Kumonosu-jō 蜘蛛巣城 (Spider-Web Castle a.k.a. Throne of Blood) Directed by Akira Kurosawa 黒沢 明 Japan, 1957
A VIEWER’S GUIDE
Who’s Who Text Comparison
Washizu = Macbeth Behold within this mighty place, Lady Asaji = Lady Macbeth Now desolate, Miki = Banquo Stood a mighty fortress, Yoshiteru = Fleance Lived a proud warrior Forest Spirit = Weird Sisters Murdered by ambition. Noriyasu = Duncan His spirit walking still…. Vain pride, then as now, Will lead ambition to the kill. (Kumonosu-jō)
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear His hopes ’bove wisdom, grace and fear: And you all know, security [ = overconfidence] Is mortals’ chiefest enemy. (Macbeth 3.5.30-33)
Unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles. (Macbeth 5.2.75-76)
Washizu and Miki
Questions to Consider
• Is Washizu a more or less appealing character than Macbeth? Why? • Is Lady Asaji a more or less appealing character than Lady Macbeth? Why? • Is Miki a more or less appealing character than Banquo? Why? • How does the Forest Spirit compare with the Weird Sisters? • Does anyone in the film really believe in the samurai code of loyalty to one’s lord? • Is the moral or spiritual universe in which Throne of Blood’s characters live more or less appealing than the one in which Macbeth’s characters live? Why?
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MASKS AS MODELS
Heida 平太 (“Middle-Aged Man”)
Yamanba 山姥 (“Old Mountain Woman”)
Shakumi 曲見 (“Oblique Glance”)
“I like [Nō 能] because it is the real heart, the core of all Japanese drama. Its degree of compression is extreme, and it is full of symbols.” (Akira Kurosawa, qtd. in Donald Richie, The Films of Akira Kurosawa [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973], 117)
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