Kamatari Fujiwara plays suspicious, self-interested men with a comic precision that makes them worth our attention. We value him most in Akira Kurosawa's ensembles, though his taste for theatrical emphasis can sometimes labour what we have already understood.
Fi1m perspective
In Seven Samurai (1954), Kamatari Fujiwara's Manzô is a suspicious farmer trying to protect his daughter, Shino. A grand adventure could easily hurry past such a man, but Fujiwara makes his anxieties worth attending to. We laughed at his suspicion, then felt uneasy because his fear for his daughter remained credible. His comic timing lets us see how unreasonable Manzô can be without making him merely a nuisance. He contributes to the patience with ordinary people that makes this an adventure we would recommend to almost anyone.
The partnership with Akira Kurosawa had begun with Ikiru (1952), in which Fujiwara plays Sub-Section Chief Ono. Takashi Shimura gives that film its painful fear of a wasted life, while Fujiwara takes his place in the office hierarchy. We recommend it warmly, with a reservation about satire that sometimes keeps explaining itself. Going from Ono to Manzô, Fujiwara stays close to the ordinary citizen, whose place in the world matters a great deal to him. The partnership would eventually run to 12 films.
There is a more openly grotesque Fujiwara in The Lower Depths (1957), as a drunken Kabuki actor, and Yojimbo (1961), as the deranged former mayor Tazaemon. Between them, The Hidden Fortress (1958) pairs his peasant Matashichi with Minoru Chiaki. His comic timing is a reason to follow him into these parts, though the theatrical emphasis can make a character's shortcomings too obvious.
His regular work with Mikio Naruse matters too; Fujiwara's usefulness was not confined to Kurosawa's ensembles. But Seven Samurai is where we would begin, with a suspicious farmer allowed space in a humane and absorbing adventure. Give Manzô time before deciding he is merely an obstacle.
Biography
Kamatari Fujiwara (藤原釜足, Fujiwara Kamatari; also credited as Keita Fujiwara) was a Japanese stage and film actor. Born Yasue Shigeo on 15 January 1905 in Tokyo, he died on 21 December 1985 in Tokyo. He appeared in over 200 films between 1933 and 1984.
Fujiwara began in music and stage work, performing in Asakusa operas before joining Ken'ichi Enomoto's New Casino Folies. His film debut came in 1933 with Ongaku kigeki – Horoyui jinsei. He worked with directors including Akira Kurosawa, Mikio Naruse, Yasujirō Ozu and Heinosuke Gosho. He appeared in twelve Kurosawa films, beginning with Ikiru (1952) as Senkichi, and including Seven Samurai (1954) as Manzô, The Hidden Fortress (1958) as Matashichi, Yojimbo (1961) as Tazaemon, Sanjuro (1962) as Takebayashi, High and Low (1963) as the junkyard cook, Red Beard (1965) as Rokusuke and Kagemusha (1980) as the doctor.
