4Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa’s 1957 film, transplants to feudal Japan the story that Shakespeare acquired from Holinshed and others. In moving this tale across cultures and times, Kurosawa, Japan’s greatest filmmaker, faced the dilemma that confronts any translator of a literary work: how does one retain the power of a work made up of words and associations when both the words and the associations are of necessity lost? Kurosawa’s answer is bold – he makes the story as specifically Japanese a story as Shakespeare’s is European.
Seizing upon the theme of the inevitability of fate, he gives us Washizu (Macbeth), a proud warrior trapped in the tightening coils of his own inescapable destiny. Where Shakespeare’s Macbeth, at least in part, collaborates in his own destruction, Kurosawa’s Washizu (played by Toshiro Mifune) struggles to break free of a web that is not of his own weaving: the actual Japanese title of this film (Kumonosu-Djo) may be translated into English as “Castle of the Spider’s Web.”
In this retelling, the interplay of characters and motives becomes transformed. Here, Washizu murders his lord not to gain power but to save his own life. Here, Banquo/Miki (played by Minoru Chiaki) dies not at the command of his friend but through the secret machinations of Asaji/Lady Macbeth (played by Isuzu Yamada). Here, no aggrieved Macduff comes forth to revenge himself upon Macbeth; when Washizu’s luck finally falters, the clouds of hissing arrows let fly by Washizu’s own faceless and faithless troops are what pin him to his fate. Although Washizu acknowledges the ambition in his heart and realizes that without it he would be no true samurai, he also knows full well that honor and faithfulness are paramount values. Almost to the end, he strives to preserve this honor, but from the moment he and Miki encounter the Spirit of the Cobweb Forest, his destruction is assured.
•1.3 (excerpt) – Not upon the heath, but along the deceiving paths of the Cobweb Forest, do Washizu and Miki encounter their witch (Chieko Naniwa), sitting in a flimsy bamboo hut, spinning thread. Just prior to the start of this clip, they have been led to the hut by the sound of her song, which tells of ambition and destruction.
The spirit tells Washizu that he will soon be ruler of the Cobweb Castle, a fortress currently commanded by Washizu’s lord, Tsuzuki. The prophecy angers Washizu, and his anger in turn puzzles the witch: “You mortals! Your behavior is very mystifying. You want something and you act as if you do not want it.” The contradiction, of course, forms the basis of all that is to follow, for Washizu will strive repeatedly to subordinate his ambition to his honor and yet be helpless to avoid fulfilling the prophecy. Like Macbeth, he is tempted by the promise of power; unlike Macbeth, it is not power’s lure that overmasters him. Action that springs from the next prophecy, the witch’s promise that Miki’s son (like Banquo’s) will eventually succeed Washizu, makes this clear: later in the film (in a sequence not given here), Washizu honestly intends to adopt Miki’s son as his heir, but his intentions are thwarted by his consort, Asaji, who secretly orders Miki’s murder.
Her prophecies concluded, the witch vanishes, and her hut disappears moments later. Although some modern productions of Macbeth (e.g. Orson Welles’ adaptation) beg the question of the witches’ supernatural powers and in so doing make Macbeth all the more responsible for his crimes, there is no such ambiguity here. Kurosawa’s witch truly is a supernatural being; she really does vanish by unnatural means. And the thread she has spun will undoubtedly snare Washizu, no matter how he tries to escape.
•1.7 (excerpt) – In this scene, Washizu, like Macbeth, tells his wife that he has decided against the murder: “I am satisfied with the way things are. I will keep this castle and remain loyal to his Lordship. I want to live in peace.” In contrast to Lady Macbeth, however, the lady Asaji does not attempt to persuade him by attacking his manhood. Kneeling in nearly the same position as the Forest witch, impassive as a porcelain statue, she tells her husband, “If Captain Miki tells His Lordship of what happened in the forest, then there would be no peace here. His Lordship would regard you as a usurper. . . . You have only two ways to choose. Stay here and wait for your own destruction, or kill His Lordship and take over the Cobweb Castle.” It is Washizu’s life, not his ambition, that is at stake.
Even so, Washizu strives to hold to the honorable course: “His Lordship trusts me. I would give my heart for him.” For a moment Asaji allows her mask to slip as she insinuates, “Does he know what lies deep in your heart?” But Washizu does not yield: “In my heart? There is nothing. . . . I have no such ambition.” Whether or not he speaks the truth, he fully intends to act as though he has. When Asaji once again reminds him that Miki may have already betrayed him, Washizu will have none of it. Asaji will have to wait, to twist circumstances more and more, before her husband finally yields.
•5.5-8 – Prior to the start of this clip, Washizu has lost nearly everything: his castle is surrounded, his supporters are deserting him, his wife has fallen into madness. Desperate, he seeks out the witch once more. She tells him that he shall not fall in battle until the Cobweb Forest moves against him, and she rouses him to a half-mad killing frenzy. When he returns to his fortress, he exhorts his remaining troops with a bravado retelling of this latest prophecy. For the moment, he succeeds. Then the report comes: the Forest is moving.
Washizu is reduced to a stumbling panic. Once again, he tries to command his troops to action, but they remain silent, frozen in place. Then, from somewhere in their fog-shrouded ranks, an arrow flies towards him. In a gasp of defiance, he calls his soldiers cowards. A hail of arrows is his only answer, and he flails this way and that, trying to escape the flying darts. He is hit several times, and in his pain and fury he denounces his troops as traitors. Finally, he receives a spoken reply: “Who killed Lord Tsuzuki?” More arrows fly, and there is no avoiding them this time.
Washizu is killed by cowardice and treason, the very crimes of which he is guilty, and his final struggles to avoid the swarm of arrows are both horrifying and pathetic. At the very end, though, there seems a moment of redemption: as a last fatal arrow pierces his neck, he seems almost to smile. His troops back away as he lurches towards them, reaching for his sword. He dies, not in fear, but in defiance, and the swirling fog shrouds his fallen body. 4 Palex Palex Voyager ™Palex ™∂Palex ∂¯Palex ¯˙Voyager ˙tPalex twVoyager w√Palex √≈Voyager ≈ éPalex é êVoyager ê
