Harakiri (the movie)

[jeffbert]

I became interested in this film after seeing the commentary to 7 Samurai. Michael Jeck was the commentator, & he touched upon many things, but what drew me to Harakiri was his comments about the 7's leader Kambei (Takashi Shimura) severing his topknot & shaving his skull.

So that takes me to the film under discussion: Harakiri. One guy fought & defeated 3 others, but rather than killing them, he merely took their topknots. When their lord learned of this, he ordered them to commit Harakiri, or Sepuku as it is also known. However, I had still not satisfied my curiosity about the topknot.

However, several things are now obvious:

1. Hair indicates status,
2. Buddhist priests are bald, thus indicating their renouncement of the world
3. Women prefer uncut hair: thus Shino's alarm when her father wanted her to cut her hair & pose as a boy (in 7S)
4. The Samurai wear topknots, lest their hair fall about their shoulders as women's hair does (as so stated in Harakiri).

But I am still wondering why losing one's topknot is as bad as death.

[DrFrag]

By my understanding, losing your topknot meant losing your honour. So their lord would have ordered them to commit harakiri because they had been dishonoured. And I think harakiri was a way for them to restore their honour; perhaps seen as an honourable death.