Going into the film “The Samurai and the Prisoner,” those familiar with Japanese history will know the situation and who lives and who does not. That hangs a heavy, pensive cloud over all that happens in this historical drama. Based on Honobu Yonezawa’s Naoki Prize-winning book, this essentially is a journey filled with mysteries within a mystery.
There’s something lost in translation of the title. The original title, 黒牢城, (Kokurōjō), has poetry to it and translates at the “Black Prison Castle.” Yet the pivotal character, Kuroda Yoshitaka, known in the film as Kuroda Kanbei (黒田 官兵衛), is referenced in the original title. His last name literally means “black rice field.” I discuss the Japanese title further below.
In the English title, the samurai is Araki Murashige ((荒木 村重). The prisoner is Kuroda Kanbei. Kuroda is also a samurai. “Kanbei” is a historical samurai name meaning an official military strategist, although it can also be a traditional Japanese male name. Both of the men are of the samurai class.
The historical mystery is why Araki Murashige decided to turn against both Oda Nobunaga and the bushidō (way of the samurai). No one really knows, perhaps Araki Murashige explained his reasoning before his death, but he died in obscurity. Author Honobu Yonezawa’s novel attempts to make sense of history and the religious strife of that period.
First, you need to know who Oda Nobunaga was. Oda Nobunaga is the first of three military leaders, who would bring about the unification of Japan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu were the other two and would follow in that order. At the time of Oda’s rise, Japan was under the Ashikaga shogunate, but the shogun was little more than a figurehead. Japan was in a politically fragmented civil war and to add to this chaos, contact with the Portuguese had introduced guns and Christianity as well as trans-Pacific slave trade.
The film takes place in the Sengoku period (1467 to 1600) and Sengoku (戦国時代) means “Warring States.” Upon his father’s death in 1551, Oda Nobunaga became the leader of his clan. In 1568, he took Kyōto and installed a puppet shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Yet by 1573, Oda Nobunaga had forced Yoshiaki into exile and ended the Ashikaga shogunate (1336-1573).
The Ashikaga shogunate was preceded by the Kamakura shogunate (1185-1333). As the name suggests, the Kamakura shogunate was based in Kamakura. The Ashikaga shogunate was based in the old capital, Kyōto. Japan was already used to a military rule that might include a political place for the imperial court.
Araki Murashige had been one of Oda Nobunaga’s trusted generals, but he was accused of siding with the Mōri clan in 1578. He had laid siege to the Itami Castle when it was under Itami Hyōgo-no-kami Chikaoki who had been a supporter of Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Araki Murashige then claimed the castle after Itami Chikaoki fled in 1574.
By 1574, Oda Nobunaga had already brutally attacked Mount Hiei and the warrior monks. He ordered the slaughter of more than 3,000 monks, women and children and the burning the Enryakuji to the ground in 1571. In August of 1574, Oda Nobunaga attacked the Ikko monks of Nagashima, setting fire to the compound and killing around 20,000 men, women and children. Between 1576 and 1579, Oda Nobunaga was building the Azuchi Castle on the eastern short of Lake Biwa in Omi Province.
Oda Nobunaga might have been slaughtering Buddhist monks, but he allowed Jesuit priest Luis Frois to live in Kyōto and propagate the Christian faith.
The Siege of Itami begins
Once the Siege of Itami in Settsu begins in November 1578 (the 21st day of the 10th month of Tenshō), there’s both hope and the anxiety of confinement. The province of Settsu (摂津国) today comprises of southeastern Hyōgo Prefecture and part of northern Osaka Prefecture. Most of the province is now the modern cities of Ōsaka and Kōbe.
In the film, Araki Murashige (Masahiro Motoki) hopes that the Mōri Terumoto from the Harima Province (now the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture) will join him against Oda Nobunaga (Bando Shingo). From Harima to Settsu (Himeji to Ōsaka) is about 52 miles as the crow flies, but 58 miles by car today and would take about one hour and 15 minutes or a little over 10 hours walking.
Oda Nobunaga was based in Owari Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture , where he was born, but was setting up a new castle in the Omi Province. The ruins of Azuchi Castle is about one hour and 30 minutes by car to the ruins of Arioka Castle or 20 hours and 30 minutes walking.
Oda Nobunaga sends Kuroda Kanbei (Masaki Suda) as an envoy to convince Murashige to give up. By custom, Murashige should kill Kuroda Kanbei in order to prevent suspicion that Kuroda has defected to Murashige’s side. Instead, Murashige has Kanbei kept alive in the dark dungeon. Araki Murashige has conversations with his wife Chiyoho (Yuriko Yoshitaka) for comfort. Chiyoho knows well the savagery behind Oda Nobunaga, having survived the Siege of Nagashima. Yet there are matters he believes best handled and understood by men. When he can’t get answers from his retainers, he turns to Kanbei.
In the winter, Abe Jūemon of Ōwada Castle (also located in Settsu province and a half an hour by car or about 4 hours walking) deserts Araki Murashige for Oda Nobunaga. However, his young son, Abe Jinen is held as a hostage in Arioka Castle. Although Araki Murashige demands that he be kept alive, Jinen is later found dead with what seems to be an arrow wound, but no arrow. Araki Murashige investigates, but isn’t sure how the murder was committed. Kuroda Kanbei listens to the information and testimony that Araki Murashige has gathered and, in a courtly way, recites a poem that gives Araki Murashige the answer.
In the spring, there’s another mystery concerning two heads taken during a battle. Araki Murashige brings his concerns to Kanbei. Then again in the summer, Araki Murashige attempts to set up a deal with Oda Nobunaga’s faithful retainer Akechi Mitsuhide using a valuable tea urn known as Tora-maru. That will be thwarted with a man murdered and Araki Murashige will ask asks Kanbei for advice on this murder mystery as well. As time passes, we also see that Kanbei is suffering during his confinement.
In autumn, the samurai are filled with doubt. The Mōri troops have not arrived and almost a year has passed. Akechi Mitsuhide turns again to Kanbei as circumstances seem suspicious.
The film is divided into seasons with each season having a mystery. The book is similarly divided but with both a prologue and an epilogue. Each chapter has a title.
- Prologue: What is Sown
- Chapter 1: Stone Lantern on a Snowy Night
- Chapter II: Great Feats Under the Petals
- Chapter III: Chants amid Distant Thunder
- Chapter IV: Alone Against the Setting Sun
- Epilogue: What Is Reaped.
The book (translation credited to Yen Press, LLC) makes it clear that Kuroda Kanbei bears a grudge against Araki Murashige. By allowing Kanbei to live, Kanbei believes Araki Murashige had assured the death of Kanbei’s son, Shōjumaru, because Oda Nobunaga will assume Kanbei is a traitor.
In the end, Araki Murashige will be convinced to escape to the Mōri with his precious Tora-maru. You might not be impressed with the precious ceramic jar that Murashige takes with him, but that has more to do with Japanese aesthetics versus American tastes. That part also fits into history. Murashige would become a tea master for Toyotomi Hideyoshi and will have some precious tea-related things in his possession.
Yet with the master of the castle gone, those who were left, especially the women and children, had little hope. Thankfully, writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa doesn’t show us the gory aftermath nor is that detailed in the book. Instead, in the film, we see Araki Murashige continuing on to the Mōri lands by himself. We learn that he survived and outlived Oda Nobunaga.
What did happen? Historically, we know that Araki Murashige’s kin were taken to Kyōto and beheaded (33 women and 3 men). From Itami Castle, an additional 122 women and children were executed in Nanatsumatsu. Further, 388 wives and children from low-ranking retainers and their servants along with 124 male members were put into four houses that were then burned down.
The Samurai and the Prisoner (黒牢城, Kokurōjō) and History
The original title means “black prison castle,” but “kokurō” can also mean “a minor trouble” or “a bit of a hassle” (小苦労). “Kurō” by itself means “hardships” or “grief.” ”Kokurō” (in which case it would be 国老) can also mean a “senior state minister” (in Chinese guó lǎo). In the English title, both men are samurai, but both are also prisoners in a sense to the strict adherence to the bushidō.
In the end, Araki Murashige would be linked to Oda Nobunaga’s defeat. Murashige’s son, Araki Muratsugu, was married to the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide (明智 光秀). Mitsuhide would betray Oda Nobunaga who would commit ritual suicide (21 June 1582) in what was known as the Honnō-ji Incident in Kyōto. Toyotomi Hideyoshi would defeat Mitsuhide (Battle of Yamazaki). Mitsuhide would be killed (2 July 1582) after ruling Japan for 13 days.
Araki Murashige would live until 20 June 1586. Kuroda Yoshitaka(黒田 孝高; December 22, 1546 – March 20, 1604) would outlive them all, passing away on 20 March 1604.
Araki Murashige’s son Araki Murakatsu succeeded his father and served as a military commander. His son Iwasa Matabei also survived and was an early Edo period artist, raised by his mother’s family. In the end, Araki Murashige’s line wasn’t wiped out. And neither was the family of Kuroda Kanbei. His son, Shojumaru (松寿丸) lived to become Kuroda Nagamasa (黒田 長政; 3 December 1568 – 29 August 1623). Takenaka Hanbei had joined the Oda clan in 1570, but when ordered by Oda Nobunaga to stay at Yokoyama Castle with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Takenaka Hanbei was invited to join Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s forces as a strategist. After Takenaka Hanbei’s death from an illness, Kuroda Kanbei would take his place as a strategist for Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
There’s reference in the film and the book to Jōdo Shinshū (浄土真宗) or Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism as well as the Buddhist Ikkō-ikki. From the Ikkō-ikki comes the slogan: “Advance to paradise, retreat to hell” (進めば極楽、退かば地獄 – Susumeba Gokuraku, Hikaba Jigoku). I think “paradise” is a better translation than “heaven” for “gokuraku.” Using “heaven” plays on the Judeo-Christian understanding of the afterlife. While Christianity is represented in the book it should be viewed as a disruptive force. Toyotomi Hideyoshi would begin the suppression of Christianity. Persecution would follow (1587-1597) and Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued an edict (the 1587 Bateren Edict) expelling Christian missionaries. This decision was partially due to the Portuguese practice of exporting Japanese people as slaves to be shipped to different parts of Asia, Portuguese colonies and even Portugal. It wasn’t that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was against slavery, but that he was against slavery where the people had no chance of returning. Toyotomi did take slaves from Korea.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi died in 1598, and his heir Toyotomi Hideyori as only five with five regents appointed to rule in his place. to commit ritual suicide, Tokugawa Ieyasu took control in 1600 and established the Tokugawa shogunate in 1608 based in Edo (current day Tōkyō). In 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu would attack Toyotomi Hideyori at Osaka Castle. Hideyori would commit ritual suicide.
Tokugawa Ieyasu would declare a nationwide ban on Christianity in 1614. Foreign missionaries were forced to leave and Japanese Christians were forced to renounce their faith or face imprisonment, torture and even public execution. Christianity didn’t totally disappear from Japan as some believers went underground (Kakure Kirishitan) and they and their families practiced in secret for centuries.
Why is faith important? It seems central to what Kanbei’s journey and our understanding of Yonezawa’s novel. In the book, Kuroda Kanbei comes to the conclusion:
Fear the punishment by your lord more than by your God, and fear punishment by the retainers and by the people more than by your lord.
If you are shunned by the retainers and the people, you will lose the country, and no amount of prayer or apologies will stave off your chastisement.
As such, you must fear punishment by the retainers and the people more than by your lord or your God.
Kuroda Kanbei would, according to Japan Reference, suffer long term effects from his imprisonment, “with lasting damage to his leg” and “the loss of sight in one eye.” Kuroda Nagamasa, Kanbei’s son portrayed in the film, would take part in the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), fighting for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Ieyasu was the last of the three great unifiers of Japan. Kuroda Nagamasa would help to establish the Tokugawa shogunate. Japan would know two hundred years of peace under the Tokugawa shogunate. According to Britannica, Kuroda Nagamasa would be granted “the large feudal fief of Fukuoka” which is in northern Kyūshū.
While this film “The Samurai and the Prisoner” might seem like an odd choice if one only knows Kurosawa from his contributions to Japanese horror, the film makes more sense if one remember’s his 2008 “Tokyo Sonata” or his 2020 “Wife of a Spy.” “Tokyo Sonata” is a psychological drama that Kurosawa co-wrote with Max Mannix and Sachiko Tanaka that under his direction went on to win Best Film and Best Screenwriter at the third Asian Film Awards. The film followed a middle-class family (husband, wife and two sons) who are emotionally cut off from each other and the problems they face when the father loses his job.
His “Wife of a Spy” centers up on wife who believes her husband is a spy for the United States during World War II. The film, which won a Silver Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, was about one’s moral duty in the face of national policy or practices that are immoral.
Likewise, “The Samurai and the Prisoner” is about two men facing moral dilemmas, where social justice and the codes of the current ruler come under conflict. Although the film is a period piece (jidaigeki), and there is some sword play, the film is less interested in chanbara or the clanging of katana than the psychological games, the mental mousetraps set within the castle. The question all three films, “The Samurai and the Prisoner,” “Tokyo Sonata” and “Wife of a Spy” ask is: How well does anyone really know another person? And can the actions of one person make a difference?
The Japanese tagline (心を読め Kokoro o yome) means “read my/someone’s heart” or “read my/someone’s mind.” It could also be translated as “read the room” or “read the situation.” “Kokoro” means “heart” or “mind” in Japanese and Chinese.
“The Samurai and the Prisoner” is an elevated period film that contemplates moral standards, love and loyalty at a time of political chaos and the shifting loyalties of the Sengoku period. It transcends the limitations of different sects of Buddhism and the destabilizing effects of Christianity in a predominately Buddhist country to ask universal questions of humanity.
“The Samurai and the Prisoner” had its world premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2026. It was released in Japan on 19 June 2026.