The Writings of the Hagakure and How They Relate to the Films The Last Samurai and The Seven Samurai

In Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai it states, "No Matter if the enemy has thousands of men, there is fulfillment in simply standing them off and being determined to cut them all down." The same passage states that "a real man does not think of victory or defeat, he plunges recklessly towards an irrational death." The concept of death under any circumstance being honorable exists in several passages of the Hagakure. It is emphasized later on in passages that tell of men standing up for their masters under any circumstance and men looking noble in appearance in case that death should occur. These meditations on death that appear in the Hagakure also appear in the films The Last Samurai and The Seven Samurai.

The idea of a real man plunging recklessly towards an irrational death makes no sense to Nathan Algren in The Last Samurai. When Nathan describes the death of General Custer to Katsumoto he speaks of Custer as an "arrogant, foolhardy" man who led a group of 211 soldiers in to get massacred against a group of 2,000 Indians. Katsumoto feels that what Custer did was honorable and courageous and even states that he himself hopes to die in similar fashion someday. Algren doesn't understand this because he has yet to understand the nature of the samurai. Katsumoto sees Custer's act of "arrogance" as an act of courageous defiance. As a Samurai, he himself would gladly lead a meager number of troops against a large number of men if it were the wishes of his master.

Consider a passage from the 10th chapter of the Hagakure that tells of a servant who rushes into the burning house of his master to save the master's most prized possession; his genealogy. The servant says: "I have never been of use to my master because I'm so careless, but I have lived resolved that someday my life should be of use to him. This seems that time." While the samurai in The Seven Samurai are by no means careless, they posses the same will of the servant in this chapter. Their purpose is to protect a village from a group of bandits for a very meager reward.

These samurai become the servants of a group of villagers who have very little to offer because for a samurai, the task of defending a master in and of itself is enough of a reason for them to do it. The end of the film shows the samurai after they have battled, seemingly in defeat having lost four out of their seven members. While they may look defeated, they still have gained a moral and spiritual victory. They have accomplished their mission of vanquishing the villagers from the bandits. The final shot of the film shows two of the three remaining samurai standing in front of the graves of their counterparts. The scene shows that while sacrifices have been made and lives have been lost so that others can celebrate, in the end the samurai will always be united in their honor as one.

The idea of honoring ones master is also obvious towards the end of The Last Samurai. Nathan Algren and Katsumoto lead a meager group of men against a massive army towards what must has to be certain death for them. They do this because it is the honorable thing to do amongst Samurai. Algren may silently be remembering his discussion with Katsumoto about General Custer and can at this point empathize with the idea that Custer's death was a courageous one. Algren, Katsumoto and the rest of the Samurai fight to their deaths because they wish to honor the emperor who they are willing to make any sacrifice for. At the end of the film, when Algren is the only remaining survivor, the emperor of Japan chooses to honor him rather than his enemies who wanted a treaty passed against the samurai. The emperor honors Algren because Algren has shown the ultimate sacrifice of the samurai. He was willing to plunge recklessly towards an irrational death in order meet the needs of his master.

One passage of the Hagakure describes how the samurai take great care of their appearance at all times. The passage states: "If you are slain with an unseemly appearance, you will show your lack of previous resolve, will be despised by your enemy and will appear unclean." There seems to be a contrast in this idea between the The Last Samurai and The Seven Samurai, but the overall visual treatment of the samurai in each respective film is very different.

The Last Samurai offers a much more glamorous, romanticized view of the samurai. The men in the film are well dressed, properly groomed, they have bright, shining armor and they carry themselves in a more sophisticated manner. Even their normal everyday clothing seems very clean and well kempt. When Nathan Algren appears in the Samurai armor at the end of the film we sense that for the first time he has taken on the image of a true samurai as well as their beliefs. The Hagakure states that a samurai's armor in general was "kept free from rust, that it was dusted, shined and arranged." The armor on Algren and the rest of the men in The Last Samurai is free of all rust, dust and any other imperfections. The armor is a thing of beauty and they men who wear it take pride in the fact that they will go down in defeat looking as good as possible.

The men in The Seven Samurai are shown in a much less glamorous manner but it seems more fitting to them. The samurai in The Last Samurai are men who live in their own village. They have families and homes to return to every day. The warriors in The Seven Samurai have no such luxury. They roam the land freely in search of duty. They have no homes, no wives and no families. They must live off the land and once their duties are performed they must trek back into the unknown. When they go into battle, they aren't well dressed, they don't appear in shining armor, their hair isn't cut and there is nothing polished about them but they have no means of achieving these glamorous looks. While they don't take as much care in their appearance, their deaths are no less honorable than the warriors of The Last Samurai. These are still men who are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to plunge towards the irrational death that the Hagakure emphasizes. The enemy that they face doesn't appear to be dressed any more glamorously than they are.

The Last Samurai and The Seven Samurai are two very different films but they both convey some of the overall messages of the Hagakure in different forms. The idea that a Samurai must sacrifice himself for an irrational death is obvious in both films, but the deaths only seem irrational to the outside viewer. To the samurai, dying to honor ones master is the most rational death that could exist. Just as the servant who is willing to run into the burning building to save his master the samurai in these films are willing to go against any odds to do their duties. While the different groups of samurai in each film may appear, live and act differently they still adhere to the same system of codes and beliefs; a system that exists only in their world.