Japan and the Legacy of the Samurai
A new series of seven weekly films on present-day Japan and its debt to the past.
Narrated by Julian Pettifer
1: Echoes of a Warrior's Dream
The Japan of the ever-rising GNP seems a far cry from the world of samurai warriors so vividly recreated in the films of Kurosawa.
There is no obvious connection between the calculator and the sword, or the battledress of the middle ages and the smartly tailored suit of the company executive. And yet, in the attitudes of mind and patterns of behaviour which will soon make Japan the world's richest nation, the spirit of the samurai is still very much alive.
During the period 1603-1868, the Edo period, the country was at peace and virtually isolated from the rest of the world. It was ruled by military dictators, the Shoguns, who used far-reaching legislation to control every aspect of daily life. Theirs was a society obsessed with honour and the duties and obligations of each man to the next, and characterised by a profound respect for authority.
To a remarkable degree, modern Japan is the Shoguns' creation.
Film cameramen
COLIN WALDECK , DAVID WHITSON Researcher SUE HAYCOCK Film editor JEFF SHAW Produced by MICHAEL MACINTYRE
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