Rashomon (Rashômon) (羅生門)

RASHOMON

Produced by JINGO MINOURA

Developed by SOJIRO MOTOKI

Based on "In a Grove" by RYUNOSUKE AKUTAGAWA

Screenplay by AKIRA KUROSAWA and SHINOBU HASHIMOTO

Cinematography by KAZUO MIYAGAWA

Sound by IWAO OTANI

Production Design by TAKASHI MATSUYAMA

Music by FUMIO HAYASAKA

Starring

TOSHIRO MIFUNE

MACHIKO KYO

TAKASHI SHIMURA

MASAYUKI MORI

MINORU CHIAKI

KICHIJIRO UEDA

NORIKO HONMA

DAISUKE KATO

Directed by AKIRA KUROSAWA

I don't understand. I just don't understand.

I don't understand it at all.

I just don't understand.

What's wrong?

What don't you understand?

I've never heard such a strange story.

Why don't you tell me about it?

We happen to have a wise priest in our midst.

No, not even the renowned, wise priest from Kiyomizu Temple

has heard a story as strange as this.

So you know something about this strange story?

This man and I have just seen it and heard it ourselves.

Where?

In the courthouse garden.

The courthouse?

A man was murdered.

Just one? So what?

On top of this gate,

you'll find at least five or six unclaimed bodies.

You're right.

War, earthquake, winds,

fire, famine, the plague...

Year after year, it's been nothing but disasters.

And bandits descend upon us every night.

I've seen so many men

getting killed like insects,

but even I have never heard a story as horrible as this.

Yes. So horrible.

This time,

I may finally lose my faith in the human soul.

It's worse than bandits, the plague,

famine, fire, or war.

Look here, priest.

Enough with the sermon.

It sounded interesting, at least while I kept out of the rain.

But if it's a sermon, I'd sooner listen to the rain.

Hear me out.

Maybe you can tell me what it means.

I don't understand any of those three.

- Which three? - Well -

I'll tell you about them.

Calm down and tell me slowly.

The rain's not going to stop any time soon.

RASHOMON

It was three days ago.

I went into the mountains to get wood.

I ran as fast as I could to tell the police.

Then, three days later - today, I was called to testily

Yes, that's right.

I was the one who first found the body.

What? Did I see a sword or something?

No, nothing at all.

Just a woman's hat caught on a branch,

and the cap of a samurai that had been trampled on.

There was a cut-up piece of rope near the body,

and further along in the leaves,

a shiny amulet case with red lining.

Yes.

That was all I found, yes.

Yes.

I met the murdered man before his death.

It was three days ago, in the afternoon.

On the road from Sekiyama to Yamashina.

The woman had a veil,

so I couldn't see her face.

The man was armed with a sword,

as well as a bow and arrows.

Little did I expect

that he would meet such a fate.

A human life is truly as frail

and fleeting as the morning dew.

What a shame that his should end this way.

I'm sorry.

This man I caught is Tajomaru.

Yes, the notorious bandit everyone speaks of.

The last time I almost caught him, he looked the same

and he carried that same sword.

It was two days ago at dusk, by the banks of the Katsura...

What's wrong?

There were 17 arrows with eagle feathers,

a leather bow, and a horse.

All these belonged to the dead man, yes.

The irony of Tajomaru being thrown off his stolen horse,

this had to be fateful retribution.

I fell off the horse?

You fool!

On that day...

I was riding that horse and I was suddenly very thirsty.

So around Osaka, I drank from a spring.

There must have been a dead poisonous snake upstream.

After a while, I got an incredible stomachache.

By the time I came to the river, I couldn't hold it any longer.

So I got off the horse and crouched in the field.

I fell off?

Obviously, a fool can think only foolish thoughts.

I know sooner or later you'll have my neck,

so I'm not going to hide anything.

It was this Tajomaru who killed that man.

I saw that couple three days ago. It was a hot afternoon.

Suddenly a cool breeze rustled the leaves.

If it hadn't been for that wind, I wouldn't have killed him.

I caught a glimpse and then she was gone.

Maybe that's why.

I thought I saw a goddess.

At that moment I decided to capture her,

even if I had to kill her man.

But if I could have her without killing, all the better.

My intention then was to take her without killing the man.

But I couldn't do it on that road to Yamashina.

What do you want?

What do you want?

What is it?

Don't be suspicious.

See? Isn't this nice?

Take a good look at it.

There are some ruins over there.

When I dug up the mound,

I found a heap of swords and mirrors.

I buried them in a grove behind the mountain

so no one else would find them.

If you're interested, I'll sell them to you cheap.

It's over there.

Walk ahead of me.

It's here. Beyond those pines.

Your husband has taken sick.

Her face turned pale.

She stared at me with frozen eyes,

her expression intense like a child's.

When I saw that,

I envied the man and I suddenly hated him.

I wanted to show her how pathetic he looked tied to that pine tree.

These thoughts that weren't there before filled my head.

I had never seen such fierceness in a woman.

And so I had succeeded in having her without killing her husband.

I still had no intention of killing him.

But then...

Wait!

Stop!

Either you die or my husband dies.

One of you must die.

To have my shame known to two men is worse than dying.

I will go

with the survivor.

So I had to kill him, but I wanted to do it honorably.

He fought very well.

We crossed swords 23 times.

I remember this because I'm still impressed.

No one had ever crossed swords with me more than 20 times.

What? The woman?

I don't know.

When the man died, I turned to her.

She was gone.

The fighting must have scared her and she ran away.

I ran out to the mountain road.

All I found was her horse grazing calmly.

I was attracted to her fierce spirit,

but, after all, she was just like other women.

I didn't even look for her.

What? His sword?

I exchanged it in town for liquor.

What? Her dagger?

It had pearl inlay. Looked very valuable.

I totally forgot about it.

That was foolish.

The biggest mistake I ever made!

Even amongst the bandits,

Tajomaru is famous for being a womanizer.

Why, last fall, a young wife went to the temple

and she and her maid were found dead in the mountains.

That must have been him too.

Who knows what really happened to that woman who left her horse?

Well,

that woman showed up at the courthouse.

She was hiding in the temple when the police found her.

It's a lie.

It's all a lie. Tajomaru's story and the woman's.

It's human to lie.

Most of the time we can't even be honest with ourselves.

That may be.

But it's because men are weak that they lie,

even to themselves.