Looking at how Kinji Fukasaku's 1973 yakuza film subverts the conventions of 50s yakuza cinema.
I will discuss Kinji Fukasaku’s 1973 film Battles Without Honour and Humanity andlook at John G. Cawelti’s essay about generic transformation to give insight into yakuza-eiga’s shift from ninkyo (chivalrous) films to jitsuroku (documentary-style) films. In Battles… we see Shozo Hirono and his friends go from poor WW2 veterans to yakuza and, some, legitimate businessmen, through manipulation and betrayal. When Hirono is incarcerated for the attempted assassination of a yakuza boss, Hirono’s gang divides, Yoshio Yamamori still leads some and Hirono’s yakuza brother Tetsuya Sakai leads the others. Hirono gets out of jail and both leaders try getting Hirono to join them, Hirono tries to get the two to come together but none agree, so Hirono leaves the yakuza. Battles... ends with Sakai’s death by Yamamori’s clan and Hirono defiantly shoots up Sakai’s shrine. This essay argues that the shift from ninkyo-eiga to jitsuroku-eiga was because of genre tiredness, international nihilism, and a change in how Japanese citizen’s saw real yakuza and politicians. It also argues that Fukasaku’s desire to demystify the ninkyo genre through comedy, character, cinematography, narrative, costume, and subverting conventions, is a result of his upbringing (surrounded by ‘burnt out ruins and the black market’ (Schilling 2003: 53)) and various influential films.
‘Change in genre occurs when the audience says ‘That’s too infantile a form of what we believe. Show us something more complicated’ (Braudy 1977: 179). This is what led to Battles…, after audiences grew tired of Toei’s 300 plus ninkyo-eiga that followed a strict plot and set of conventions. In the late 60s and early 70s we saw attempts from Toei to reinvent the yakuza-eiga. Besides jitsuroku-eiga, there were ‘pinky violence,’ hypersexualised, girl gangster films. Cawelti theorises a genre evolves into one of four modes: humorous burlesque, evocation of nostalgia, demythologization, and reaffirmation of myth. Most films that fit into this mould use a second mode as well. Battles… employs demythologization with humorous burlesque. Demythologization ‘deliberately invokes the basic characteristics of a traditional genre in order to bring its audience to see that genre as the embodiment of an inadequate and destructive myth.’ (Cawelti 1992: 507)
Cawelti notes that in Chinatown you can immediately tell something is different about this film when compared to the typical detective film, for Chinatown it is that it is in colour. Battles… uses multiple techniques to give the audience an immediate unfamiliarity. Battles... opens with a photo of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and pictures of the black market. This opening ‘invokes the sense of a found document of authenticity, [placing] the narrative in a very specific historical, cultural, and spatial context.’(Da Silva 2007: 350). This setting subverts the typical ninkyo-eiga setting of the late Taisho to early Showa period, in Tokyo. Ninkyo-eiga looked at the pre-war past nostalgically but Battles’… opening shot and setting of Hiroshima links it directly to WW2 and a violent, ugly world. The unconventional documentary-style continues with the handheld camera shots, and as Fukasaku says, he ‘didn’t worry much about the lighting.’ (Schilling 2003: 51). We get freeze frames and title cards when characters are introduced with the characters’ future roles in yakuza. Battles… is based on real-life yakuza Kozo Mino’s autobiographical manuscript that he wrote whilst incarcerated. Also, Fukasaku and the cast got advice from real yakuza during filming (Schilling 2003: 33-35). This realism was never seen in the conventionally fantastical ninkyo-eiga.
One reason for this radical change is that Battles... was made when directors started gaining more control over their work, related to the success of European art cinema and rise of Hollywood auteurs (Da Silva 2007:348). Toei president Okada was on board with Kinji Fukasaku’s change, stating; ‘the past is the past, now is now.’ (Schilling 2003: 34). With more control we see Kinji Fukasaku’s influences in Battles..., the hand-held camera technique speaks to the cinema verité seen in French New Wave films. Schrader argues that there is influence from The Godfather though this is debateable as that film does not use a documentary-style. Fukasaku was also influenced by TV reports ‘where grainy images showed college kids and farmers fighting the police.’ (Da Silva 2007: 348). Battles... is also a result of Fukasaku’s upbringing, as he said himself: ‘my generation were raised in the black market, from the time we were kids, rape was an everyday occurrence for us, so we didn’t shy away from it on screen.’ (Schilling 2003: 50). Black markets were ruthless, jungle-like places and Fukasaku used the power he had to accurately represent a time that he and many others grew up in, helping him stand out from other directors. We also see realism in the violence of Battles.... By the late 1960s ‘yakuza organisations became increasingly perceived as predatory ‘violent gangs’ (boryokudan) rather than noble defenders of the weak.’ (Standish 2005: 299). In the opening we see the yakuza cutting off an arm and blood drenches the camera, shoving the extreme violence that yakuza dealt out in the audience’s face. We also see realistic violence in Battles... when Hirono tries to assassinate Doi. There is no graceful fight with katana’s, instead multiple gunshots, as Doi stumbles away slowly and the assassination fails. It is less beautiful than the ninkyo-eiga fight scenes but also more real.
One figure demythologised in Battles... is the oyabun. In the ninkyo-eiga, an evil, westernised oyabun who has taken over the protagonists’ gang whilst he was in prison is typical or they would lead the rival gang. Despite this, there was often an honourable oyabun, a father figure and a man the protagonist is willing to die for. However, this honourable oyabun either is killed by the evil gang or betrays the protagonist. Battles… does not deviate from this, but instead delves deeper into it. One reason for oyabun’s typically not being viewed favourably could be because men in Japan would ‘stay at work until the boss left [and] work seven times a week.’ (Horsley/Buckley 1990: 78). This strenuous work schedule filled many with anti-authority thoughts that they released when watching these films. The honourable oyabun is absent in Battles… although the principal producer of Toei’s ninkyo-eiga argued for the authenticity of honourable oyabun’s as one he knew ‘was truly chivalrous.’ (Standish 2005: 306). In Yoshio Yamamori we see the worst kind of oyabun. Beyond the typical evil oyabun’s manipulative techniques, using Hirono’s sense of giri (duty) to make him do his dirty bidding, and his ties to big businesses, Yamamori is not even tough. He is fat, throws tantrums and often emasculated by his ane-san. When Yamamori agrees to Hirono cutting off his finger to save money, Sakai openly voices his lack of respect for the boss. Evil bosses in ninkyo-eiga at the least had authority, Yamamori only really has authority over Hirono. In ninkyo-eiga, the saving grace is that ‘the evil oyabun always dies,’(Schrader 1974: 11), whereas by the fourth film in this series Yamamori reaches the ultimate heights for a yakuza boss. The fact that Yamamori does not die is the biggest point of demythologization regarding the oyabun character. Also, the idea of the yakuza being predatory is shown here because Yamamori picks up Hirono and company when they are at their lowest point, homeless, war veterans.
The lateral, homosocial bonds that the protagonist has is another staple of yakuza-eiga and is also demythologized in Battles…. Ninkyo-eiga ‘presented male homosocial bonding as a traditional virtue and a principal site of male connectedness, that the modern age of industrial capitalism was increasingly eroding.’ (Standish 2005: 301). The bond the hero had with men of equal standing gave the audience what they were missing out on in real life, many young men came to big cities for work but never had time to socialise and were extremely isolated. In the, typically, masculine world of yakuza-eiga the importance of this bond is intensified. In Ninkyo-eiga the protagonist has three main types of homosocial bonds. One is with his yakuza brothers, the next is a rival relationship where two men in different gang’s team in the end to fight evil and the last are blood brothers, though some relationships have a combination. Sometimes these men would help our hero in the final battle, however these relationships are fleeting, and the hero is alone at the end, either through incarceration or death.
In Battles… the lateral bonds are also fragile. The gang is key to Battles..., ‘featuring not only Toei performers like Sugawara, Umemiga and Matsukata but also such former Nikkatsu stars as Akira Kobayashi and Joe Shshilo.’ (D 2005: 19). Along with this, Sugawara said that this was the first Toei film without the lead actor in every scene (Schilling 2003: 135-136). Battles... has a chaotic nature (amplified with the fast-moving hand-held camera shots) where men betray each other constantly. When Hirono is hiding out after attempting to assassinate Doi, Seiichi Kanbara comes, claiming to help Hirono. Hirono is sceptical of Kanbara, a fellow gang member and ex-war buddy. Eventually he agrees, but his suspicions are realised as Kanbara leaves him when the police arrive and Hirono is, “abandoned by everyone and everything.” Even a brother’s word cannot be trusted. There are also other betrayals, Masakichi Makihara and Shuji Yano both betray Sakai for example. This free-for-all between people who are meant to trust each other is a common theme for Fukasaku, also in Battle Royale. This idea of not being able to trust anyone is personal to Fukasaku and links to his rough, black market upbringing and to how ‘the end of that war had brought for young Fukasaku a total collapse of all the values he had learnt at school: authority, nation, honour, etc.’ (Da Silva 2007: 351). Fukasaku was betrayed by those he trusted the most, so he no longer knew who to trust. There is one unbreakable bond, between Hirono and Wakasugi who fits the three categories: blood brother, rival, and gang brother. The strongest is the blood brother connection, consummated in prison and is what made Wakasugi go against his giri, loyalty to Doi, in favour of his ninjo (personal desire). Wakasugi again proves his loyalty by killing Kanbara for betraying Hirono. We see the demythologization shortly after as Wakasugi is gunned down. This bond is not even allowed to be fleeting and Wakasugi’s death is a punishment for his loyalty. Towards the end of Battles..., Sakai, despite being responsible for the Yamamori gang break up, honourably lets Hirono have a chance against him when he could have easily killed him because of their brotherhood. Though, Sakai is punished and dies immediately after this. Fukasaku’s message is clear; in this new Japan the strong lateral, homosocial bond is dead. It is every man for himself.
Next, I would like to focus on the character of Hirono, who seems like a generic ninkyo-eiga protagonist but, beneath the surface, cannot reach the level of the typical hero. The main audience for yakuza-eiga was young, lonely men and so ninkyo-eiga had a hypermasculine protagonist, typically portrayed by Ken Takakura or Koji Tsurunta. He was a representation of the perfect man, helping weak, ordinary people against a strong enemy. This derived from the samurai hero in the jidaigeki-eiga and similarly to bushido, the hero had his own code called jingi. Beyond this, the hero struggled between giri and ninjo, ‘without giri/ninjo, there could be no protagonist.’ (Schrader 1974: 10). This struggle spoke to an audience who often struggled between the past, Confucian ideas of sticking to your duty and modern, western ideas of individualism. In the typical ninkyo-eiga ‘when forced to weigh the balance between duty (giri) and love, human emotions (ninjo), duty weighs most heavily in a man’s world.’ (Standish 2005: 311). The hero follows his code by leaving everything he loves. Hirono fits much of this ninkyo hero type, even being portrayed by Bunta Sugawara, who had starred in several ninkyo-eiga. However, Fukasaku uses Hirono to expose how out of place the ninkyo hero is in a new, realistic, world. We see Hirono’s origins as a war veteran, we would not typically see this in the ninkyo, and it humanises him as we know that he has already been defeated. Then there is his conflict between giri and ninjo. Multiple times Hirono disregards ninjo in favour of giri, as the ninkyo hero would usually do, willing to give his life for Yamamori. The demythologisation comes from no-one else in Battles..., except for Wakasugi, caring about this struggle, instead their drive is making money. Fukasaku ‘was trying to show the yakuza's race to catch up as Japan's reconstruction took place after the war.’ (D 2005: 20). When Sakai leaves the gang, it is not because he has a problem with dealing drugs to the people or that Yamamori dishonourably breaks codes, it is because he wants more money. Another scene that highlights the key differences between Hirono and the others in the gang is when Hirono says he will kill Doi for Yamamori. Yamamori gives Hirono money and says that he will give Hirono much more after he is released from prison. When Yamamori does this one member states that Yamamori “is a great man.” To them, giving away money is the ultimate sacrifice one can make, completely undermining Hirono’s sacrifice. Even when Hirono is given the money, he is indifferent as it was his sense of duty that made him decide to kill Doi. Fukasaku tells us that a man like this cannot exist in the real world and there are two ways one can go; they can either die, like Wakasugi after he followed his blood brother code or they can adapt to the real world, which Hirono does in a later film when he forms a gang that does not have any ties to another gang, ‘a significant departure from traditional yakuza practice.’ (McDonald 1992: 186). Neither option is ideal, making Hirono a more realistic and tragic hero than those in the ninkyo-eiga, a hero that many Japanese could relate to after their loss in WW2, including Fukasaku himself. Fukasaku’s international influence is also shown here, with the rise-and-fall narrative, typical of 1930s Hollywood gangster films. So, despite Hirono himself being the perfect hero, Battles… shows that in the real world, a hero like him would not exist for long and would be manipulated and taken for granted until he changed his ways or died because, after all ‘the noble heroes were lies.’ (Schilling 2003: 50)
Most films that fit one mode that Cawelti outlined, also fit at least one more, this is applicable for Battles’…, use of humorous burlesque. Cawelti defines this mode as when a ‘well established set of conventions or a style is subjected to some form of ironic or humorous exploitation.’ (Cawelti 1992: 503). This fits the finger cutting scene in Battles…. It is one of the key set pieces that Paul Schrader lays out for ninkyo-eiga and when employed in those films it is played in a serious manner, done to show how much the protagonist is willing to sacrifice to uphold his sense of duty. It is done respectably with a cloth properly laid out and usually an oyabun witnessing. The situation setting up the finger cutting is conventional, Hirono attacks someone he should not have in a gambling den to defend his gang, but it is subverted when we find out that nobody in the gang knows how to commit the ritual of yubitsume. Hirono gets advice from the ane-san, two of the men lay out the tatami mat the wrong way and Yamamori himself is not witnessing it. When Hirono goes to cut off his finger the rest huddle around him, it seems like a classroom science experiment where the yakuza are children, and the ane-san is a teacher, Hirono even asks if he is doing it right. When Hirono cuts off his finger it falls off into a chicken coop. The gang comically scamper around looking for the finger. One member finds it, pecked by chickens and says, “look at how pathetic it is.” The fact that it is held directly to the camera tells us that, beyond the finger, this pitifulness applies to the modern yakuza’s attempt at the ritual. We get a realistic amount of blood and reaction from Hirono when the finger is cut off that we would not get in the ninkyo-eiga. This scene shows us how the real yakuza are not as respectful of tradition or as mythical as the ninkyo-eiga shows. This gesture is immediately undermined when Okubo laughs and says that it “wasn’t necessary,” even oyabun’s beyond Yamamori laugh at tradition. There are more times where tradition is undermined by the yakuza but not in comedically. When Hirono and company are inducted into the yakuza Yamamori says, “we’ve simplified the ceremony to suit the time,” in this new Japan things move too fast to do ceremonies properly, so they go through the motions and focus on making money. Even Wakasugi, who is one of the last ninkyo-type characters, manipulates tradition for his own benefit. When in prison Wakasugi uses seppuku to get out early. The one tradition that is played straight in Battles... is another one of Schrader’s set pieces, the blood-brother ritual between Wakasugi and Hirono. Both men take this seriously, protecting each other throughout Battles..., however, Wakasugi dies and Hirono changes because old-school ninkyo characters cannot exist in the real world.
Ninkyo-eiga were never overtly political, ‘both left and right [drew] great spiritual substance from a genre which allows one individual to forego his duty if humanity must be served, and another to forgo humanity for the sake of duty.’ (Schrader 1974: 11). The protagonists’ ambiguity allowed for both sides to attach their politics to him. Of course, there were some things in ninkyo-eiga that can be political. The left-wing protestors took inspiration from the toppling of the boss and the right-wing audience enjoyed the traditionalist message. The modern setting is explicitly political in Battles…, when people see the Hiroshima bombing and the black markets, they will think of the war, America and all the politics surrounding it. We see the yakuza not only be a metaphor for politics and big businesses but also have direct links to them, when Yamamori orders Sakai to kidnap Shoichi Kanamaru so that Shigeto Nakahara can win his vote. We see Yamamori become a legitimate businessman through manipulation and lies. To Fukasaku, ‘the public began to be acutely aware of this corruption during the sixties. It led to Prime Minister Tanaka’s indictment. I think the awareness really started in that decade.’ (D 2005:28). Fukasaku has said that he started believing that politicians were liars during the war. The 1973 oil crisis, which badly affected Japan, also helped create an international nihilism which is reflected with this lack of trust. However, Battles... is not clearly left leaning. A central theme of Battles… is ‘a critique of the intimate connections between Japan’s post-war economic recovery and American foreign policy.’ (Standish 2005 :305). In the opening we sense nationalism when we see Americans trying to rape a woman and when Hirono tries helping he is attacked by Japanese officers. We feel that the old way of Japan was better as the camera and narrative shows how chaotic life is now with the only shining light being the old-school Hirono. The politics are explicit, we do see yakuza affecting politics in Battles… however, its political message is largely ambiguous and only partly dismantles the dominant ideology and is not too different from the politics of ninkyo-eiga.
Then we have the ending, which solidifies Battles… as a demythologization rather than a reaffirmation of the myth. In the reaffirmation of the myth ‘the myth itself is at least partially affirmed as a reflection of authentic human aspirations and needs.’ (Cawelti 1992: 509). An example of this would be Unforgiven which has a realistic approach but in the final shootout, the aged William Munny kills a dozen men, in a saloon, by himself. If Battles… was to do this, we would see Hirono kill Yamamori and Sakai in an epic battle, temporarily defeating evil, then return to prison or die to restore order in the natural world. This does not happen though. We get a tease of this ending when Hirono reaches into his pocket but pulls out a sake cup instead of a gun. Hirono does not even attempt to kill Yamamori or Sakai because he has realised that the ninkyo-eiga ending of defeating all evil by defeating one group is unrealistic. If Hirono killed Yamamori or Sakai someone would take their place. Instead, the ending starts with Sakai’s funeral. The funeral seems traditional and respectful, we hear instruments and chanting. There is a mural with Sakai’s picture and candles set up with it. The camera is the least shaky it has been throughout. Many, including Yamamori, wear the traditional kimono that would often be worn by the ninkyo-eiga’s good oyabun. If one were to just see this scene, they would assume it was from a generic ninkyo-eiga, except we know the irony of these men, who have broken codes and manipulated traditions, pretending to respect those things. Then Hirono arrives, the camera returns to its documentary-style shakiness and Hirono asks Sakai’s picture if he is “happy with the show they’ve put on?” The old-fashioned protagonist has learnt that everything that ninkyo-eiga was built on, everything Hirono believes in; ninkyodo, giri, yubitsume, jingi, how an oyabun is meant to treat his gang and how the gang are meant to treat each other, is a sham. The only thing that matters in this new Japan is money. This harkens back to how everything Fukasaku learnt about Japan was exposed with their defeat in the war. Fukasaku then proposes his solution to a Japan quickly modernising, whilst still (Fukasaku believes) pretending to care about the past; it is better to destroy tradition than only using it when it is beneficial. Hirono pulls out his gun and fires his first bullet. The traditional music stops, Hirono then blasts away several icons of Japanese tradition. Instead of reaffirming the myth, Hirono shoots it into pieces.
So, in conclusion, with Battles… Kinji Fukasaku demythologizes the ninkyo-eiga which had been a staple of Japanese cinema for about a decade. He uses a real source to ground a genre that had been largely associated with the fantastical. Fukasaku looks at oyabun’s, yakuza, rituals, and codes in a realistic and cotemporary way by throwing them in post-war Hiroshima. Fukasaku shows that all of these are without, as the title states, honour, and humanity. There is no ‘good’ oyabun, no strong brother bond and no respect for tradition. Anything that is left form the ninkyo-eiga must adapt or die brutally. Fukasaku uses a variety of influences from around the world to commit this demythologization by using camera, costume, narrative, editing, lighting, icons, humour, and characters. There are also many reasons why the demythologization of the ninkyo-eiga happened, the genre tiredness, a gain in power for Fukasaku, social and political factors, international nihilism, and Fukasaku’s brutal upbringing. However, the ideas that the ninkyo-eiga had, did not leave cinema’s completely, instead many of these themes shifted to the war epic film. Those films were set in the past, had strong lateral bonds and the macho lead, sometimes even played by Ken Takakura. Also, just like the ninkyo-eiga, jitsuroku-eiga eventually faded due to a multitude of factors (including the rise in VHS tapes) but, with Battles… Fukasaku did manage to completely reconstruct yakuza-eiga and made ‘one of the most acclaimed yakuza films ever.’ (D 2005: 9)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FILM
Eastwood, Clint (1992) Unforgiven
Coppola, Francis Ford (1972) The Godfather
Fukasaku, Kinji (2000) Battle Royale
Fukasaku, Kinji (1973) Battles Without Honour and Humanity
Polanski, Roman (1974) Chinatown
BOOKS
Braudy, Leo., 1977. The World In A Frame. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press.
D, Chris., 2005. Outlaw Masters Of Japanese Film. London: I.B. Tauris.
Horsley, William. and Buckley, Roger., 1990. Nippon: The New Superpower: Japan Since 1945. London: BBC Books.
Schilling, Mark., 2003. The Yakuza Movie Book. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge.
Standish, Isolde., 2005. A New History Of Japanese Cinema. New York: Continuum.
ARTICLES
da Silva, Joaquin., 2007. Fukasaku and Scorsese: Yakuzas and Gangsters. The Gangster Film Reader, pp.343-354.
G. Cawelti, James., 1992. Chinatown and Generic Transformation in Recent American Film. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, pp.498-511.
Iwai McDonald, Keiko., 1992. The Yakuza Film: An Introduction. Reframing Japanese Cinema: Authorship, Genre, History, pp.165 - 192.
Schrader, Paul., 1974. Yakuza-Eiga: A Primer. Film Comment, 10(1), pp.8-17.
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