The English title, “Bushido,”  is misleading. This film is about bushidō, and there are some action sequences, but the main action is on boards and not bloody at all. The Japanese title, “Gobangiri” makes it clearer that this is about the game of Go but also about honor and murder. Directed by Kazuya Shraishi (白石 和彌) this film was released in Japan in 2024.

Bushidō (武士道) is the samurai moral codes or the way of the warrior. Originating during the Kamakura period, it was formalized in the Edo period (1603-1868), the time period of the film. In the title, the “giri‘ (kiri) or 斬り means to kill, decapitate or murder. The phrase “Goban” (碁盤) means the game of Go or the Go board. Yet giri also means “honor” and is often used in Japanese literature and films to contrast aijō or human feeling.

Yanagida Kakunoshin 柳田格之進  (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi)  is a ronin who makes money by carving hanko. For company, he only has his adult daughter, Kinu (Kaya Kiyohara) and the people he meets playing Go. The game brings in a variety of people from different classes and they all come to admire Kakunoshin for his strategy and his honesty.  There is a gruff Okou (Kyōko Koizumi) is a survivor who manages a house of ill repute and there is a well-to-do merchant, Genbei Yorozuya  (Jun Kunimura).

Each person’s character is revealed through their Go strategies which I don’t think I can fully appreciate since I have never played the game. Yet Kusanagi’s Kakunoshin shines with a polished earnestness. He has suffered a great injustice and been banished from his “Han,” or feudal domain or clan. He can’t prove his innocence but remains honorable and as respectable as he can be having been disowned by his class. At the time, outside of the aristocracy and the “untouchables,” Japanese society was divided into four classes: samurai, peasants/farmers, artisans and merchants. The merchants were consider the lowest of the classes, but during the Edo period they were becoming increasing powerful because of their financial resources. The samurai were at the top, but the Tokugawa system which kept them under the control of the Shogunate, also often impoverished them.

In Kakunoshin’s case, he has been disgraced and thus become a ronin, a masterless samurai. While according to his class, Kakunoshin is still considered superior to Genbei, it is Genbei who has the economic power. Only Kakunoshin, however, as a samurai has the right to bear a sword and wield it, but the interactions between Genbei and Kakunoshin and later, Okou, is characterized by omoiyari or empathy and anticipation of others’ needs without being asked.

Kakunoshin and Genbei’s friendship is changed when a considerable amount of money goes missing and Kakunoshin is accused of taking it.

What’s in a name?

Kaku (格) means “case” or “status.”  Shin (之進) means “to move on” or “to proceed.” “Yanagi” means “willow.” The “da” means a “rice field.” The willow symbolizes grace and flexibility, but also melancholy and mourning.

While I appreciate beautifully nuanced portrayal of Kusanagi’s Kakunoshin and Kiyohara’s Kinu, and director Kazuya Shiraishi’s pacing gives us time to fully appreciate Masato Kato’s script, Jun Fukumoto’s cinematography sometimes seems to have a distracting lighting imbalance and Umitarō Abe’s soundtrack doesn’t always uplift the action. Kato’s script makes this less about revenge and more about justice and omoiyari.  Kakunoshin is motivated by avenging his wife’s death, something encouraged by his daughter. He’s also mindful of providing a  life for his daughter and future for his daughter. Yet his daughter Kinu also aids Kakunoshin in keeping up appearances. All this  gives “Bushido” more depth than your average samurai flick.

I had a discussion with my husband who found the ending problematic, but I thought I understood that Kakunoshin didn’t want to cause discomfort or awkwardness between himself and his friends or fellow clan members who had wronged him. Perhaps the lesson there is that we should wait and investigate carefully before making accusations. That is something that would be particularly useful in today’s current US political life.

The film was originally released in Japan on 17 May 2024, and will have a limited theatrical release in the US on 13 March 2026. The film was nominated for two Japanese Academy Awards: Best Actor (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) and Best Supporting Actress (Kaya Kiyohara). “Bushido” had previously screening as part of the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2024 (October).

“Bushido” is currently screening in Los Angeles at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown. The film will open at the Laemmle in Glendale on 20 March 2026. In Japanese with English subtitles.