HAL.

Cyberdyne said the United States and some European nations have expressed interest, but it did not elaborate further.

HAL may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly. Japan is grappling with a rapidly aging society. About one-fifth of the population of 128 million is 65 or older, and that figure is expected to double in the next 30 years.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32282749/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/

August Metro Poster

Here is the August Tokyo Metro poster.

I am not sure what they are requesting people to do at the beach. Either that couple is drunk, or that man is trying to shove the lady off the platform, or he is fondling his girlfriend which she seems to enjoy. I am not sure they should be doing that at the beach either.

The couple should be more worried about the the two zombies right behind them.

Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha

This weekend I watched Kurosawa's samurai classic Kagemusha. Kagemusha is about the fall of the great Takeda clan at the end of the warring states period. The great clan warlord Takeda Shingen, who was feared even by Oda Nobunaga, was killed in 1573. But the clan generals fearing that their enemies Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga would take advantage of Shingen's death and attack the Takeda, decided to hide his death. They employed a double or shadow warrior which is what Kagemusha means.

It was interesting to watch this movie since I have been reading about this time period. I just finished reading the book by Stephen Turnbull about the battle of Nagashino which was the decisive battle that essentially destroyed the Takeda clan.

In the movie, the clan fooled both Nobunaga and Ieyasu by employing the double for almost three years. However, Shingen's son, Takeda Katsuyori, was impatient and tired of living in his father's shadow. Against the will of his late father and against the advice of his generals, Katsuyori marched his army into Ieyasu's domain and attacked Nagashino castle. Iyeasu and Nobunaga came to the aid of the castle with almost 40,000 soldiers, including 3,000 soldiers with matchlock firearms. The Takeda were famous for their mounted samurai but they were no match for Nobunaga's guns. The Takeda mounted samurai were annihilated. The battle of Nagashino was a turning point in samurai history where the gun completely changed how samurai warfare would be fought.

The final scenes of the movie were pretty grotesque as the extent of the slaughter was revealed. The movie is long but pretty good, especially if you like Japanese history.