Learning Japanese with Akira Kurosawa

This page discusses how to augment your knowledge of the Japanese language by watching the films of classic Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
Japanese Fast Facts
1. Language Family: Japonic
2. Number of Speakers: 130 million
3. Official Language: Japan
4. Major Dialects: Tokyo-type; Kyoto-Osaka-type
Kurosawa Fast Facts
1. Born: March 23, 1910
2. Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan
3. Died: September 6, 1998
4. Notable Films: Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Ran
About the Japanese Language

Spoken by over 130 million people, Japanese is an agglutinative language characterized by a complex system of honorifics, which guides verb formation and vocabulary choice based on the relative status of speaker and listener. The language's vocabulary is heavily influenced by words borrowed from Chinese and several different Indo-European languages including English.
About Akira Kurosawa

Filmmaker Akira Kurosawa is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest directors of the 20th century and the man responsible for popularizing Japanese cinema in the West. Among his most well-known and influential films are Rashomon and Seven Samurai. During his lifetime, Kurosawa received the French Legion d'honneur and the Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

This page discusses how to augment your knowledge of the Japanese language by watching the films of classic Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
Japanese Fast Facts
1. Language Family: Japonic
2. Number of Speakers: 130 million
3. Official Language: Japan
4. Major Dialects: Tokyo-type; Kyoto-Osaka-type
Kurosawa Fast Facts
1. Born: March 23, 1910
2. Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan
3. Died: September 6, 1998
4. Notable Films: Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Ran
About the Japanese Language

Spoken by over 130 million people, Japanese is an agglutinative language characterized by a complex system of honorifics, which guides verb formation and vocabulary choice based on the relative status of speaker and listener. The language's vocabulary is heavily influenced by words borrowed from Chinese and several different Indo-European languages including English.
About Akira Kurosawa

Filmmaker Akira Kurosawa is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest directors of the 20th century and the man responsible for popularizing Japanese cinema in the West. Among his most well-known and influential films are Rashomon and Seven Samurai. During his lifetime, Kurosawa received the French Legion d'honneur and the Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
About the Language in Akira Kurosawa Films
1. Japanese is a multi-faceted language. The language in these films will not match up exactly with the Japanese you've learned from textbooks.
2. Japanese can vary from speaker to speaker; a young girl may use different words to express the same sentiment as an older gentleman.
Why Watch Akira Kurosawa Films When Studying Japanese?
1. Akira Kurosawa is a legend of Japanese cinema. His 1950 film, Rashomon, won Best Foreign Language Film at the 24th Academy Awards and largely introduced Japanese cinema to Western audiences.
2. Listening to native speakers is helpful because it lets you hear Japanese in a more natural context than in the classroom.
3. Watching Japanese films can provide this immersive experience.
4. Listening to Japanese in a dramatic setting can provide an emotional and contextual background absent in textbooks.
- NOTE: Much of the dialogue spoken in Akira Kurosawa's films are variations of the dialect spoken commonly in modern Japan. For this reason, a general understanding of the Japanese language is necessary in the following lessons.
Before You Start Watching the Films
1. The dialogue in these films is spoken by native Japanese actors. As such, beginners may find it difficult to understand without subtitles.
2. Intermediate and advanced students of Japanese should be able to follow at least portions of the film without the assistance of subtitles.
Rashomon Japanese Activities
- Below is Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. You can also watch it at Google Video, here.
1. Start the video, then press pause. It will take a few moments to load fully.
2. If you like, watch the film in its entirety, so that when you go back and study the phrases, you won't be distracted by the story.
3. This version is presented with English subtitles.
Rashomon Activity 1
1. Watch from 02:15 to 03:38
2. In this sequence, one villager is talking to himself and repeats a variation of "I don't understand," "Sore wa wakané"
  - This phrasing is an example of something that is said only by an older man.
  - A young girl, for example, might say "Sore wa wakanai"
3. See if you can make out the phrase "Sore wa wakané".
4. Having one word or phrase said repeatedly by different people helps you absorb its meaning.
Rashomon Activity 2
1. Watch from 19:34 to 20:10.
2. Try to understand Tajomaru's speech. Listen repeatedly, if necessary.
3. Pay particular attention to the inflection of his voice and notice the words he stresses and the words he speaks quickly.
4. Keep in mind that an actor may speak differently in a film than a modern Japanese person might in Tokyo.
Rashomon Activity 3
1. Watch from 31:16 to 32:01
2. Notice how Masako speaks differently than a man would.
3. Listen to the final part of Masako's speech, when the subtitles say "I will go with the survivor."
4. See if you can break down what she is saying before and after each pause.
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Yojimbo Activity 1
2. Many of Akira Kurosawa's films are about samurais and samurai life. If you will be watching more of his films, you will want to familiarize yourself with this vocabulary and style of speaking
3. Look for the words "sword", "hell", and "bodyguard".
4. Listen to the way Yojimbo speaks and how it is different from the dialogue spoken by the other characters.
5. Keep in mind that, even upon this film's release, Japanese people in Tokyo spoke quite differently than the actors on screen.
Yojimbo Activity 2
1. As in Ikiru, it is important to pay attention to the use of numbers.
2. Pay attention to when numbers are spoken, and see if you can understand how they are used in context.
Reading Lessons in Akira Kurosawa Films
1. In learning a language, films are most important for hearing spoken dialogue, but the credits can also teach you about written Japanese.
2. The opening credits for these films have both kanji and hiragana characters.
3. For the versions with subtitles, check out the subtitles for the credits as well. This way you see what the kanji and hiragana mean.
4. Notice how the credits are in columns. This is an older method for written Japanese (which is still in use). To read these columns, go from top to bottom, then right to left.
Understanding Kurosawa's Cinema
1. Check out Mahalo's Guide to Akira Kurosawa.
2. Read these essays on Rashomon, one from Stephen Prince, the other by Kurosawa himself.
3. Read this profile of Akira Kurosawa from TIME Asia by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou.
Further Study of Japanese Films
Note: The following links are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.
- If you enjoyed using these films to practice speaking Japanese, here are some suggestions for further viewing:
  - Yoji Yamada's Twilight Samurai (2002)
  - Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill (1967)
  - Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953)
  - Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (2001)
  - Katsuhito Ishii's The Taste of Tea (2004)
- Some of these films are distributed through The Criterion Collection, and all are available through Amazon.com and Netflix.