Harakiri film: Encyclopedia II - Harakiri film - Plot

Harakiri film - Plot

At the start of the film, Hanshiro Tsugumo shows up at the house of a feudal lord, Kageyu Saito, looking for a suitable place to commit seppuku. At the time, it is told, it was fairly common for disgraced samurai to make the same request, or threat, in order to receive a pittance from the lord of the house. To discourage Hanshiro, Kageyu Saito recounts the story of another ronin, Motome Chijiiwa, who made the same request earlier in the year and was forced by the samurai retainers of the house to go through with the threat. Tsugumo is not discouraged, however, and looks determined to prove that he isn't making idle threats.

While getting ready for the suicide, Hanshiro Tsugumo recounts his tale to Kageyu Saito and his retainers. His lord's house was considered a threat and toppled by forces of the shogunate. His friend, another samurai, committed seppuku and left Tsugumo to look after his son, who it turns out was Motome Chijiiwa. With the responsibility of looking after Chijiiwa and also his own daughter Miho, Hanshiro is unable to choose the 'honorable' way to end his life, and instead has to live in poverty and work menial jobs in order to support his family.

When they get older, Motome Chijiiwa and Miho Tsugumo end up getting married and have a son, Kingo, but still live on in poverty. When Chijiiwa and Kingo get ill, they can't afford the services of a physician and Chijiiwa comes up with the plot of threatening to commit seppuku at a lord's house with previously seen results. With no money, Miho and Kingo end up dying from their illnesses.

Before coming to Kageyu Saito's house, Hanshiro Tsugumo tracks down three retainers of the house, Hikokuro Omodaka, Hayato Yazaki and Umenosuke Kawabe, who he blames for the deaths of his family. Instead of killing them in combat, he disgraces them by cutting off the topknots of their hair.

After finishing his story, Hanshiro Tsugumo is attacked by the retainers of the furious lord Kageyu Saito. Honor forgotten, he has to fight all of them off alone, killing four, before succumbing to his wounds and finally committing seppuku to avoid getting killed by the retainers.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Plot", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki