Three movies depicting the Heian Era

[Glendower]

Some (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047445/) various period (http://www.sarudama.com/japanese_movies/stepontigertail.shtml) piece movies (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355857/). Good luck finding them, but I figured I'd toss them into the big pile of resources. Nothing gets the juices flowing like some visuals.

[johnstone]

And the sequel. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383543/)

[stormsweeper]

Good luck finding them

Well, most are available for sale in the States on Amazon. All of them are available through Netflix. Not that it helps those in Canada much.

[Jake Norwood]

Do Kurosawa's Throne of Blood or Rashomon apply here? I think they do, but I'm not 100%

Jake

[Andy K]

Hmmm. Whomever rated Onmyouji/Onmyouji 2 that low on IMDB are dumbasses. They're not going to change your life, but they are totally awesome movies nonetheless (the first slightly more than the second, but still). I *highly* recommend them both.

Domon in the first one, played by the Badass Dude that Eventually Comes to Like the Foreigner in The Last Samurai (he was also in the upcoming SF movie "Sunshine"), was totally kickass.

The main dude in Onmyouji in real life is one of the most famous Kabuki actors alive now, and he hasn't done many movies. That's why it was even more spectacular when, in the second one, to get to the Gates of Heaven he had to do the "God Dance". That shit was awesome, it was like watching Jet Li practice katas or something, but with traditional dance instead of kung-fu.

Also, another movie to check out: KWAIDAN (available through Netflix, etc). It was the largest budget movie of its day back in the 60s, and one of the first color movies Japan ever produced. It's glacially slow at parts (even I had to fast forward some), but holy crap the eye-candy is there. You will have no problem thinking of "what a monk looks like" "how do nobles dress" "what a noble domain looks like" "what Heian-era armor/battlegear looks like", etc.

The fact that the movie is all about ghosts and stuff is just that much better. But again, remember, it's quite slow compared to modern movies. But oh, the Heian/Kamakura era Eye-candy!

-Andy

[Thor Olavsrud]

Onmyoji and Onmyoji II are about Abe no Seimei (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_no_Seimei), who lived in Heiankyo about 150 to 200 years before the events that kick off Blossoms, though still very much in the Heian era.

He's sort of like a Japanese Merlin.

[Fourth Horseman]

Do Kurosawa's Throne of Blood or Rashomon apply here? I think they do, but I'm not 100%

Jake

Well, Ran and Kagemusha are both set during Sengoku Jidai. As for the two movies you actually asked about, its been a while since I've seen Rashomon so I can't remember what period costumes the characters were wearing--which would be a dead giveaway since Kurosowa was such a stickler for detail. In any event the movie is supposed to be based on the short story "In a Grove" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa who in turn may have drawn inspiration from the Konjaku Monogatari, which itself is a collection of late Heian tales. So I guess you could say a qualified yes for Rashomon.

The use of Sashimono (personal banners worn on the back) and Jinbaori (the sleeveless jacket worn over armour in camp) indicates to me that Throne of Blood is probably set closer to Sengoku Jidai. The ommision of the -no- honorific from Washizu Taketori's name is also an indicator this is a later period piece.

[Edit:] In any event, even though a lot of Kurosawa's stuff is set during Sengoku Jidai, his stories still manage to capture the ethos of what we were going for in Blossoms--e.g. the tension between honor and shame--all while offering an oblique critique of that class system at the same time (the man was brilliant). See Seven Samurai. He certainly had a direct and indirect influence on the tone of the stuff I put into Blossoms so feel free to use him as an inspiration, even if it might be technically anachronistic.

[johnstone]

Rashomon is 12th Century (so, yes, go watch it).

Also: Gate of Hell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gate_of_Hell_(film)), Portrait of Hell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_hell), and Gojoe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260054/).

Seven Samurai, Ran, and Kagemusha are all 16th Century, and Chushingura is set in 1701.

Miike Takashi is apparently making a Genpei clan wars movie (http://www.movieweb.com/news/25/15925.php)... in english... and uh...

[Fourth Horseman]

"I want to make a film that will make audiences think 'Japanese are cool!'"
--Takashi Mike

Evidently, the way to do this is to film the movie entirely in English, give Quentin Tarantino a cameo role, and for good measure bill it as Japan's "first true western." Got it.

[Andy K]

Evidently, the way to do this is to film the movie entirely in English, give Quentin Tarantino a cameo role, and for good measure bill it as Japan's "first true western." Got it.

With Miike at the helm, it will surely be the First True Western to feature a quart of theatrical semen.

-Andy