Rashomon (Film)

Rashomon (Film) Literary Elements

Director

Akira Kurosawa

Leading Actors/Actresses

Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Machico Kyo

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Minoru Chiaki, Masayuki Mori, Kichijiro Ueda

Genre

Crime, Drama, Mystery

Language

Japanese

Awards

Nominated for Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Direction (Black and White), Won Honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Released in the United States

Date of Release

1950

Producer

Minoru Jingo

Setting and Context

12th-century Japan at the Rashomon Gate (southern entrance to the capital city), and the road through a countryside forest

Narrator and Point of View

There are multiple points of view. Tajomaru, Masako, The Samurai, The Woodcutter all tell their version of what has happened.

Tone and Mood

Serious and dark with elements of the sublime

Protagonist and Antagonist

The woodcutter, Masako, the samurai are variously protagonists and antagonists, while Tajomaru is a clear antagonist.

Major Conflict

Tajomaru, Masako, the samurai, and the woodcutter all tell completely different versions of what happened when Tajomaru raped Masako and her husband, the samurai, was killed.

Climax

The woodcutter tells the thief/commoner and the priest that he saw everything that happened and did not tell the truth at the trial, because he didn't want to get involved.

Foreshadowing

Each character who gives an account of what happened to the authorities sits in shadow. This foreshadows that the truth is shrouded in their darkness.

Understatement

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

Kurosawa shoots directly into the sun, which was a first in cinema.

Allusions

The Rashomon gate that the woodcutter, the priest and the thief sit beneath for shelter has been badly damaged and with no sign of is being repaired. This alludes to the traditional aristocracy in the Japanese culture losing its power, and more broadly to the crumbling of society.

Paradox

By choosing not to get involved and telling a lie as to what happened, the woodcutter becomes even more heavily involved as his conscience and the weight of his guilt and fear trap him into only being able to think about what has happened and how his faith in people's ability to do good is in crisis.

Parallelism

Each time a character gives their account of what happened it is paralleled with imagery that creates their false reality for us to view.