Sansho the Bailiff

Directed by
 Music by
Tamekichi Mochizuki
 Running time
 Budget

Sansho the Bailiff (also known as Daisho Sansho) is a daiei drama 1954 film,Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.

## Plot

in the end of the Heian period of feudal Japan, A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. His wife, Tamaki (Kinuyo Tanaka), and children, Zushio and Anju, are sent to live with her brother. Just before they are separated, Zushiō's father tells him, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others." He urges his son to remember his words and gives him a statuette of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy.

Several years later, the wife and children journey to his exiled land, but are tricked on the journey by a treacherous priestess. The mother is sold into prostitution in Sado and the children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized, working under horrific conditions and branded when they try to escape. The estate, protected under the Minister of the Right, is administered by the eponymous Sanshō (Eitarō Shindō), a bailiff (or steward). Sanshō's son Tarō (Akitake Kōno), the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master, and he convinces the two they must survive in the manor before they can escape to find their mother.

The children grow to young adulthood at the slave camp. Anju (Kyōko Kagawa) still believes in the teachings of her father, which advocate treating others with humanity, but Zushiō (Yoshiaki Hanayagi) has repressed his humanity, becoming one of the overseers who punishes other slaves, in the belief that this is the only way to survive. Anju hears a song from a new slave girl from Sado which mentions her and her brother in the lyrics. This leads her to believe their mother is still alive. She tries to convince Zushiō to escape, but he refuses, citing the difficulty and their lack of money.

Zushiō is ordered to take Namiji, an older woman who is acutely ill, out of the slave camp to be left to die in the wilderness. Anju accompanies them, and while they break branches to provide covering for the dying woman, they recall their memories of their earlier childhood. At this point Zushiō changes his mind and asks Anju to escape with him to find their mother. Anju asks him to take Namiji with him, convincing her brother she will stay behind to distract the guards. Zushiō promises to return for Anju. However, after Zushiō's escape, Anju commits suicide by walking into a lake, drowning herself so that she will not be tortured and forced to reveal her brother's whereabouts.

After Zushiō escapes into the wilderness, he finds his former mentor, Taro – Sansho's son – at an Imperial temple. Zushiō asks Tarō to take care of Namiji, who is recovering after being given medicine, so that he can go to Kyoto to appeal to the Chief Advisor on the appalling conditions of slaves. The Head Priest writes a letter for him as proof of who he is. Although initially refusing to see him, the Chief Advisor realizes the truth after seeing the statuette of Kannon that Zushiō has with him. He then tells Zushiō that his exiled father died the year before and offers Zushiō the post of the governor of Tango, the very province where Sanshō's manor is situated.

As Governor of Tango, the first thing Zushiō does is to issue an edict forbidding slavery both on public and private grounds. No one believes he can do this, since governors have no command over private grounds. Although Sanshō offers initial resistance (having his men destroy the signs which state the edict), Zushiō orders him and his men arrested, thus freeing the slaves. When he looks for Anju among Sanshō's slaves, he learns that his sister has sacrificed herself for his freedom. The manor is burned down by the ex-slaves, while Sanshō and his family are exiled. Zushiō resigns immediately afterwards, stating that he had done exactly what he had intended to do.

Zushiō leaves for Sado where he searches for his aged mother, whom he believes is still a courtesan. After hearing a man state that she has died in a tsunami, he goes to the beach she is supposed to have died on. He finds a nearly blind, decrepit old woman sitting on the beach singing the same song he heard years before. Realizing she is his mother, he reveals his identity to her, but Tamaki, who has gone blind, assumes he is a trickster until he gives her the statuette of Kannon, which she recognizes by exploring it with her fingers, in spite of her blindness. Zushiō tells her that both Anju and their father have died and apologizes for not coming for her in the pomp of his governor's post. Instead he followed his father's proverb and chose mercy toward others by freeing the slaves held by Sanshō. He tells his mother he has been true to his father's teachings, which she acknowledges poignantly.

## Cast

* Tamaki: Kinyo Tanaka
* The King of Kitchen : Kisho Kayanagi
* Anju: Kyoko Kagawa
* Daio Sansho: Eitaro Shindo (Toei)
* Nio: Ichiro Sugai (First Cooperative Association)
* Yoshitsugu: Mitaro
* Kohagi: Yoko Sonoe (Shochiku)
* Ubatake: Chieko Naniwa
* Miko: Kikue Mohri
* Fujimi Shimi : Ken Mitsuda (Literature Theater)
* Tairamasa: Masao Shimizu (folk art)
* Takeshi Ritsushi: Ryosuke Kagawa
* Taro: Akitake Kono
* Built-in Kudo: Mikiharu Koshiba
* Sadayu: Shinobu Araki
* The Boyhood King of the King: Masahiko Kato (now Masahiko Tsugawa)
* Girls' Generation Anju: Keiko Enami
* Yuchu Nakakun: Teruko Omi
* Waveguide: Kimiko Tachibana
* Shiono: Reiko Kongo
* End of Taira: Shozo Nanbu
* Master of Yumenshuku: Ryosuke Higashi
* Hogandai Norimura: Taiho Kazukimi
* Kinpei: Saburo Date
* Guy: Sumao Ishihara
* Kido's Guard: Ichiro Amano
* Kayano: Sachiko Soma
* Woman at the dock: Midori Komatsu

## Staff

* Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
* Production: Masakazu Nagata
* Writer: Fuji Yahiro , Yoshinori Yoda
* Planning: Hisaichi Tsuji
* Photo: Kazuo Miyagawa
* Recording: Iwao Otani
* Lighting: Kenichi Okamoto
* Art: Saku Ito
* Music: Fumio Hayasaka
* Edit: Miyata Misuzu
* Assistant Director: Tokuzo Tanaka
* Progress: Hiroshi Ozawa