Westworld Shogun World Samurai and Western films

HBO

This week’s episode of “Westworld” finally took us to Shogun World, where Maeve discovered Akane, her geisha counterpart.

“We may have cribbed a little bit from Westworld,” admitted buffoonish programmer Lee Sizemore. “You try writing 300 stories in three weeks!”

Don’t worry, Lee: Westerns and samurai films did plenty of cribbing from each other, too. With Shogun World, “Westworld” creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan winked at decades of cultural crossover between Western directors like John Sturges and samurai auteurs like Akira Kurosawa.

Also Read: 'Westworld': Thandie Newton Tells Us Why Maeve's Superpower Went Into Overdrive in Shogun World

Some of the most famous Westerns ever made were adaptations of samurai films: Sturges’ “The Magnificent Seven” was Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai” with gunslingers instead of ronin. Clint Eastwood’s famous “Man With No Name” in Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars” is based on the “Samurai With No Name” in Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo.”

Lee’s decision to turn Westworld’s bloodthirsty Hector and Armistice into the ronin team of Musashi and Hanaryo isn’t just a case of cutting corners. It’s also a spin on the old trans-Pacific exchange.

And we do mean an exchange, because it’s not just Hollywood lifting ideas from Japan. While Kurosawa famously — and successfully — sued Leone for plagiarizing “Yojimbo” after seeing “A Fistful of Dollars,” he has also made it clear that some of the techniques in “Yojimbo” and several of his other works were inspired by Westerns.

Also Read: 'Westworld': Rinko Kikuchi Explains How Shogun World Episode Sidesteps Cultural Appropriation

Kurosawa discussed his Western influences in a 1989 New York Times profile. “Westerns have been done over and over again and, in the process, a kind of grammar has evolved,” he mused. “I have learned from this grammar of the Western.”

In particular, Kurosawa took notes from “High Noon” director John Ford: the two often visited each other while filming.

“Westworld” is, in part, about individuality. It asks questions about what it means to forge one’s identity in a hostile world, and so do Westerns and samurai films.

For decades, the gunslinger represented an American ideal of rugged individualism. Kurosawa’s films introduced American audiences to the cowboy’s cinematic counterpart in the Far East.

After all, a gunslinger is his own man in the Wild West, relying on his six-shooter and his own moral code to uphold justice. A ronin is, by definition, a samurai with no master. With only their katana, they defend themselves and those weaker than them.

Even in the 21st century, the cultural exchange continues: “Yurusarezaru Mono” is a 2013 samurai remake of Clint Eastwood’s acclaimed 1992 hit “Unforgiven,” in which he starred as William Munny, a retired outlaw pulled out of his quiet farm life to kill two men who disfigured a prostitute at a brothel.

The Japanese version transports that story to Meiji-era Japan in the 19th century, when the power of the samurai was at its end. Ken Watanabe plays Jubei Kamata, an outlaw samurai in hiding. Like Munny, he wishes to live a quiet life, even though he has a reputation for bloodthirst that forces him back into danger.

Both Munny and Jubei’s stories focus on the cost of violence. And as “Westworld” frequently reminds us, quoting Shakespeare, “These violent delights have violent ends.”

One wonders if Lee has thought things though as much as Eastwood and Kurosawa.

Take a look at more Westerns and Samurai movies that inspired each other in the gallery below.

10 Westerns Inspired by Samurai Movies, from 'The Magnificent Seven' to 'A Fistful of Dollars' (Photos)

We finally got a glimpse of Shogun World in "Westworld," and the idea to mash up the two universes isn't just a coincidence. There's a long history of Westerns borrowing from samurai cinema and the other way around. Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa studied the work of director John Ford, which, in turn, led to many of Kurosawa's movies to be remade as Spaghetti Westerns. The cowboy and the samurai are each lone wanderers in a lawless world, so a crossover of themes is plausible. Here are 10 instances in which the West met the East.
HBO
"The Magnificent Seven" (1960) and "Seven Samurai" (1954)

Kurosawa's landmark film, "Seven Samurai," was highly influential on modern action cinema, but its most direct descendant was John Sturges' "The Magnificent Seven," starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Eli Wallach. The film is a remake, but its representation of American ideals of heroism and underdog spirit have propelled it to become its own classic.
United Artists/Toho Company
"A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) and "Yojimbo" (1961)

Another Kurosawa remake, "Yojimbo" is about a mysterious, quiet and lone ronin who wanders into a small town and fights to end the warring between two rival gangs. And "A Fistful of Dollars," Sergio Leone's unauthorized remake, is literally the same thing. Clint Eastwood's scowling menace is to just about any Western what Toshiro Mifune's crazed intensity is to samurai movies. "Yojimbo" would also get a sequel, "Sanjuro," as would Eastwood's "Man With No Name" series in "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly."
United Artists/Toho Company
"Blindman" (1971) and "Adventures of Zatoichi" (1964)

Zatoichi is one of Japan's longest running samurai characters -- a blind warrior originally played by actor Shintaro Katsu -- who appeared in a total of 26 films and a subsequent TV series. The Spaghetti Western "Blindman" is likewise about a sightless hired gun inspired by the Zatoichi character. And the 17th film in the Zatoichi series would be directly remade as the Rutger Hauer action movie "Blind Fury."
Twentieth Century Fox/The Criterion Collection
"Unforgiven" (1992)

In 1992, Clint Eastwood deconstructed the genre that made him famous with "Unforgiven," a Western about a gunslinger forced to face his murderous past. Twenty-one years later, Lee Sung-il and Ken Watanabe turned "Unforgiven" into a samurai tale with the saga of an infamous warrior who wants to live in peace as samurai are apprehended in 19th century Japan.
Warner Bros.
"Red Sun" (1971)

Toshiro Mifune put forth one of his most famous performances in "The Seven Samurai," as did Charles Bronson in that film's remake, "The Magnificent Seven." "Red Sun" saw both actors -- and both genres -- collide, as an outlaw is forced to team up with a samurai to help recover a Japanese ambassador's gift from bandits who left the outlaw for dead.
National General Pictures
"Requiem for a Gringo" (1968) and "Harakiri" (1962)

Masaki Kobayashi's samurai classic is about an elder ronin who wishes to find an honorable place to kill himself. The Spaghetti Western is more gory and psychedelic, but is loosely based on "Harakiri."
Paradise Film Exchange/Signal International
"The 5-Man Army" (1969)

In this Spaghetti Western, Tetsuro Tamba plays a samurai who turns tricks and joins a posse of bandits that intends to rob a train filled with gold that's heading across the Mexican border.
MGM
"Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die!" (1968)

"Seven Samurai" star Tatsuya Nakadai shows off his skills with a machete instead of a sword as villain James Elfego, the leader of the Comanchero gang, in this Spaghetti Western.
Cinerama Releasing Company
"Django" (1966)

While not a direct remake of "Yojimbo," the Spaghetti Western classic "Django" starring Franco Nero is another story of a lone gunslinger taking on two warring gangs.
Anchor Bay Entertainment
"Sukiyaki Western Django" (2007)

Takashi Miike's stylized samurai action movie is a stylized, East meets West homage to Spaghetti Westerns that even stars Quentin Tarantino -- who has borrowed liberally from both Westerns and Japanese cinema in his own films -- in a small role.
First Look International

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Akira Kurosawa’s films inspired some of the most iconic Westerns ever made

We finally got a glimpse of Shogun World in "Westworld," and the idea to mash up the two universes isn't just a coincidence. There's a long history of Westerns borrowing from samurai cinema and the other way around. Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa studied the work of director John Ford, which, in turn, led to many of Kurosawa's movies to be remade as Spaghetti Westerns. The cowboy and the samurai are each lone wanderers in a lawless world, so a crossover of themes is plausible. Here are 10 instances in which the West met the East.

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