Q:Build a movie plot around this: Who was the woodcutter talking to? The commoner
A:
The film opens on a woodcutter (; Kikori, played by Takashi Shimura) and a priest (; Tabi Hoshi, Minoru Chiaki) sitting beneath the Rajomon city gate to stay dry in a downpour. A commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) joins them and they tell him that they have witnessed a disturbing story, which they then begin recounting to him. The woodcutter claims he found the body of a murdered samurai three days earlier while looking for wood in the forest; upon discovering the body, he says, he fled in a panic to notify the authorities. The priest says that he saw the samurai with his wife traveling the same day the murder happened. Both men were then summoned to testify in court, where they met the captured bandit Tajomaru (), who claimed responsibility for killing the samurai and raping his wife.The bandit's story[edit]Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune), a notorious brigand, claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the samurai's wife there. She initially tried to defend herself with a dagger, but was eventually "seduced" by the bandit. The woman, filled with shame, then begged him to duel to the death with her husband, to save her from the guilt and shame of having two men know her dishonor. Tajomaru honorably set the samurai free and dueled with him. In Tajomaru's recollection they fought skillfully and fiercely, but in the end Tajomaru was the victor and the woman ran away. At the end of the story to the court, he is asked about an expensive dagger owned by the samurai's wife: he says that, in the confusion, he forgot all about it, and that it was foolish of him to leave behind such a valuable object.The wife's story[edit]The samurai's wife (Machiko Kyo) tells a different story to the court. She says that Tajomaru left after raping her. She begged her husband to forgive her, but he simply looked at her coldly. She then freed him and begged him to kill her...