Kurosawa Akira’s adaption of Shakespeare’s Macbeth entitled Kumonosu-jo (Throne of Blood) was widely disparaged by Japanese critics for its “western” influences. Understandably at the time of the film’s release in 1957, 12 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the climate in Japan regarding Western culture was tenuous. The idea of cross-cultural adaptation had become controversial in art circles and yet at the same time unavoidable as post-war ideology and globalisation began to subvert the long-standing jingoistic visions of the Japanese Empire that rejected western culture. The adoption of modern western film techniques were seen to have been imposed by capitalist values implemented by the American occupying forces, however these values, which also represented a spike in economic growth and a new alliance with the United States after the devastation of World War II, were instrumental in developing ties between the two nations and breaking down cultural barriers of understanding. Kurosawa Akira’s cinematographic techniques provided a cross-cultural translation of a European narrative whose themes had long appealed to “Western” sensibilities re-written for a Japanese audience. The influence of Noh Theatre and Zen Buddhism throughout, along with poetic and aesthetic translations of characters, settings and traditions creates a historical narrative that speaks to Kurosawa’s idea of Japan more than it does to Shakespeare’s idea of Europe. Kurosawa explores the essential themes of Macbeth; the corrupting power of unchecked ambition, and the transformation from King to Tyrant with a frame-by-frame attention to detail modelled off traditional “Noh” theatrical costume and performance and meticulous ink screen paintings of the Muramachi period (1392 – 1573), a period in which warfare and chaos known as the Sengoku (the Age of the Country at War) ravaged Japan. It is on this historical premise that Kumonosu-jo is set, using the Shakespearean narrative to comment on Japan’s cultural heritage.
In Kumonosu-jo, Washizu is Kurosawa’s Japanese translation of the character of Macbeth. He is a general under the leadership of Tsuzuki. Washizu is an example of a Shogun of the Japanese Military class, his make up and costume modelled off the Noh warrior mask. Washizu, as the main character represents the cultural and philosophic translation of the relationship between evil and the corrupting force of ambition in the face of the military supremacy, which parallel the essential themes of Shakesepeare’s Macbeth. In Stacey Hibb’s Thomistic critical interpretation of Macbeth, he outlines the motifs of Christian mysticism throughout the narrative “The world Shakespeare presents in Macbeth is saturated with the supernatural. It is not one that allows for a neat division of the two realms [the natural and the supernatural]. Both Duncan at the outset and Malcolm at the end are described as possessing both the martial virtues of bravery and Christian virtues of meekness and innocence. For Thomas Aquinas, the presence of the supernatural does not excuse men from responsibility or entail that they should be less vigilant in the pursuit of justice, even in the use of righteous force.“[1] It is upon this foundation that the story of Macbeth is built, one that appeals to a Christian audience and that abides by a dualistic notion of good and evil. Kurosawa subverts this western tradition by weaving Buddhist precepts into the narrative and translate the Christian “good and evil” to the Buddhist principal of cyclical karma. The Buddhist virtues of the film rest on Washizu’s decisions based on his knowledge of the future. When given the opportunity to achieve his highest ambitions by ruthlessly pursuing them no matter the cost he, as the spirit foretells, “…sears [his] own flesh In the flames of base desire, exposing himself to fates five calamities”.
Though most of Shakespeare’s philosophical influences are rooted in Christian mysticism, The “Weird Sisters” in Macbeth are of Celtic-Hellenic influence and are drawn from a combination of the classical goddesses such as Hecate and the Fates from Greek tragedies and witches and crones of European folklore. The European “Crone” archetype is traditionally an old woman on whom people rely to provide guidance and wisdom with the shamanistic ability to predict the future. However this wisdom and guidance and oft-times “black magic” typically comes with the caveat that the earthly desires that would cause a person to seek divine intervention, once attained, often lead to certain destruction. Kurosawa transforms these fabled creatures of karmic retribution into the “Spirit of Spider’s Web” in Kumonosu-jo. This character is inspired by the story of the Fields of Adachi (Adachigahara, or Kurozuka) written by Zeami Motokiyo (c.1363 – 1443), a playwright of the Noh tradition. His tale speaks of two Yamabushi (mountain priests) making a pilgrimage that meet a lonely woman on their travels. The woman owns a spinning wheel that sparks their interest and the Yamabushi ask the woman to demonstrate her spinning skills. As she spins she sings and laments along with the Noh Chorus “we shall consider the helplessness of humans, no one stays young forever, everyone eventually grows old. How can one be sure that he or she will not be tired of such a life, fragile as a dream?”[2] This inspiration is overtly depicted in the scene where Washizu and Miki first encounter the Spirit of Spider’s Web. This scene constructs a philosophical undercurrent within the film that is rooted in Zen Buddhism, a religion embraced and patronized by the Japanese military class that was the backbone of most art during the Muramachi period. Kurosawa alludes to these influences through poetry in Kumonosu-jo, echoing the words of Motokiyo in the spirit of spider’s web monologue; “Men’s lives are as meaningless as the lives of insects. The terrible folly of such suffering. A man lives but as briefly as a flower. Destined all too soon to decay into the stink of flesh.”[3]
In Macbeth, Shakespeare relies heavily on his text and monologues to convey a graphic representation of Lady Macbeth’s character “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, fill me from crown to toe top-full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse”[4]. In this passage, we come to understand that Lady Macbeth is a woman of great ambition bound by her “female form” not to express this need for power, making her resentful towards her husband. In the case of Kumonosu-jo the character of Asaji plays a more subversive role. She is first seen sitting cross-legged in the castle with no sign of emotion and delivers a stoic performance of the Noh theatre style. Her motivations to kill Tsuzuki (Duncun) are better reasoned than Lady Macbeth’s. Instead of appealing to Washizu’s masculinity to rouse him to action Asaji presents to Washizu, whose masculinity is above reproach, the notion that eventually Miki will tell Tsuzuki about the prophecy, an action that could prompt Tsuzuki to see Washizu as a threat. Instead of action taken from resentment and ambition, Asaji’s agenda is less calculated than that of Lady Macbeth’s. Asaji’s make up in the film, along with her the performance of Yamada Isuzu, reveals a stunned, emotionless face that draws inspiration from the masks worn in Noh theatre. Her face bears a great resemblance to the mask of Zo-Onna[5], which was used in Noh to represent an older or married woman with its characteristic symmetrical strands of hair and high painterly eyebrows. Asaji’s hand washing scene, which mimics Lady Macbeth’s descent into madness, is the most apparent use of the Noh style. Japanese theatre and production diverges from Western theatre in that the performers, rather than being representational of a particular character in a narrative, are storytellers that use movement and appearance to construct the essence of a narrative. In this scene, instead of the captivating Shakespearean dialogue, Yamamada portrays the guilt-ridden psychosis of a woman rendered mad by bloodshed. Instead of the typical “Out damn’d spot! […]”[6] Dialogue of Shakespeare, the viewer experiences the poetry of movement and expression that adds an extra dimension to Asaji’s character.
The character of Japan is articulated in Kumonosu-jo through a meticulously designed and culturally significant mise-en-scene that holds strong to the spiritual ties to the Japanese milieu while also remaining true to the original Shakespearean motifs. Kurosawa knew, having originally trained as an artist, that film has the unique ability to accurately portray nature better than any other medium. As a director, he was obsessed with extreme weather conditions, which made him an ideal director to do justice to one of the major motifs of Macbeth, its supernatural depiction of weather and landmarks. The shamanic scenes with the weird sisters paint a picture of dark Scottish moors clouded in fog and rain, and these allusions to weather are a repeated focus throughout the play. The weather is seen as an omen for the outcome of the story and is mentioned at the very start of the play as the Weird Sisters exit the stage they scream, “fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air.”[7]
Kurosawa’s decision to shoot on location around the base of Mount Fuji was based on two important factors, the near continuous presence of fog in the valleys surrounding the mountain that would alleviate the need for on-set special effects, and the mountain’s spiritual and cultural connection to Japan. The landscape of Mount Fuji brings to mind the Ukiyo-e woodblock paintings of Hokusai, whose deep and spiritual connection to the land is brought out in his series “36 views of Mt Fuji”. Hokusai’s print of the forest of Circular Pine Trees of Aoyama bares a striking resemblance to the fictional Spider Web Forest in the film. Ancient legends from the surrounding region suggest that the mountain is a symbol of death and rebirth and the forest of Aokigahara (the sea of trees) has been known for years as a place where people commit suicide.
Japanese art from the Muromachi period was also considered when designing the set for Kumonosu-jo. Japanese ink monochrome paintings were used not only for décor but also as inspiration for blood splatter and composing land-fog configurations within a 35mm frame[8]. Kurosawa’s attention to the importance of the elements in the film speaks to the significance of the elements and the changing seasons in early Japanese art. Consider the above six-panel folding screen by Soami in the early 16th century; the landscape that cuts through thick fog during the autumn evokes the same supernatural and spiritual themes of both Macbeth and Kumonosu-jo.
The final aspect of Kurosawa’s great oeuvre is the soundtrack. Throughout the film our emotions are guided by the non-diegetic sound of drumbeats and flutes, which can also be attributed to the influence of Noh Theatre. These beats and long drawling melodies with spikes and dips at poignant moments are used to create a sense of suspense similar to that of the Hollywood melodramatic style[9] while also being representational of Japanese culture. In Noh Theatre, drama and text are influenced by poetic form and follow a careful structure. The placement of text rhythmically can be done in three major ways: o-nori, with 1 syllable per beat; chū-nori, with 2 syllables per beat; and hira-nori, in which 12 syllables are worked into an eight-beat frame.[10] The poetic and lyrical quality of Noh performance is used in the Kumonosu-jo as homage to the traditional Shakespearean script. Just as early Japanese translations of Shakespeare would change the meter of sonnets to suite traditional Japanese haiku[11], so to did Kurosawa use the music of Noh Theatre to translate Shakespeare’s fondness for iambic pentameter to the musical performativity of Noh Theatre. Though music was often used in English performances of Macbeth, most plays were written with recitation as the main delivery of Shakespearean prose. Noh Theatre traditionally contains dramatic vocal music (yōkyoku) with an instrumental ensemble known collectively as the hayashi. The singing is done by the actors or by a unison chorus (jiutai). A reference to the jitutai is seen at the beginning and end of the film, singing a mournful refrain: “Behold, the ruins of a spiders web castle, inhabited by deep-rooted delusion, perpetually haunted by spirits. The ruins show the fate of demonic men with treacherous desires.”[12]
In Kumonosu-jo, Kurosawa Akira takes on the challenge of Macbeth with as much poetic license as any other cinematic interpretation of a Shakespearean play. The themes, form and motifs that are embedded within the majority of Shakespeare’s oeuvres lend themselves to cinematic interpretation as their universal themes pluck at the core of human experience. The themes of treacherous ambition and the corruption of the soul that in Macbeth or rooted in European Christian mysticism are translatable across cultural barriers. The addition of Japanese tradition and eastern philosophy transforms the story of Macbeth into an artistic commentary on the depravity that befalls a nation whose culture rests on military dominance. The dramatic rendering of the traditional script to the form of Noh Theatre creates a suspenseful atmosphere similar to that of the Hollywood melodramas, which transposes the audience into the world of the Muramachi period in Japanese history, where warlords dominated the social sphere and brought about chaos and destruction. The film itself becomes an oeuvre in its own right, transcending cultural barriers by drawing on a universal morality belonging to two cultures to speak to a wider world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Corrigan, T., White, P., The Film Experience (4th Edition), University of Pennsylvania, Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston, 2015
"Noh theatre". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017 <https://www.britannica.com/art/Noh-theatre>.
"Japanese music". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017 <https://www.britannica.com/art/Japanese-music>.
Vilbar, Sinéad. “Kings of Brightness in Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Art.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000 http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kibr/hd_kibr.htm (October 2013)
Department of Asian Art. “Zen Buddhism.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/zen/hd_zen.htm (October 2002)
Hibbs, Stacey, “Virtue, Natural Law and Supernatural Solicitation: A Thomistic reading of Shakespeare’s Macbeth”, Religion and the arts (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)Vol. 5, Issue 2, p273-296, 2001
Kurosawa, Akira, Kumonosu-Jo (Throne of Blood), Youtube Red, Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Japan: Toho, 1957
Shakespeare, W., “Macbeth”, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Illustrated, Michael O’Mara Books Ltd., London 1988
Suzuki, Erin, "Lost in Translation: Reconsidering Shakespeare's “Macbeth” and Kurosawa's “Throne of Blood”." Literature/Film Quarterly; 2006, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p93-103.
Wild, Peter. Akira Kurosawa, edited by Peter Wild, Reaktion Books, Limited, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.virtual.anu.edu.au/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=1839945.
Endnotes
[1] Hibbs, Stacey, “Virtue, Natural Law and Supernatural Solicitation: A Thomistic reading of Shakespeare’s Macbeth”, Religion and the arts (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)Vol. 5, Issue 2, p273-296, 2001
[2] Zeami Motokiyo, Kurozuko (The Fields of Adachi), Tr. Kinoshita Akira, <www.the-noh.com plays/data/program_035.html>
[3] Kurosawa, Akira, Kumonosu-Jo (Throne of Blood), Youtube Red, Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Japan: Toho, 1957
[4] Shakespeare, W. Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5
[5] Noh Mask of Zo-Onna, Victoria Albert Museum, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75978/noh-mask-of-zo-onna-noh-mask-unknown/
[6] Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1
[7] Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1
[8] Wild, Peter. Akira Kurosawa, edited by Peter Wild, Reaktion Books, Limited, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central
[9] Corrigan, T., White, P., The Film Experience (4th Edition), University of Pennsylvania, Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston, 2015
[10] "Noh theatre". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc <https://www.britannica.com/art/Noh-theatre>.
[11] Suzuki, Erin, "Lost in Translation: Reconsidering Shakespeare's “Macbeth” and Kurosawa's “Throne of Blood”." Literature/Film Quarterly; 2006, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p93-103.
[12] Kurosawa, Akira, Kumonosu-Jo (Throne of Blood), Youtube Red, Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Japan: Toho, 1957
Comments