By Jacob Cameron

Sanjuro is the direct sequel to Yojimbo. It is based on the short story Hibi Heian written by Shugoro Yamamoto. It sees the return of the titular ronin who finds himself right in the middle of a battle against corruption. Along with amassing an army of sorts to fight against a corrupt official.

Toshiro Mifune reprises his role as Sanjuro, who learns of a power struggle between the previously mentioned corrupt official and the lord chamberlain of a feudal village. Sanjuro does not want to become involved in this dispute. However, upon learning of nine of the chamberlain’s samurai attempting a hopeless plan, he dubiously takes on a leadership role. Pulling out similar tactics to Yojimbo, he gets close to the corrupt parties and ultimately draws the ire of their most feared warrior, Hanbei.

Sanjuro is just an awesome character throughout Yojimbo and Sanjuro. In this film, he always keeps his composure no matter how dire the situation is. Even when he is tied to a rock, moments from death, he taunts Hanbei. His leadership skills are also very impressive. Having a sixth sense of what might happen and planning around that.

The nine samurai could have so easily been incompetent, but they are effective under Sanjuro’s leadership. There is a dynamic of a lack of trust between the samurai and Sanjuro. Many of the samurai question Sanjuro’s character as he is undercover with their enemy. But they come together just long enough to get the job done.

This film also contains a truly shocking ending; shocking in how short it is and how violent it is. Hanbei challenges Sanjuro to one final duel; Sanjuro reluctantly accepts. The two stare each other down for a few moments. The two draw swords, and in one quick slice, Sanjuro takes out Hanbei. What’s notable is that this slice causes a spurt of blood that is shocking then and is still shocking now.

An interesting note about the ending is that there was a long-standing rumor that the huge amount of blood was due to a mechanical error. Kurosawa would say in a 1980 interview that the blood was intentional. While also deriding more modern action films for playing up the violence. It is an interesting piece of trivia noting that something that would inspire so much was seen by many as an accident. But this goes right up there with the ending of Throne of Blood as one of Kurosawa’s more violent endings.

Sanjuro would return in two other films: 1970’s Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo & Incident at Blood Pass. However, both films would not be directed by Kurosawa. It would’ve been nice to have seen another Sanjuro film from Kurosawa, but it was not meant to be. For my money, I prefer Yojimbo over this one. But both are incredibly well made and should be sought out.

4 ½ stars