Nemuri Kyoshiro Revisited

 I recently started watching an old samurai series from many years ago. The character of Nemuri Kyoshiro was portrayed on the big screen by Ishikawa Raizo. And more recently on the television screen by Tamura Masakazu. When I was first in Japan in 1973 I found there was a tv series with the same character. Look on YouTube for Samurai vs Ninja and Nemuri Kyoshiro 1972. When I found it I recognized the theme song from over 50 years ago. In my 1973 Japan trip there were no English subtitles. Mary Heiny sensei would describe basically what was going on. But regardless I enjoyed the swordplay and especially watching the sequences with his Full Moon Cut or Engetsu Sappo.

In a much earlier blog I described him as not a samurai, but rather a burai no to or rogue swordsman. The stories and thus the movies and tv are set in a time when everything was political and the people on top of the societal foodchain tormented those with less. Therefore the true meaning of samurai was perverted by clan ties and subservience to those in power. Kyoshiro is a very very dark character, but he winds up protecting and defending those whom the society keeps downtrodden and in torment. The suffering of the people by those in power leads to a subconscious torment that that leads to widespread suffering amongst the people. Kyoshiro is like a dark angel who winds up supporting those in torment and suffering. And societally everything is sooooo bad and Nemuri Knoshiro represents the darkness that brings back in the light.

The technique has a magical mystical sense to it. The people he faces are either those responsible for much torment and suffering amongst the people or those who blindly follow the orders of those in power. Samurai who blindly follow those in power and are really assasins. There is usually an exceptional dark swordsman who will face Kyoshiro at the end and fall to the Engetsu Sappo. Kyoshiro is frank that it is not a technique but rather death itself. Right at the start of a climactic duel, Nemuri drops his guard and traces a circle with his sword. It's almost as if he uses a preternatural calm to open a powerful gateway. The opponent is initially frozen by the power and energy of the gateway but ultimately trapped by an incredible draw that the move has that pulls them in to their death. The violence and corruption of those he faces is drawn to their death by a move of profound beauty and purity that they can't escape. He's an angel of death. The darkness that brings in the light

The tv portrayal is much more complex than the one in the movies. Tamura's version really stresses the influence his mother has on him, especially her suicide/death. Kyoshiro despises both the surface Christianity that exists underground in his day and the fact that the meaning of samurai is totally perverted for their own uses by those in power. Reminds you of what is going on today. 

And I began to see Kyoshiro as a sidebar to the Christ Archetype.Osensei told Nadeau sensei that had to deal with feeling the burning of the children during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Being spiritually conscious is no picnic. In fact you can argue that Kyoshiro's very existence is torment and crucifixion.

Here is a video I did around my appreciation for the character. The tv series has an excellent backgrouond score by Takeo Watanabe.