Moviemaking technology may have advanced since the 1950s, but good storytelling hasn’t changed a bit, and one Samurai trilogy that recalls The Lord of the Rings movies proves it. This old-school movie trilogy is often referenced in lists of the best Samurai movies ever made, not needing modern-day visual or practical effects to tell its romantic, epic story with panache. The first movie in the trilogy was directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, and released in 1954. Toho, who also produced the Godzilla movies in Japan, were behind this magical feature-length movie.
Toho’s ᴀssociation with the trilogy should speak to its large-scale potential, with Godzilla presenting a giant fantasy monster that could rival Sauron for world-destroying horror power. But like some of Toshiro Mifune’s best movies, this Samurai trilogy is more grounded than the Godzilla movies, and reflects The Lord of the Rings more in tone than content. Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto starts the trilogy off, based loosely on a novel called Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. It launched the world-famous Musashi Miyamoto trilogy, which offers lots for Lord of the Rings fans.
The Musashi Miyamoto Trilogy Is Like Lord Of The Rings But With Samurai
Samurai I-III Have Lots In Common With The Lord Of The Rings Movies
Excellent swordfighting scenes are just one common element of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Musashi Miyamoto trilogy. The trilogy’s source material, Musashi, concerns the real-life swordmaster Musashi Miyamoto, leading to some of the most heroic swordfights and battle scenes this side of Middle-earth. The Samurai movies may not be based in a fantasy world, but their historical setting does little to hold it back from building a fascinating world for their hero to explore, complete with interesting lore and beautiful landscapes to accommodate it.
In the case of this particular adaptation, three movies gave it ample time to flesh out Mifune’s character and showcase his journey from a soldier to a talented and well-respected Samurai warrior across various adventures.
This Samurai is legendary across the world, also appearing in multiple other books and movies, like Crazy Samurai: 400 Vs. 1. In the case of this particular adaptation, three movies gave it ample time to flesh out Mifune’s character and showcase his journey from a soldier to a talented and well-respected Samurai warrior across various adventures.
But while Takezo is the central character of the three films, he alone doesn’t make the trilogy compelling. Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto notably introduced an ensemble cast and launched it neatly into the next two movies, Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple and Samurai III: Duel at Ganyru Island. Much like The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie ending, the Samurai movies offer branching storylines complete with their own cliffhanger endings. In this way, the films set up new chapters in the lives of its main characters, whose paths are destined to converge before all is said and done.
The Musashi Miyamoto Trilogy Are Some Of The Best Samurai Movies Ever Made
Japan’s Samurai Output Was Booming In The 1950s
As one of the greatest Samurai movies of all time, Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto nails a balance between emotional drama and dramatic battle scenes. This should please fans of Peter Jackson’s 2000s Lord of the Rings trilogy. It may also speak to fans of the book with its grand, melancholic, and serious tone, prioritizing the real suffering and struggle at the heart of its characters’ relationships over gratuitous Hollywood-style action. Bringing the spiritual and feudal traditions of Japan to the forefront, the trilogy captures the no-nonsense principled persona signaled by Miyamoto in his writing.
Miyamoto was a complex figure, which the Toho trilogy gets right. He is played by Japanese legend Toshiro Mifune, who starts Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto with the name Tazeko, before earning his Samurai name. Miyamoto was not just a Samurai warrior, but a writer, who, interestingly, created the Samurai handbook The Book of Five Rings. The excellent Vagabond manga also tells Musashi’s story to a certain extent, offering a far more fictionalized version of it than the Musashi Miyamoto trilogy. Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto remains not just historically revealing, but a relic of one of Japan’s key golden eras in moviemaking.
