Bushido | Japanese Film Festival 2025
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https://japanesefilmfestival.net/film/bushido/
Date Reviewed: 04/12/2025
Bushido is a 2024 film directed by Kazuya Shiraishi and starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kaya Kiyohara, Taishi Nakagawa and Jun Kunimura.
Set in the Samurai period, it is far from being an action film (except for 5 minutes near the end). Instead, it is a film about ‘The way of the warrior’ (the meaning of Bushido). Rooted in Confucianism, Shinto, and Zen Buddhism, Bushido emphasizes loyalty, honour, courage, and self-discipline.
The film centres around Kakunoshin Yanagida, wrongfully accused of a crime, cast out from his hometown, and stripped of his samurai status. Reduced to life in an Edo tenement house with his daughter Okinu, Kakunoshin carves out a living making handcrafted hanko (signature stamps).
A chance encounter over a game of Go places him against the merchant Genbei Yorozuya, Kakunoshin is pulled into a world far from his Samurai life and ideals. For him, Go is a game where honour itself is at stake. When rumours of the truth behind his exile surface, Kakunoshin seizes the chance to clear his name and avenge his late wife. But it is Okinu who must bear the price of her father’s revenge.
The game of Go is an ancient board game little known outside the East that originated in China over 4,000 years ago. It is renowned for its strategic complexity despite having simple rules. It involves concepts like balance, territory, influence, and life-and-death situations for groups of stones.
The game has a nearly infinite number of possible positions, making it a lifelong pastime. In Bushido, life is mirrored in the game.
The beauty of this film is its simplicity, the storyline is straight forward yet absorbing, the pace of the film is measured, and its message is timeless; honesty in all things and leading a truthful life.
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi embodies the vagabond Samurai perfectly. He has a quiet intensity that is fascinating to watch and makes the 129-minute film speed by. A Japanese actor, singer, television host, and a former member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy bands in Asia, Kusanagi ‘drives’ the film and its message. His hand movements while playing Go are a joy to watch.
Kaya Kiyohara’s Kinu, though seemingly innocent shares her father’s intensity and is heart-breaking to watch when she resigns herself to having to work at a local brothel.
Jun Kunimura as the merchant Genbei Yorozuya or ‘Stingy Genbei’ as he is often called, steals every scene with his mobile facial expressions and crafty nature. The Go scenes with Kusanagi are a lesson in focussed acting.
Taishi Nakagawa’s Yakichi, who works in the merchant’s shop adds more than a touch of humour to the film, particularly when he believes his head will be chopped off.
Jun Fukumoto’s cinematography is moody and at times, stark. Gone are the ever-present cherry blossoms in Japanese films. We see the villages for what they are, real places inhabited by real people.
Bushido is an engrossing tale of honour centred around an ancient game that requires skill and perception. It is highly recommended!
Barry Hill OAM