Sanjuro (1962)

Released in 1962 by Toho Studios, Sanjuro arrived just a year after Yojimbo, the film it follows on from, making it one of the more unusual cases in Japanese cinema of a major director returning so quickly to the same character and the same creative territory. The two films share their wandering, nameless ronin protagonist, played once again by Toshirō Mifune, but where Yojimbo leaned into a particular kind of cool, stylised brutality, Sanjuro tilts the balance toward wit and irony, poking at the very conventions of the samurai genre it inhabits. At ninety-six minutes it is lean, confident, and never wastes a scene, which is a fair reflection of where director Akira Kurosawa was in his career at the time: at the height of his powers and apparently under no obligation to prove anything to anyone.

Kurosawa had already moved between genres and registers with remarkable ease across the preceding decade and a half, whether in crime thrillers like Stray Dog (1949), the quiet human drama of Ikiru (1952), or the Shakespearean weight of Throne of Blood (1957). Sanjuro sits in a different register to all of those, closer to a genre comedy in places, but Kurosawa treats the lighter material with the same formal rigour he brought to everything else. The screenplay was adapted from Shugoro Yamamoto's novel Peaceful Days, though Kurosawa and his co-writers shaped it considerably to fit around Mifune's returning character. The result is a film that plays, on the surface, as polished but unremarkable period entertainment, until you realise how much is being said under the surface about heroism, competence, and the gap between idealism and reality.

The cast around Mifune is strong. Tatsuya Nakadai, who also appeared in Yojimbo, returns here in a different role, bringing the kind of coiled, watchful presence that made him one of the defining performers of Japanese cinema in this period. Yūzō Kayama and Keiju Kobayashi head up the group of nine young samurai whose well-meaning but slightly hapless energy provides much of the film's humour, and Reiko Dan brings an understated warmth to her supporting role. But the film belongs to Mifune, as anyone who has seen his work elsewhere, including in Drunken Angel (1948), will already know. He was an actor capable of extraordinary physical expressiveness alongside a kind of inward, controlled stillness, and Sanjuro asks for both at once.

Sanjuro is the quieter, sharper, more perfectly balanced half of the Yojimbo/Sanjuro duo and while it doesn’t have the same mythic swagger as its predecessor, it’s arguably the better-crafted film. Toshiro Mifune returns as the wandering ronin with no name, all swagger and sarcasm, but here he’s less the violent force of nature and more the cunning mastermind, poking fun at samurai pride while quietly cleaning up the mess. His performance is a masterclass in controlled charisma, dry, sly, effortlessly cool. One raised eyebrow says more than most actors do in a whole scene. Kurosawa directs with precision and wit, turning what could’ve been just another period action film into a tense, often hilarious game of cat and mouse between the nine young, idealistic (and slightly clueless) samurai and the corrupt officials they’re trying to expose. The tone is heavier than Yojimbo, yes, but the stakes still feel real. And the craftsmanship is  impeccable. The framing, the use of space, the way tension builds in silence, it’s Kurosawa at his most confident and playful. It may not be as iconic as Yojimbo, but it’s just as essential. Mifune is, without question, one of the greatest actors who ever lived, and this role shows his range. Equal parts warrior, clown, and sage. Elegant, intelligent, and endlessly rewatchable. A near-perfect blend of action, humour, and human insight.

What stays with me after a rewatch is just how well the whole thing holds together as a piece of genre filmmaking that refuses to be only that. I find myself thinking about the young samurai and their misplaced certainties as much as I think about the action sequences, which is probably exactly what Kurosawa intended. If you have been working your way through his output, this one sits comfortably alongside the best of it, and it would pair well with a look at High and Low (1963), made the following year, which shows the same director in a completely different mode but with the same iron grip on craft. Sometimes the best sword really does stay in its sheath. And sometimes it very much does not.

Rating: ★★★★½  | Year: 1962  | Watched: 2025-09-08

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Trailer

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Akira Kurosawa: High and Low (1963) · Stray Dog (1949) · Throne of Blood (1957) · Ikiru (1952)
More with Toshirō Mifune: High and Low (1963) · Stray Dog (1949) · Throne of Blood (1957) · Drunken Angel (1948)
More from Japan: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · Blue (1993) · The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)
More from the 1960s: Viy (1967) · Persona (1966) · Carnival of Souls (1962) · Daisies (1966)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)