MovieChat Forums > Seppuku (1964) Discussion > Why did Motome do it?

Why did Motome do it?


Here's something I wonder about this film. Why did Motome go through with it and actually commit hara-kiri with his bamboo blade? If he really was "mad" with love and worry for his wife and son, I should think he'd try to get out of that situation. To my mind, dying fighting to the end like Tsugumo did is a much better death than dying by your own hand via a bamboo stick. But maybe that's just my Western thought.

Anyway, this whole movie is pretty much a criticism of the samurai code as a life of empty "facades" with no heart, but then Motome went along with it all! For that reason, I wasn't able to sympathize with him very well. Maybe he had a sort of unquestioning/trusting nature and it never entered his mind to fight back when his request for a few days' respite was refused. And I guess if he'd refused, we'd have no story. :P

For all that, this was a great film, a 10/10 imo.

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It's hard to say because the viewer doesn't see Motome through his own viewpoint. Motome is always shown from another's viewpoint. When he's doing the bamboo blade seppuku, the viewpoint is from the Ii clan's chief retainer.

But looking at the film itself, what I saw in Motome's reactions were complex and conflicting emotions. On one hand, the emotion of shock when he sees the bamboo wakizashi presented to him. And then the explanation from Omodaka (the retainer assigned to be his second) that "the sword is the soul of the samurai; that is your soul." And the realization that he is being mocked and degraded by the clan.

But also, there is his tremendous self-hatred. He was unable to support his family. Of course this was through no fault of his own, but he doesn't see it that way, he was brought up to believe that he is a failure because he wasn't able to support his family. So he sees himself as a failure. Plus he is someone who has sold his samurai "soul" (his swords). Furthermore, he has come to do what he had condemned in an earlier scene, that of trying to extort money from a clan by a request for seppuku when what he truly needed was money for his desperately sick family.

But then there is defiance. He may very well have seen that what the Ii clansmen thought would happen was that he would try and run and escape and then they could cut him down. So instead, he hurls the seppuku sword stand at the clansmen and then carries on, doing what they wouldn't expect him to do. At the very end, rather than continue further with the mockery, he bites his tongue and takes himself out rather than wait for and expect his second to do so.

I think that he was quite brave in handling the situation the way he did. If he had tried to fight with the bamboo wakizashi, he would have quickly been cut down. Or else perhaps the Ii retainers would have "toyed" with him for a while and then cut him down, which would have been a worse mockery.

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The self-hatred idea is interesting, but I really didn't see that in Motome. All I saw was desperation borne out of love...but I am female, perhaps men have a deeper feeling of disgust for themselves when they fail at something like supporting a family.

The fact that Motome *voluntarily* (to my eyes) went through with it made the moral punch of the film rather weaker imho than it could have been...yet I understand that this is a Japanese film made for a Japanese audience, who would not question why Motome followed through.

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I am also female. I don't think it makes a difference. Women who find themselves unable to support and care for their families will dispair just as much as men would.

As far as going forth with the seppuku rather than fighting back: It would seem to me that fighting back might be the more "macho" thing to do. However, if you are raised in a society that values rituals of politeness, of "doing it the proper way," then fighting back in a hopeless cause, would do nothing other than lead to even more mockery. As I said before, the Ii retainers may very well have "toyed" with him before cutting him down, which would have done nothing other than prolong the cruelty.

I think that his having gone forth the way he did, and especially taking himself out once he realized that the Ii retainers weren't going to spare him any of the agony, showed his strength rather than any weakness.

Now if Motome could have fought back with real swords, that would be different. Hanshiro, with his real swords, had the means to conduct a meaningful fight. But Hanshiro had earlier castigated himself for refusing to part with his "useless tokens" of rank and prestige; he praised his son-in-law for his willingness to sacrifice his "soul" for his family.

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I see your point...The whole value of ritual, politeness, and social expectations is correct, but see, it was something Hanshiro was brutally criticizing--though his son-in-law took part in it, to his undoing.

At a certain point survival is more important than any show of strength or personal dignity. For his family's sake, Motome should have made every effort to survive...even it turned out to be absolutely useless, at least he'd have taken a stab at it, like Hanshiro did as a form of protest.

Now, I can see the differing Japanese concept of honor and strength and how the story has to work to be as effective and powerful as it is--but I am also able to argue from my Western worldview. :P

There was also an interesting point in the booklet that came with my DVD--that this film is also a social commentary. Today we have films like "The Last Samurai" in which American actors gush about and romanticize bushido, but the older Japanese directors knew better. They knew firsthand what the whole "samurai spirit" got them during WWII. Watch any black & white samurai film...you will see a condemnation of the samurai class. So Kobayashi's point is well-taken, and the truth of the story resonates deeply--it applies to more than to just Japanese people or the feudal times in which it takes place, which is why it's such a dang good film.

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I haven't seen the film in a while, but if Motome was a samurai (I don't remember), his blind faith (an ignorance obviously not present in Hanshiro) towards the Bushido code would have called for his suicide; Motome was notably simpler than the wizened Hanshiro.

And, he would invariably have died; it would have been best to do it with what was commonly upheld as "honor".

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He had no choice really. Unlike Tsugumo, he was not an experienced fighter and had only his bamboo swords available at hand, so he had no chance at all to achieve anything against the guards if he had tried to fight them.

"He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody."

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As I said before: what would fighting back have done or Motome? I'm sure that it would have done nothing other than lead to more mockery and cruelty before a miserable death.

Motome knew at that point that he was going to die. Survival wasn't an issue there. Instead, dying honorably and confronting the basic cruelty of the false samurai code were the issues. The way Motome handled it, he was the one to determine when he would die, not the Ii clansmen.

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Motome knew at that point that he was going to die. Survival wasn't an issue there. Instead, dying honorably and confronting the basic cruelty of the false samurai code were the issues. The way Motome handled it, he was the one to determine when he would die, not the Ii clansmen.


I agree; but I would add that perhaps Motome felt that actual seppuku was the only way he could display defiance of all that was going against him.

Remember, he was only doing all this to get money for a doctor. Even if he had managed to escape or fight his way out, he still would have failed in this original goal. And with Miho also perhaps dying, he at that point had very little to lose.

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The code is not a complete facade. Honor and duty do exist, but not to the black and white extent that some take it. A warrior/leader/person can live within the code, but must understand that the code does not supersede one's humanity. The danger occurs when an institution's dogmas become more important than the individuals that make up the institution.

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[deleted]

Well as his father-in-law pointed out. The clan did not ask "Why?" Motome was caught between a rock and a hard place. He tries to provide for his family and the Harikari ruse to be taken on as a retainer or to get some money instead does not work. So he is left with the only option the clan will allow. They want to make an example of Motome to warn other ronin not to attempt that ploy again. The lone individual against the uncaring society with little or any alternatives.

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Motome was still raised with bushido and by commiting seppuku rather than saving his family he acted in the samurai way keeping his honor. ( he was forced, but he had a choise to try and run or smt like that).For Hanshiro it was more important to save his daughter and grandson and that Motomes dead was completly useless. " To my mind, dying fighting to the end like Tsugumo did is a much better death than dying by your own hand via a bamboo stick" i think that thats exactly what the director wanted to show and make people feel. And with that to proove that the samurai code is just a "facades"(somethink i dont agree).

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Firstly, he wasn't prepared. Secondly, 99% of people are sheep. Hanshiro was a sheepdog. Or rather, circumstances made him one.

http://premiercritic.blogspot.in

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I suppose he had no other choice? In that particular culture it was more honourable to perform Hara Kiri then to try and fight. Moreover im guessing he still himself believed somewhat in the samurai code,(he still believed they would behead him) whereas Tsugomo specifically stated that it was all bull *beep* Also in the end Tsugomo himself did commit hara kiri, after he had taken out a large proportion of their men, dishonored their sacred ancestral armour, and having to be shot at a distance, which brought further dishonor to Li.

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He went through with it because he believed in the samurai code, perhaps too much.

We are meant to understand that he really would have returned to commit harakiri had they granted him a few days respite so he could say goodbye to his family. Of course, he was hoping that they would give him money and send him away and he wouldn't have to go through with it at all.

It was a hard thing for him to come to this house and attempt to "extort" money, but it was also a heroic thing, because it showed that he was willing to sacrifice his honor to save his family.

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