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Bushido of star wars
As Linda from coffee talk (Mike Myers skit on SNL) would say, "read amongst yourselves and discuss."
Bushido of Star Wars
Bushido of star wars
As Linda from coffee talk (Mike Myers skit on SNL) would say, "read amongst yourselves and discuss."
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The Bushido of Star Wars
The Star Wars epic has made inroads into Japanese culture much the same way it has ours -- but Luke, Darth Vader and Queen Amidala owe more to Japanese culture than they might realize
by Ridwan Khan
George Lucas' Star Wars, like epic material before it, borrows heavily from many sources. For example, many details in Star Wars, like the desert planet Tatooine and the spice trade, are obviously influenced by Frank Herbert's science fiction masterwork, Dune. Other aspects of Star Wars, like the idea of a farm boy fulfilling his dreams by journeying with experienced teachers, rogues, and pirates, according to Lucas himself, recall the earliest myths and folktales. However, there is another, often unrecognized source for many details in Star Wars. Japanese culture was a major influence on Lucas's films. The heated battles of graceful Jedi knights, the domed helmet of Darth Vader, and the ornate costumes of Princess Amidala, all owe a debt to Japanese culture. Indeed, Lucas borrowed heavily from elements of both classical and modern Japanese culture in creating Star Wars. In turn, Star Wars has become influential enough in Japan to factor into contemporary culture.
Japanese classical culture played an important part in the creation of the world of Star Wars. The most obvious inspiration for Lucas was the samurai. Japanese samurai (from the verb, saburau, to serve) were a warrior class who became "keepers of the peace" (Jansen 8). Inspired by the learned statesmen of China, samurai combined warrior (bushi) ethics with learning, culture, and statesmanship. In Japan's Confucian social stratum, the samurai were charged with keeping law and order. Lucas' Jedi played a similar role in his galaxy; Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Jedi as knights that served as "the guardians and guarantors of peace and justice in the Old Republic" (The Star Wars Trilogy 69). Like the samurai, who follow a strict code of bushido, Jedi knights follow a strict warrior code; Luke and Anakin Skywalker are forced through difficult training.
Also like the Japanese samurai, the Jedi in Star Wars place importance on their weapon of choice, in their case the lightsaber. A lightsaber is
The formal weapon of a Jedi knight...more skill than simple sight [is] required for its use. An elegant weapon. It [is] a symbol as well. Anyone can use a blaster...but to use a lightsaber well [is] a mark of someone a cut above the ordinary (The Star Wars Trilogy 69).
Obviously lightsabers are samurai swords dressed up for a science fiction setting. Like the lightsabers, the katana and wakizashi (collectively daisho) were symbols; they represented the samurai in medieval Japan. In 1588, Shogun Hideyoshi banned anyone but registered samurai from owning swords, so the weapons became emblematic of the samurai class (Beasley 127). The Jedi's elegant sword battles, from Kenobi's battle with Darth Vader in A New Hope to Qui Gon Jin's battle with Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace are based heavily on the Japanese martial art of kendo, which involves using a wooden sword to fence with opponents. Like the Jedi, samurai put heavy emphasis on styles of swordsmanship.
Many costumes in the Star Wars universe also heavily recall Japanese clothing. Darth Vader's ominous black helmet is based on the kabuto helmets that samurai wore into battle. The brown or gray robes that Jedi, including Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui Gon Jin, and Mace Windu, wear suggest a monastic brotherhood similar to that of Buddhist temples. In The Phantom Menace, Queen Amidala wears ornate costumes that are based on Japanese kimonos, while her white make up and hair decorations come from the traditional dress and garb of the geisha. Additionally, the look of Darth Maul, the intimidating red and black Sithlord in The Phantom Menace, is based on the masks used in Japanese Noh drama, especially those of oni or Japanese demons. Qui Gon Jin, the master Jedi of The Phantom Menace, recalls the look of samurai in many ways; his facial hair is obviously influenced by Toshiro Mifune, who wore a similar beard for nearly all of his samurai movie roles. Like Kenobi in A New Hope, Jin wears brown robes and samurai style footwear.
In Star Wars, the concept of the Force also parallels concepts in Japanese culture. In Eastern philosophies, especially in the martial arts, ki (qi in the original Chinese) plays an important role. Best translated as spiritual or life energy, spirit or mind, ki is thought of as an energy arising from matter or life ("Qi"). In addition, the mastery of ki can, according to traditional Eastern beliefs, allow one to "transcend normal physical and biological processes" ("Qi") and "direct and mould matter" ("Qi"). Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Force as "'an energy field generated by living things...The force surrounds each and everyone one of us...it [is] what [gives] the Jedi his special power'" (The Star Wars Trilogy 70). This special power includes a number of abilities that transcend normal physical and biological processes. In A New Hope, Obi-Wan is able to dissuade Storm Troopers from searching R2-D2 and C3PO using the Force. In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is able to levitate Luke's X-wing out of the bog and onto dry land through the Force. Before he does this, Yoda further explains the Force; "'life creates it and makes it grow...its energy surrounds us and binds us...feel the Force around you...everywhere...even between this land and that ship'" (The Star Wars Trilogy 282). Like ki, it comes from matter and living things and binds to people. Many people have noticed the similarities between the Force and ki and suggest "Lucas may have borrowed the concept" ("Qi").
The master of that spiritual energy, Obi-wan Kenobi, represents a familiar archetype in Japanese history. In A New Hope, Kenobi is a hermit, living in a cave. The exiled hermit is an especially strong archetype in Japanese literature and culture. For example, Japan's most famous swordsman, Musashi Miyamoto, retired to the Reigandou caves where he wrote his Book of Five Rings ("Musashi Miyamoto"). Japanese history has many political and religious figures who, like Kenobi and Yoda, are forced into exile after being defeated. The founder of the influential Nichiren sect of Buddhism was exiled at least twice ("Nichiren"). As mentioned above, Kenobi's brown robes seem very similar to robes worn by Buddhist monks, further strengthening the parallel. Like the Jedi, potential rivals to emperors and shoguns also met with banishment to far off islands.
George Lucas had many reasons for borrowing from Japanese history in creating Star Wars. Most epic material contains elements from pre-existing material in the same genre. Since nothing in Lucas' Star Wars universe already existed, using models from the real world and reworking them into a science fiction setting gave Lucas and his crew a basis to work from. Furthermore, using Eastern concepts and ideas helped Lucas further exaggerate the exotic, alien quality depicted in film. He could not have explored that exotic quality as far if he had based Star Wars upon medieval Europe, for example, as his audience was already familiar with material from that era. However, most of Lucas's audience had never heard of ki or daisho; their inclusion and reworking in Star Wars helped make Lucas's movies unlike anything his audience had ever seen before.
Modern Japanese culture was just as big an influence on Star Wars as classical culture was. Overwhelmingly, the modern influence came from the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and one of his lead actors, Toshiro Mifune. For example, on a mechanical level, Star Wars was heavily influenced by Kurosawa's use of fades and wipes, which Lucas emulates in all his films. Lucas says of Kurosawa's films, "The first one I saw was Seven Samurai and after that I was co
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--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
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--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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I've also had this in my favorites folder for a while Star Wars: Realities beyond the myth...
ner ner nert nah ner ner nert
“My skill are no longer as Mad as the once were” RiK
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Currently Reading: Shatterpoint, by Matthew Stover
Unrepentent Nader Voter
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Well this article certainly establishes that link (as did I above - pun intended).
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The mother of all sci fi movies. Really is about World War 2. The Empire / Rebel conflict parallels the Axis / Allies. The Millenium Falcon is just a B52, and Han a bomber pilot. Notice how the locales translate to the arenas the war was fought: the deserts of Africa, the forests of the Ardennes and Europe, and the tundra of Russia. We get tanks, squadron fighters, the bushido code of the Japanese, the polished techno-evil of the Nazis, the terrorizing, hypnotic power of Adolf Hitler (very similar-sounding to Darth Vader), and throughout, the mysticism of Judeo-Christianity, i.e. the plight of the chosen ones. Luke and Leia are Biblical / Semitic names. Of course, when I was 8, all I saw at the time was the greatest spectacle I ever experienced in a movie theater. It completely changed my life, and I understood what movies are supposed to be about. Lucas really did something special with this film. But the underlying text would make an interesting thesis though.