Isaburo and his son Yugoro in "The Sword of Death" are stubborn and disobey the lord's orders. Is it the honor of the samurai? Family honor?
As a samurai, obedience to the boss is a duty, and the lord can find any reason to order samurai to cut his belly. Isaburo's refusal not only has nothing to do with the samurai's honor, but is contrary to the samurai's honor. At the same time, judging from the Sasahara family's pressure on Isaburo, Isaburo's obedience to the order will not damage the family's honor.
So what was the reason for Isaburo's refusal? The movie has repeatedly pointed to the theme of the happiness of the marriage with Goro and Ashi. Such a beautiful relationship cannot be trampled at will. Reasons such as the beauty of feelings were completely insignificant in the pre-modern era. In that society that talked about disciples, rank, rules and etiquette, personal feelings were simply not mentioned on the table. The prevailing attitude of the samurai era was that of Isaburo's wife, but Isaburo was against the trend.
It's not so much a samurai movie as it's an anti-samurai movie with a modern twist. Isaburo did not hesitate to burn all the jade and stone, precisely to maintain the values he valued, not the obedience of the ignorant samurai.
It is a modern concept that people fight for personal beliefs and values, while pre-modernism emphasizes that people fight for honor, because the so-called honor is defined by the mainstream social values and dominated by public opinion.
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