Tales of the Taira Clan (Shin Heike monogatari, 1955)

Mizoguchi Kenji

Japan

108 min, color, Japanese (English subtitles)

Review © 2005 Branislav L. Slantchev

This is a relatively untypical film for Mizoguchi. For one, it's in color (and unlike Kurosawa's masterful control of the medium, Mizoguchi's definite strength is in black and white). Second, there are no female protagonists, at least not in any major role. And yet, there is something contemplative about this potentially turbulent history, and Mizoguchi's take on it is fairly personal, much like his somewhat odd interpretation of the Chushingura story.

The Taira victorious over the pirates	In the dust bowing to the Hiei priests

This is based on Yoshikawa Eiji's superb The Heike Story (Heike being an alternative pronunciation of the Taira). The Taira story is famous, especially because of the war tale Heike Monogatari, the stupendous anonymous chronicle of the dramatic rise and pathetic decline of the Taira clan. The explosive rise to prominence of the clan under Kiyomori was unprecedented: up until the 11th century, Japan had been ruled by an Emperor (in name) and the Fujiwara family (in practice). The last century of Fujiwara rule had been a complicated balancing act between the reigning Emperor, the Fujiwara, and the retired, so-called Cloistered, Emperor. All of this in the shadow of the ever-more power-hungry Hiei monks who relied on superstition to cow the government into granting them expanded influence and patronage.

Bloody battle aftermath	The Lady arrives home from a party

There was only so much land and power to go around, and soon the aristocrats found themselves calling on the low-status warriors to help settle their quarrels and protect their holdings. The Taira were one of the two preeminent clans (the other were the Minamoto/Genji), and they were in the services of Cloistered Emperor Toba. The film opens with the clan's head, Tadamori (Oya Ichijiro), returning in triumph from a victorious battle with pirates. And immediately Mizoguchi sets up the conflict that would define the story: the formidable warriors are reduced to bowing in the dust when quarrelsome Hiei monks enter Kyoto carrying the sacred palanquins. The Taira endure their insolent behavior in respectful silence but Kiyomori (Ishikawa Raizo), Tadamori's son, can barely contain himself. Soon another insult is added to the injury when the Court snubs Tadamori by denying him any reward for his exploits. The aristocrats are afraid of the warriors and want to keep them impoverished lest they lose their mettle. Desponded but stoic, Tadamori returns to his estate, where the wives of his fallen retainers mourn their husbands. All this sacrifice seems to have been for naught, and he is forced to sell a horse to pay for the victory banquet.

Suffering her nagging in silence	She would have left if it weren't for Kiyomori

Initially Kiyomori is content to follow his father despite his own larger ambitions. But then a merchant lets him in on a strange rumor: the Kiyomori could be former Emperor Shirakawa's son. When Kiyomori investigates, he learns not only that his mother used to be a courtesan in Shirakawa's service but that she also had bedded some dissolute monk before being "given" to Tadamori in marriage. In other words, he could either have royal blood in his veins, or could be nothing more than a bastard. When he fails to elicit more information from his parents, he refuses to help his father. Tadamori's loyalty is to Toba and he is ready to continue working and paying for his beliefs even as he is taken for a ride by the scheming courtiers. His seemingly listless deference to authority and lack of ambition frustrates Yasuko (Kogure Michiyo) to the point where she divorces him. The only ray of light in Kiyomori's life at this point is Tokiko (Kuga Yoshiko), the daughter of Fujiwara Tokinobu (Ishiguro Tatsuya), a poor and isolated member of the powerful family.

Kiyomori falls for Tokiko	A generation gap

But she is not the one who will change Kiyomori. At first he is stunned into inaction by the conflict over his status. If he is truly of royal descent, then the world owes him so much more than the humble offerings of a low-ranking samurai family. He would have been deprived of all the privilege and respect accorded to one of noble birth. His mother confirms as much by leaving her entire family and returning to her old profession, all just to hang around at the Court. On the other hand, he may be even less than a samurai if his birth father is that nameless monk. In this case, his shame would make it difficult to support his father. And yet Tadamori refuses to tell him, insisting that he is his son without giving any explanation. Torn between wanting what may be due to him and being afraid that he deserves even less than what he has, Kiyomori is paralyzed, and vents his anger on his father, refusing to join him on the next pacification expedition, and then ignoring the festivities even as he is finally rewarded with rank.

Inept but successful courtship	Finally his father's son

The only way out is to break the impasse, and this Kiyomori does by simply deciding not to let that matter of his origins stand in a way of what he desires. In other words, he resolves to pursue his dreams with his own strength instead of waiting for someone to bring them to him as a form of charity (like they did to his father) or feeling unworthy to aspire to them (perhaps a bit like Tadamori). His first act is to save Tadamori from a conspiracy by the courtiers, but when he draws his sword in the palace (a punishable offence), he ends up putting his father into an awkward position to defend his actions in front of the very people who had plotted his destruction. Although Tadamori is saved by the Cloistered Emperor, the Fujiwara lust after his downfall.

Trouble-making monks	Kiyomori quietly endures his father's disgrace

The occasion soon presents itself when the arrogant Hiei monks accost Kiyomori's brother in law and cause a scuffle at a celebration. This time the courtiers are swift: using the fear of the priests and what they represent as a pretext, they strip Tadamori of his rank. It is at this point that Kiyomori finally comes into his own: he asks the court to let him do everyone a favor by ridding Kyoto of the troublesome monks and their incessant demands. He would confront them militarily and let the chips fall where they may. The courtiers, who themselves would love to get rid of the monks, agree but disclaim all responsibility. Kiyomori would be on his own against the monks. (Incidentally, this would turn out to be their fatal mistake for once the Taira triumph over the priests, no other military power except the Genji could stand in their way.) Mizoguchi emphasizes Kiyomori's growth as a leader with a scene that shows the tired Tadamori slumped at the bottom of the stairs at the palace, unable to move, just as Kiyomori has obtained the permission to go after the monks. The scene fades out, and in the next one Tadamori is dead, of exhaustion, and perhaps of having outlived his position as head of the clan.

Perhaps we can get rid of the monks...	Yasuko finally tells Kiyomori the truth

At the mourning, Yasuko comes to pay her respects, and when she sees her ex-husband's fan, she reveals to Kiyomori the meaning of its inscription. Yes, he really is Shirakawa's son, and now that the death of Tadamori has absolved her of responsibility to keep it secret, she begs him to go with her to the palace. In effect, to become a courtier and relinquish the samurai life. She is too late, for Kiyomori no longer wishes to be given anything. He wants to take it, and take it he will. He abjures the divinity of his lineage (the Emperor line was believed to be divine), and claims Tadamori as his rightful father, along with the samurai clan that he has inherited from him.

Superstitious warnings of doom	Your wicked ways have disgraced the gods

The first step to prominence would be to confront the monks and break their stranglehold on the Courts by exposing the hollowness of the doctrine they have abused for so long. It takes a lot of strength, courage, and passion to shoot an arrow into the holy palanquin and stand up to superstition, but that's exactly what Kiyomori does, although he is careful to challenge the monks as usurpers of the relics rather than the gods they claim to represent. In other words, his sacrilege is nothing of the sort: he is rebelling against the corruption of the holy by the men who were supposed to be its guardians. In the final scene of the film, Kiyomori watches the epicurean gallivanting of a prominent Fujiwara, finds that existence wanting, and utters his verdict: the end of the aristocratic era is at hand.

Kiyomori fires the first shot of history	The waning aristocratic era

The film effectively ends in the beginning of the ancient chronicle (which is much more concerned with the epic struggle between Minamoto and Heike after Kiyomori's death), and smack in the middle of Yoshikawa's novel. Mizoguchi's purpose is not to tell the same old story of ephemeral human existence but to portray a man who transforms himself through sheer will-power, a man whose path to glory and immortality would be of his own making, along with the destruction of ancient privilege, custom, and superstition alike. Where the Taira bowed in the dust to priests under Tadamori, they would shoot arrows at them under Kiyomori.

The DVD I have is the French 2-disc special edition by Films sans Frontiers. The quality of the film itself is rather shabby: the colors are unstable, with the blues noticeably overwhelming some scenes. Compression artifacts are visible in every camera pan, and faster action. I don't know why they did not bother to clean up the picture a bit. At least the optional English subtitles are decent. There are plenty of extras in French (mostly biographies and some historical info about the period). The second disc has Shindo Kaneto's 1975 documentary about Mizoguchi, The Life of a Cineaste, a 150-minute must-see, also with English subtitles. This alone would make the DVD worth the money.

October 22, 2005