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| The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | 虎の尾を踏む男達 | ||||
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| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa | ||||
| Screenplay by | Akira Kurosawa | ||||
| Based on | Kanjinchō by Namiki Gohei III Ataka byKanze Kojiro Nobumitsu | ||||
| Produced by | Motohiko Ito | ||||
| Starring | |||||
| Cinematography | Takeo Ito | ||||
| Edited by | Toshio Goto | ||||
| Music by | Tadashi Hattori | ||||
Production company | |||||
| Distributed by | Toho Company Ltd. | ||||
Release date |
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Running time | 59 minutes | ||||
| Country | Japan | ||||
| Language | Japanese | ||||
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (Japanese:虎の尾を踏む男達,Hepburn:Tora no O o Fumu Otokotachi) is a 1945 Japaneseperioddrama film written and directed byAkira Kurosawa, based on thekabuki playKanjinchō, which is in turn based on theNoh playAtaka. It depicts a famous 12th century incident in whichYoshitsune and a small group of samurai cross into enemy territory disguised as monks.
The film was initially banned by the occupyingSupreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP), likely due to its portrayal of feudal values. Kurosawa blamed bureaucratic sabotage by the wartime Japanese censors, who also disapproved. It was later released in 1952 following the signing of theTreaty of San Francisco.[1]
In 1185, theHeike clan fights against theMinamoto clan. After a bloodynaval battle in theSeto Inland Sea,Yoshitsune Minamoto defeats the enemy and the survivors commit suicide. When the triumphant Yoshitsune arrives in Kyoto, his brother, theShogunYoritomo, is uneasy and orders his men to arrest Yoshitsune. However, Yoshitsune escapes with six loyal samurai led byBenkei and they head to the country of his only friendHidehira Fujiwara. Near the border, after crossing the forest disguised as monks, their porter discovers that they are Yoshitsune and the six samurai and advises that the fearful Kajiwara and his soldiers are waiting for them at the border to arrest them. Yoshitsune disguises himself as aporter and at the barrier, Benkei has to convince Kajiwara that they are six monks traveling to collect donations to repair theTodai temple in Nara.
According toStephen Prince,Akira Kurosawa was in preproduction on a film about theBattle of Nagashino andOda Nobunaga's use of firearms to defeat an enemy clan mounted on horseback with swords and spears, but his vision surpassed his resources.[2][a] In the last years ofWorld War II, Japan was suffering from extreme privation andToho had to make do with severely restricted means, such as spotty electricity often leaving them unable to light their sets. So Kurosawa switched to a new film, writing the script forThe Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail in a single night and promising the studio he would need only one set to make it.[2]
Prince writes that Kurosawa subverts the famous twelfth-century incident that the film adapts by depicting Benkei in fullNoh-style costume and "furnishing the seriousness and reverence that everyone expects from the story" with Noh flute and drum music throughout.[2] The director also radically adds a new character in the porter played by comedianKen'ichi Enomoto, whose "jabbering undercuts the pomposity of the feudal rituals".[2] According to Prince, Japanese censors found it rude that Kurosawa was making fun of a sacred historical incident and, perhaps because of this, they did not give their file on the film to the censors of theSupreme Commander of the Allied Powers.[2]
Japanese censors failed to give a file on the film to the censors of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, thus 1945'sThe Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail was banned as an "illegal, unreported" production.[2] It was not released in Japan until 1952.
The Criterion Collection has releasedThe Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail on DVD in North America as part of two 2009 Kurosawa-centered box sets;The First Films of Akira Kurosawa, the 23rd entry in theirEclipse series, andAK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa.[3]
Critic David Conrad has said that the character of the porter, who does not exist in the original Noh or kabuki plays, prefigures Kurosawa's later commoner characters like the woodcutter inRashomon and the villagers inSeven Samurai.
The presence of a low-class character among the high and mighty helps anchor the story in familiar ground, and the porter is free to express thoughts that proper samurai leave unsaid... Each of Kurosawa's laterjidaigeki, and many of hisgendaigeki as well, would use characters of different castes and classes to achieve something similar to this dynamic. His stories play out in three-dimensional social worlds, allowing him to explore events and themes from multiple perspectives.[4]
