Kumonosu-jō 蜘蛛巣城 (Spider-Web Castle a.k.a. ) Directed by 黒沢 明 Japan, 1957

A VIEWER’S GUIDE

Who’s Who Text Comparison

Washizu = Behold within this mighty place, Lady Asaji = Now desolate, Miki = Stood a mighty fortress, Yoshiteru = 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 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 , The Films of Akira Kurosawa [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973], 117)

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