The Movie Ran Essay, Research Paper
The differences that were peculiar to Japanese culture are the type of clothes they wore the status in the family rank, and the loyalty of the servants to their master.
The style clothes they wore were a robe garment that wrapped around them and was held together with a strip of cloth. These robes were, I think, made of silk which each person wore a different colors to distinguish them and how they were ranked. The status in the family was shown throughout the movie. We saw it in the beginning when Ichimoji decided to divide his kingdom amongst his sons. He gave his first born, Taro, the biggest castle, the most land, and rule over all but must still oblige to his father. Next, he gave his middle son, Jiro, the second largest castle and ground. Ichimoji did the same for his youngest son, Saburo. The servants were as loyal as anything to the master, They were at his hands and feet the second he called for them. No questions were asked and they did as they were told. Each and everyone one of them bowed down to anyone who was higher then them as they passed.
In the movie, Ichimoji is influenced by dharma when he made his decision to give up his power and hand it down to his sons. After he did this action of passing his power to his offspring stoic took control and everything went wrong from then on. Fate made his second son murder his eldest brother to gain control over his domain. But, dharma allowed his youngest son to stay loyal to his father even though what he did to him as well as the servant he banished. Sadly, stoic did not come to Ichimoji, he could not accept the war that had erupted between his two sons. Because of this outcome he went over the edge.
The samurai culture in the film is very distinct. You see it through the entire movie. How each one obeys every order to its fullest, does not question their assignments and accepts their duty. The samurais are so dedicated that even if they were banished from their kingdom they would still remain loyal as if they were still in the kingdom. You see a great deal of honor in the samurais when the war broke out. Each samurai fought to the end and did not give up. They sacrificed their lives to save their master by taking a hit that would kill them to save their leader. They would stop at nothing to keep their master safe.