The 47 Ronin (1941)

Chôjûrô Kawarasaki: Kuranosuke Ooishi

Photos 

2 more photos

Quotes 

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : You must all pledge to put your futures entirely in my hands. Though it may seem otherwise, standing up to the shogun's officials would be taking the easy way out. If we refuse to hand over the castle, the shogun's army will attack, we will all fight to the death, and that will be the end of it. But to hand over the castle as a demonstration of submission, while also remaining faithful to our ultimate aim -- this is the path that looks easy but is in fact difficult, a path that only true men of virtue can walk.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : My intention is for us to reject the easy way and pursue the difficult, to climb the steepest path a man can climb.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : Come, girls. Bring us sake. Sake. Time for a party.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : Kichichiyo has a weak constitution. Perhaps he can become a priest and pray for our souls. I doubt he has the strength to be a samurai.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : Even slitting my belly before our lord's temple at Sengaku Temple could not have adequately atoned for my error. I was in anguish. It has been a painful burden.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : There is nothing quite so wretched as a samurai who's become masterless. Only a handful manage to make a living. The rest barely scrape by, shadows of their former selves, hardly able to keep their wives and children alive.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : It was wrong for him to deceive you and your family, but there are times when a person has no choice but to lie. Look at yourself. You've come here under false pretenses, dressed as a man. For you, under the circumstances, it was a necessary lie.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : It's not so difficult to take up a cause in the name of virtue, but to carry one's initial resolve through to the end can be far more difficult than one has imagined.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : Things don't always work the way one wishes in this world.

  Toda : How can you say such a thing? That hardly sounds like the way of the samurai.

• Sukeimon Tomimori : I wish to remain with the group and commit harakiri. All that is left for us now is to commit harakiri before our master's grave. I do not wish to be excluded from that rite.

  Kuranosuke Ooishi : Heaven has smiled on us and we have succeeded in our aim. I see no need to rush to our deaths.

  Sukeimon Tomimori : How can you say such a thing?

  Kuranosuke Ooishi : We've preserved through hardships until this day, so that we could carry out a proud revenge that would be deemed righteous in the eyes of the world. It would be easy for us now to slit our bellies on the spot. Although we acted out of loyalty, to the shogunate we are criminals. We must respect the shogun and the law of the land. As his loyal subjects, we must obey the law. Our duty now is to refrain from selfish action and quietly await our judgment. Isn't that how we can best show our constancy as true samurai?

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : You wish me not to ask and him not to say? You'd let the question go unasked and the response unstated? That's exactly as I would have it.

• Kuranosuke Ooishi : A woman doesn't need to learn the way of the samurai.