Who Is The Twilight Samurai?

The movie The Twilight Samurai was a film directed by Yoji Yamada. This film takes place in Japan during the mid-19th century, which was just a few years before the Meiji restoration. The Meiji restoration was a lot of events that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. This film is a historical fiction film where the story is fictional however, it borrows true events that happen in the mid-19th-century. In the movie, a man named Iguchi Seibei, who is the main character, becomes a widower when his wife dies from tuberculosis. Seibei works in a grain warehouse, accounting for stores inventory for the samurai clan. His coworkers talk about him behind his back with the nickname Tasogare which means Twilight. In the evening after work, Seibei rushes home to look after his elderly mother and two young daughters, Kayano and Ito, instead of going out with his coworkers. The only concern that he has is making sure that the well-being of his young daughters and medicine for his mother take priority over anything else. Seibei will much rather take care of his family, then go out. The story is narrated by his oldest daughter Ito.

Every day after work, he make sure his family has food to eat. His coworker does not understand what Seibei goes through. He is a single parent who is taking care of two children, and his elderly mother. His coworkers call Seibei nasty and smelly and they also say that his clothes are torn. It was also a scene in the movie where a ‘’lord’’ of the samurai clan came to inspect the stores, and he smelt the aroma of Seibei. The lord lectured him for being smelly and Seibei uncle told him that he was a disgrace to family. Seibei uncle suggests that he finds someone to help him around the house, and that is when his friend Tomoe comes and helps around the