Failure of the Samurai Code ?

While we can argue about a code or a law's shortcomings, if such codes or laws are good/bad, right/wrong, moral/immoral, once a person elects to follow it, for whatever reasons, and then fails to do so, the failure is the persons, not the codes. A person can see that a code or law is wrong, using their own moral compass as a guide, and choose not to adopt it. If they do, usually because it is expediant or profitable to do so, they forfeit the right to claim they are not obligated to follow the "bad" code when it make unpleasant demands on them.

Well said, Xuesheng!

That's my interpretation of the film as well. Hanshiro even says it at one point; he admits that there was no excuse for Motome to do what he did, but he points out that the clan's extreme (and somewhat arrogant) way of dealing with the situation was far worse.

I know nothing about the samurai code, but I assume that it's the same structure as every legal justice system on the planet. First we have a "code" (or a "constitution" or a "10 commandments" etc) which spells out how each individual must behave. Entirely separate from that is the punitive/sentencing process which is left up to the judges' discretion. For example, it is illegal to steal a car, but the punishment is not clearly defined. We are given a range of punishment, and it is up to the judges to select what is appropriate.

With the samurai, as with a corrupt judicial system, the judges begin dishing out sentences which are not commensurate with the crimes. 99% of the time this is due to the judges' arrogance, megalomania and/or political jockeying. It has nothing to do with the "code".

I think this was the gripe which Kobayashi points out in many of his films. The samurai, in their blind ego, forget what the code is about, and instead they act like a bunch of overzealous hall monitors in elementary school.

There was a Brady Bunch episode which touched on the same theme (albeit considerably less artistically than this great film!). Peter Brady becomes the hall monitor and begins ruthlessly punishing kids for the slightest transgression. Then on the way home from school he tries to save a kitten, and in so doing he is forced to trespass on someone's property. He gets into all sorts of trouble, and he eventually realizes that with any law there is a necessity for interpretation and, if necessary, clemency. Then the washing machine explodes and bubbles go everywhere...

Exactly, well-put. That's what I thought...the conflict of justice and mercy seemed to me to be the theme of the film. In fact I was reminded of Pharisees a lot...you know, Letter vs. Spirit of the Law. :) When you have one without the other you run into trouble. That's why I call the code in this film empty: if you're following the letter of the law exactly, but you're missing the *spirit* of it, you will see blind cruelty and heartlessness.

You must remember Kobayashi designed this film to be a social commentary applicable to *his contemporary world*, apparent to Japanese people especially and to others with knowledge of Japanese history and culture. He might not have been condemning the entire code in and of itself--though that's arguable from what I know of the director. But the main characters *are* still shown as heroes for acting like samurai.

What he was really condemning was the way the code was used to whitewash atrocities around the time of and during WWII. It became a bad code when used this way--completely heartless. This film is powerful in the way it shows such a life to be really empty and an evil. Western filmmakers and audiences seem fascinated by the samurai, but watch a Kurosawa or any samurai film in black & white. The old directors experienced what that code had got them in WWII, and so you will see, sometimes subtle and sometimes more brutal like in this film, a condemnation of the code or of the samurai class itself.

It's also hard to debate in a way because the samurai's code was never really written down or standardized or inscribed on stone tablets. It was really enforced by social expectation and pressure. So if someone took it way too far, who's going to raise their voice or stop them if they are the upper class and were "just following the code"?

The samurai of the House of Iyi were wrong not only by observing the code in such abrupt manner when dealing with a stranger: they were extremely wrong to do this while not fulfilling their own obligations. In fact, I believe that the retainers of the House of Iyi do not quite represent the samurai code anymore - clearly they obey much more pragmatic codes, among which the most important one seems to concern the reputation and the political power of the House of Iyi. Whenever this comes into conflict with the samurai code, the code loses. Of course, many of the retainers place their own safety before anything else.

From the interaction between Hanshiro and the Iyi retainers one would think that the movie bemoans the gradual loss of the Samurai Code in the face of a new complex macro-political reality. From the interaction between Motome and the House of Iyi, we realise that the Samurai Code was not much more than a burden in the new, peaceful world of the Tokugawa shogunate, mostly because it was designed for physically aggressive times. From this perspective, the Samurai Code does fail indeed - it leads to too many conflicts both in the larger political picture, and in the smaller economy of the impoverished former samurai families. In times of peace, the Code is too blunt for political complexities and too sharp for simple human survival. It is a warrior's device in a world with no warriors, now only a symbol and a pretext for various samurai-unrelated issues. It is a luxurious beautiful thing, and the only one who still knows how to use it properly is an old ronin out of his time, with no family and no reason to live (extremely badass nonetheless, able to expose single-handedly both the immoral foundations and the sword-fighting laxity of a victorious house of the Tokugawa era, while showing wonderful composure in the face of terrible grief).

In Japanese movies and literature there is often a struggle between common sense and absolute moral principles which, much like in the Greek tragedies, usually ends badly for the characters caught in the middle. But all these stories usually serve as warning signs against pushing principles to extremes.

there's a highway that is curling up like smoke above her shoulder

The code is almost dead. The Iyi clan only plays they are samurai but they are coward and mean. Tsugomo is a real samurai - he knows his time is over, he knows the Iyis are laughin' on the code but he defeats them morally with his dignity. An awesome character.

He sits alone there and a lot of armed samurai don't dare to touch him until the very end.