Harakiri

“But I… But I… I would never let this go. It never entered my mind. The stupid thing was too dear to me… and i clung to it.” Harakiri is an amazing story about revenge, the laws of people and the purpose of life. The story follows a man named Hanshiro Tsugumo, who has lost everything and is planning on committing seppuku. But the story isn’t just about a man who has nothing left to live for, It is about the reason he lost these things and who is to blame for it. In the beginning of the story we get introduced to Hanshiro and another person who met the same fate, Motome Chijiiwa. When we first see these two, we look at them from the eyes of the people, we don’t know their story, we don’t know who they are or what brought them here. But still, Motome is considered a coward for committing seppuku, by the people and by the audience, even though we have no explanation as of why that is. But throughout the story Hanshiro tells the people his tragic story, and what brought him there. Hanshiro was a warrior, who only knew battle his whole life, and found himself seemingly without purpose when a time of peace came. But he soon realized that the purpose of his existence wasn’t to fight, It was to love his family, love his daughter, and later his grandson. he says that everything would have been fine had this stayed the same. After Miho and her son fell ill, all hope seemed to be gone. The family is dirt poor, yet Hanshiro stays hopeful, that Motome will get the help that they need. But he doesnt, instead he goes to the house of Iyi and commits seppuku.  My favorite scene in the entire movie might be when Hanshiro finds out about Motome’s death. Motome’s corpse is delivered by men from the house of Iyi, who laugh at not only Motome, but the entire family. They tell Hanshiro about Motome’s bamboo swords, implying that he had no honor as he was scared to follow through with harakiri. When Hanshiro sees what Motome did, he apologizes. He sees how good of a man he was. Motome sold his swords to help his family out, while that didn’t even cross Hanshiro’s mind. “The stupid thing was too dear to me… and i clung to it.” Hanshiro realizes, that his loyalty to this sword and to his traditions, was more important than his own family, he knew that these traditions and rules caused the death of his entire family. During his monologue, Hanshiro questions every single person around him, who blindly follow the crowd, blindly follow orders and blindly follow traditions. Questions everyone who judges others without knowing their story, something the audience is guilty of as well. In the beginning, we see from the eyes of just another person, but after seeing what happened, we start seeing the absurdity of these rules. Our views change and adapt with Hanshiro. Hanshiro took everything the house valued, just as they took everything he valued. He took their honor, the thing they considered most valuable.    The House of Iyi tried their hardest to hide what happened, hide their shame. But everyone knew, they knew that Hanshiro won. He died and took everything with him. (I’m not trying to say this was the message behind the film, it’s just how i saw the movie after the first watch.)