Editing Sanjuro (section)

==Production==
The story is primarily based on [[Shūgorō Yamamoto]]'s short story {{nihongo|''Hibi Heian''|日日平安||lit. "Peaceful Days"}}. Originally ''Sanjuro'' was to be a straight adaptation of the story. After the success of ''[[Yojimbo]]'' the studio decided to resurrect its popular [[antihero]], and Kurosawa reimagined the script accordingly.<ref>{{cite book|last=Richie|first=Donald|author-link=Donald Richie|title=The films of Akira Kurosawa|page=156}}</ref><ref>{{cite video|title=Kurosawa Akira: Tsukuru to iu koto wa subarashii|trans-title=Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create|people=Yoshinari Okamoto (director)|date=2002|language=ja}}</ref> But despite a certain element of continuity, the eventual film turned out to be more than just a sequel to ''Yojimbo'' for the hero goes on to develop in character from the swashbuckling original.

He is, as before, a masterless samurai who preserves his anonymity by the same means. When asked his name in ''Yojimbo'' he looks outside and names himself mulberry (''Kuwabatake''); in ''Sanjuro'' he chooses a camellia (''Tsubaki''). In both cases he gives ''Sanjūrō'' (thirty-year-old) as his given name, although in both films he admits to being closer to forty.<ref>Roger Ebert, Great Movies III, University of Chicago Press, 2010, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hMBfjIQjJ9oC pp.411-14]</ref> Having the ''ronin'' take the name of a local plant rather than a great house or clan reflects a populist turn in contemporary samurai movies.<ref>Conrad, David A. (2022). ''Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan'', p151-153, McFarland & Co.</ref> A crucial difference between ''Yojimbo'' and ''Sanjuro'', however, is that there is little connection to the [[Western (genre)|Western genre]] in the sequel. The original was set in an out-of-the-way border town where the hero deals ruthlessly with local thugs, while in ''Sanjuro'' the action centres on a Japanese feudal power struggle in a clan fortress town. There the hero realises that Hanbei, his main opponent, is a man much like himself: a social outsider (an "unsheathed sword" in the words of the chamberlain’s wife) free to pick his own side in a conflict. The difference between them is only in the motives behind their choice.<ref>Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema, Duke University Press, 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QizaCOjKs-IC p.294-302]</ref>

There is also a greater element of social comedy, with the seasoned fighter constantly hampered by the failure of the young men whom he chooses to help to grasp the reality of the situation. But while he is their superior in tactics, the lady he has just rescued confounds him by insisting that he restrain himself, since killing people is a bad habit. Although there has to be some killing, largely as result of the inept actions of his young allies, the only truly violent moment comes at the very end in the duel between Sanjuro and Hanbei. From this he walks away in a fury because his young admirers are still unable to read human nature and understand the significance of what has just happened.<ref>Brian Eggert, Deep Focus Review, [https://deepfocusreview.com/definitives/sanjuro/ July 4, 2011]</ref>