The jidaigeki, or samurai period drama, has been done a thousand times in a thousand different ways, but it can still feel refreshing like Kazuya Shiraishi’s Bushido.

Based on rakugo, or comic storytelling, the narrative follows Kakunoshin Yanagida (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) a humble ronin who has fallen on hard times and lives in a small community with his daughter Kinu (Kaya Kiyohara). Even though they are poor they are able to make ends meet, and Kakunoshin spends much of his time tutoring people on the art of Go like merchant Genbee Yorozuya (Jun Kunimura). But his quiet life is soon disrupted when he is falsely accused of stealing 50 ryō from Genbee, a huge slight on his honour. 

At first Kakunoshin feels that he can’t live with the shame, but his daughter Kinu saves him from committing seppuku by offering herself to the local brothel owner in exchange for the missing money. Given a deadline to pay the loan back, and preserve his daughter’s innocence, Kakunoshin must find a way to clear his name, and the journey will force him to face his past and the person who led to his fall from grace: Hyogo Shibata (Takumi Saitoh).

Shiraishi once paid homage to the golden age of Yakuza movies with The Blood of Wolves and its follow-up Last of the Wolves, and in Bushido he is able to do the same for the jidaigeki. Bushido harkens back to the classics of the genre and presents a story that focuses on realism and what it means to be honourable. It does so by recreating the style and feel of the era rather than delivering an action-packed, blood-drenched film one might expect. This is no Blade of the Immortal, nor is it Rurouni Kenshin, Bushido is a quiet, slow-moving story that feels more at home alongside Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri or Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon.

For some, Bushido might be too slow to fully immerse themselves in, but for others it will prove a shining example of the jidaigeki. It has an old-school feel to it, and while the many scenes of Go might feel like a chore to sit through, their importance is felt when the narrative kicks up a gear after Kakunoshin is falsely accused. The ronin, so often able to control his emotions, finds his anger boiling over after this damage to his honour. The violence in the film is short and swift, however, it is not about the extent of the gore but the reason for it that makes it hit hard.

Kusanagi plays his character with a quiet reverence, there is an attitude to him that perfectly encapsulates what the film is meant to be – humble yet powerful. The actor may be best known for his pop star days as a member of SMAP, but his transformation is so impressive that he is almost unrecognisable in the role of Kakunoshin. It is thanks to his performance that the film works so well, though Kiyohara is equally as magnetic and Saitoh makes a mean villain in the final act.

Visually speaking, Shiraishi does a remarkable job at recreating the old-school style of the jidaigeki. There’s a grainy texture to scenes that lends an authenticity and realism to each moment, and this is only added to by the stunning attention to detail when it comes to the costumes and set design around Kakunoshin and Kinu’s home. But the film truly reaches its peak when it takes the ronin outside of his humble abode and out into the wild, where both he and the landscape turn wild and awe-inspiring.

There is a lot to love about Bushido, from the excellent cast to the stunning depiction of the period by Shiraishi. It may seem slow to some but it certainly feels right for the period, and there’s one thing for certain: Shiraishi knows just how to celebrate a genre while still making it his own, and we can’t wait to see what he does next.

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Written by Roxy Simons