- Year
- 1962
- Country
- Japan
- Runtime
- 135 min
- Director
- Masaki Kobayashi
- Updated
- 9 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- canon (13/100)
Harakiri
A ronin asks to commit suicide in a lord's courtyard. What follows dismantles the whole code.
Masaki Kobayashi's masterpiece, and one of the finest films Japan produced in any genre. An aging ronin arrives at a feudal lord's estate requesting the use of the courtyard to commit ritual suicide, and through a long, patient flashback the film exposes the cruelty and hypocrisy hiding behind the samurai code of honour.
It is a chanbara film that turns the sword film against itself, and its final act of violence is a genuine reckoning. Tatsuya Nakadai is extraordinary. This is the serious end of the tradition, and it is essential.
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