| Throne of Blood | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Macbeth byWilliam Shakespeare(uncredited) |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Asakazu Nakai |
| Edited by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Music by | Masaru Sato |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Toho |
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $350,000[1] |
| Box office | US$46,808 (Kurosawa & Mifune Festival)[2] |
Throne of Blood (Japanese:蜘蛛巣城,Hepburn:Kumonosu-jō;lit. 'The Spider Web Castle') is a 1957 Japaneseepicjidaigeki film co-written, produced, edited, and directed byAkira Kurosawa, with special effects byEiji Tsuburaya. The film transposes the plot of EnglishdramatistWilliam Shakespeare's playMacbeth (1606) from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, with stylistic elements drawn fromNoh drama. The film starsToshiro Mifune andIsuzu Yamada in the lead roles, modelled on the charactersMacbeth andLady Macbeth.
As with the play, the film tells the story of a warrior who assassinates his sovereign at the urging of his ambitious wife. Kurosawa was a fan of the play and intended to make his own adaptation for several years, delaying it after learning ofOrson Welles'Macbeth (1948). Among his changes was the ending, which required archers to shoot arrows around Mifune. The film was shot aroundMount Fuji andIzu Peninsula. With a budget ofUS$350,000 (equivalent to $3,918,000 in 2024), the film was one of themost expensive films ever made in Japan at the time of its release.[1]
Despite the change in setting and language and numerous creative liberties,Throne of Blood is often considered one of the bestfilm adaptations of the classic play, and has received much critical praise. The film won twoMainichi Film Awards, includingBest Actor for Toshiro Mifune.[3]
Childhood friends andsamurai commanders Washizu and Miki are called to the Spider's Web Castle, the estate of local lord Tsuzuki, after defeating the lord's enemies in battle. On their way through the Spider's Web Forest, they encounter an evil spirit who foretells their future. The spirit informs them that Washizu will be named Lord of the Northern Garrison and Miki will become commander of the first fortress that day, that Washizu will later become Lord of Spider's Web Castle, and that Miki's son Yoshiteru will eventually become lord.
When the two reach the castle, Tsuzuki rewards them with exactly what the spirit had predicted. As Washizu discusses the events with his wife Asaji, she convinces him to murder Tsuzuki when he visits. She offers druggedsake to Tsuzuki's guards, incapacitating them and allowing Washizu to kill Tsuzuki with a spear. She then frames an unconscious guard, who is killed by Washizu in the ensuing chaos. Both Kunimaru, Tsuzuki's vengeful son, and Noriyasu, one of Tsuzuki's advisors, suspect Washizu's treachery and try to warn Miki, but Miki refuses to believe them.
Under Asaji's influence, Washizu comes to question Miki's loyalty but nevertheless chooses Yoshiteru as heir, as he and Asaji have no child of their own. Washizu plans to inform Miki and Yoshiteru about the decision at a grand banquet, but Asaji reveals that she is pregnant, leaving him in a quandary. He eventually decides to eliminate Miki and Yoshiteru.
At the banquet, an agitated Washizu drinks sake copiously as the guests await Miki and Yoshiteru's arrival. He hallucinates and sees Miki's ghost and, in a delusional panic, reveals what has transpired by exclaiming that he is willing to slay Miki a second time, unsheathing his sword and slashing at Miki's empty seat. Asaji has the guests dismissed. One of Washizu's men arrives carrying a bundle containing the severed head of Miki, and informs the couple that Yoshiteru has escaped. Washizu kills the man in a fit of anger.
As Washizu grows increasingly paranoid and tyrannical, his men begin to doubt and fear him, and rumors circulate that Yoshiteru, Kunimaru, and Noriyasu have joined forces with their onetime rival Inui. Washizu is distraught by the news that his heir has beenborn dead. In order to ascertain the outcome of the impending battle, he returns to the forest in search of the evil spirit. The spirit tells him that he will not be defeated in battle until "the trees of the Spider's Web Forest rise against the castle", leading him to believe that his victory is all but assured.
The next morning, Washizu finds Asaji in a semi-catatonic state, trying to wash clean an imaginary stain and stench of blood from her hands. He is then told by panicked soldiers that the trees of Spider's Web Forest have risen to attack them. A desperate Washizu tries to muster his troops, but they ignore his commands and fire arrows at him, severely wounding him. When Washizu tells them that to kill their lord is treason, they accuse him of having done the same. As his enemies approach the gates, he succumbs to his wounds, attempting to draw his sword as he dies. It is then revealed that the attacking force had used trees, cut from the forest during the night, to shield their advance onto the castle.
| Actor | Character | Macbeth analogue |
|---|---|---|
| Toshiro Mifune | Taketoki Washizu | Macbeth[4][5] |
| Isuzu Yamada | Lady Asaji Washizu[6] | Lady Macbeth[7][5] |
| Takashi Shimura | Noriyasu Odagura | Macduff[8] |
| Akira Kubo | Yoshiteru Miki | Fleance[9] |
| Yōichi Tachikawa | Kunimaru Tsuzuki | Malcolm[5] |
| Minoru Chiaki | Yoshiaki Miki | Banquo[5][9][10] |
| Takamaru Sasaki | Lord Kuniharu Tsuzuki | King Duncan[11] |
| Chieko Naniwa | Witch[5] | TheThree Witches[12] |
| Kokuten Kōdō | First General | |
| Sachio Sakai | Washizu's samurai[6] | |
| Yū Fujiki | Washizu's samurai[6] | |
| Kichijirō Ueda | Washizu's workman[6] | |
| Takeshi Katō | Tsuzuki's samurai | |
| Shōbun Inoue | Tsuzuki's messenger | |
| Asao Koike | Tsuzuki's messenger | |
| Eiko Miyoshi | Senior lady-in-waiting | |
| Isao Kimura | Messenger (Phantom) | |
| Seiji Miyaguchi | Messenger (Phantom) |
Personnel taken fromThrone of Blood by Robert N. Watson.[13]
William Shakespeare's plays had been read in Japan since theMeiji Restoration in 1868,[12] though banned during World War II for not being Japanese.[14] DirectorAkira Kurosawa stated that he had admired Shakespeare'sMacbeth for a long time, and that he envisioned making a film adaptation of it after he completed his 1950 filmRashomon. When he learned thatOrson Welles had released his own version ofMacbeth in 1948, Kurosawa decided to postpone his adaptation project for several years.[15]
Kurosawa believed that Scotland and Japan in theMiddle Ages shared social problems and that these had lessons for the present day. Moreover,Macbeth could serve as acautionary tale complementing his 1952 filmIkiru.[15]
In May 1956, Kurosawa announced that he would be producing threesamurai films forToho,Throne of Blood,The Hidden Fortress, andRevenge, each to be filmed from September 1956 to early 1957 by other directors.[16]Ishirō Honda, best known for directing the 1954kaiju filmGodzilla, was slated to directThrone of Blood, but Kurosawa ended up directing all three films himself.[17]
The film combines Shakespeare's play with theNoh style of drama.[18] Kurosawa was an admirer of Noh, which he preferred overKabuki. In particular, he wished to incorporate Noh-style body movements and set design.[19] Noh also makes use of masks, and the evil spirit is seen, in different parts of the film, wearing faces reminiscent of these masks, starting withyaseonna (old lady).[20] Noh often stresses the Buddhist doctrine ofimpermanence. This is connected to Washizu being denied salvation, with the chorus singing that his ghost is still in the world.[21] Furthermore, the film score's use of flute and drum are drawn from Noh.[22]
All three of Kurosawa's frequent script collaborators participated for the first time:Hideo Oguni,Shinobu Hashimoto, andRyūzō Kikushima, each working with the director for their fourth time. Initially, the screenwriters wrote the script with the intention that it would be directed by Ishirō Honda, but Toho insisted Kurosawa take the directing position after reading the script and realizing a large budget was required for the film.[16]
The castle exteriors were built and shot on the volcanic slopes ofMount Fuji.[23] The castle courtyard was constructed at Toho's Tamagawa studio, with volcanic soil brought from Fuji so that the ground matched.[24] The interiors were shot in a smaller studio in Tokyo. The forest scenes were a combination of actual Fuji forest and studio shots in Tokyo. Washizu's mansion was shot in theIzu Peninsula.[24][25]
In Kurosawa's own words:
"It was a very hard film to make. We decided that the main castle set had to be built on the slope of Mount Fuji, not because I wanted to show this mountain but because it has precisely the stunted landscape that I wanted. And it is usually foggy. I had decided that I wanted lots of fog for this film... Making the set was very difficult because we didn't have enough people and the location was so far from Tokyo. Fortunately, there was aU.S. Marine Corps base nearby, and they helped a great deal; also a whole MP battalion helped us out. We all worked very hard indeed, clearing the ground, building the set. Our labor on this steep fog-bound slope, I remember, absolutely exhausted us; we almost got sick."[24][25]
Production designerYoshirō Muraki said the crew opted to employ the color black in the set walls, and a lot of armor, to complement the mist and fog effects. This design was based on ancient scrolls depicting Japanese castles.[26]
The scene in which trees from the Spider's Web Forest approach the castle, was created by Toho's special effects department and directed byEiji Tsuburaya. Originally, this scene was longer, but Kurosawa cut several shots of trees from the film because he was unimpressed by them.[27]
Washizu's death scene, in which his own archers turn upon him and shoot him with arrows, was in fact performed with real arrows, shot by knowledgeable and skilled archers. During filming, Mifune waved his arms, which was how the actor indicated his intended bodily direction. This was for his own safety in order to prevent the archers from accidentally hitting him.[28]
The film was released theatrically in Japan on January 15, 1957, byToho,[29] and grossed¥198 million, making it the second-highest-grossing Japanese film of 1957,[30] afterShintoho'sEmperor Meiji and the Great Russo-Japanese War, which grossed ¥542.91 million.[31] In the United States, the film was distributed by Brandon Films with English subtitles at 105 minutes and opened on November 22, 1961.[6][29]
Throne of Blood was the first film to be screened at the 1stBFI London Film Festival on October 16, 1957.[32][33] After the screening,Akira Kurosawa attended a party at film criticDilys Powell's house, and had dinner with actorLaurence Olivier, and actressVivien Leigh who were planning on playingMacbeth andLady Macbeth in afilm adaptation ofWilliam Shakespeare'sMacbeth that never materialized. Olivier told Kurosawa that he had enjoyed watching the film and was impressed by the scene in whichToshiro Mifune's Macbeth is shot by arrows.Isuzu Yamada's acting impressed Leigh, and she asked why Yamada made such little movement when she was mad.[34][33]
In 1991, the film was released in the United States onLaserDisc byThe Criterion Collection, and onVHS byMedia Home Entertainment.[35] Toho released the film onDVD in Japan in 2002 and onBlu-ray in 2010.[36] In 2013,Madman Entertainment distributed the film on DVD in Region 4.[37] InRegion A, The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray in 2014, having released the film on DVD 10 years earlier.[38]
In 2018, the film was screened by theNational Film Archive of Japan at theEssential 2018 National Film Archive Opening Cinema Memorial inKyōbashi, Tokyo, along with 9 other Japanese films.[39] In 2021, the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute screened a4K remaster of the film at the 12th 10am Film Festival.[40]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 47 reviews, with an average score of 8.80/10. The site's consensus states: "A career high point for Akira Kurosawa – and one of the best film adaptations of a Shakespeare play."[41]
When it was released in the United States in 1961, theTime review praised Kurosawa and the film as "a visual descent into the hell of greed and superstition".[42]
Bosley Crowther fromThe New York Times called the idea of Shakespeare in Japanese "amusing", and complimented the cinematography.[43] Most critics stated it was the visuals that filled the gap left by the removal of Shakespeare's poetry.[44]
U.K. directorsGeoffrey Reeve andPeter Brook considered the film to be a masterpiece, but denied it was a Shakespeare film because of the language.[45] Film historianDonald Richie praised the film as "a marvel because it is made of so little: fog, wind, trees, mist".[46][22] Film criticStephen Prince compared its minimalist landscapes to the painting techniquesumi-e.[47]
David Parkinson ofEmpire magazine rated it 5 out of 5, calling it "highly cinematic" and "a film studded with magnificent set-pieces".[48]
The film has received praise from literary critics despite the many liberties it takes with the original play. The American literary criticHarold Bloom judged it "the most successful film version ofMacbeth".[49]Sylvan Barnet writes it captured Macbeth as a strong warrior, and that "Without worrying about fidelity to the original,"Throne of Blood is "much more satisfactory" than most Shakespeare films.[50] Film historian David A. Conrad wrote that just as Shakespeare's play commented on "questions of legitimacy, masculinity, and civil war" that resonated in early 17th-century England, Kurosawa's movie engages with contemporary Japanese debates about the "spiderless cobweb" of postwar bureaucracy and industry.[51] In hisMovie Guide,Leonard Maltin gave the film four stars, calling it a "graphic, powerful adaptation".[4]
| Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venice Film Festival | Golden Lion | Akira Kurosawa | Nominated | [52] |
| Kinema Junpo Awards | Best 10 Japanese Films | 4th place | [53] | |
| Best Actress | Isuzu Yamada | Won | ||
| Mainichi Film Awards | Best Actor | Toshiro Mifune | Won | [3] |
| Best Art Direction | Yoshirō Muraki | Won | ||
| Blue Ribbon Awards | Best 10 Japanese Films | 7th place | [54] | |
| Technology Award | Yoshirō Muraki | Won | ||
| Visual Technology Awards | Art | Yoshirō Muraki | Won | [55] |
Akira Kurosawa's 1960 filmThe Bad Sleep Well, was heavily influenced byWilliam Shakespeare'sHamlet, as well asThe Count of Monte Cristo byAlexandre Dumas.[56]Roman Polanski's 1971 film version ofMacbeth has similarities toThrone of Blood, in shots of characters on twisted roads, set design, and music to identify locations and psychological conditions.[57]Toshiro Mifune's death scene was the source of inspiration forPiper Laurie's death scene in the 1976 filmCarrie,[58] in which knives are thrown at her, in this case by characterCarrie White using her psychic powers. In 1985, Kurosawa returned to adapting Shakespeare, choosing the playKing Lear for his finalepic filmRan, and again moving the setting to feudal Japan.[59]
Throne of Blood is referenced in theanime filmMillennium Actress (2001) in the form of the Forest Spirit/Witch.[citation needed] It was adapted for the stage by directorPing Chong, premiering at the 2010Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon.[60]
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