Japanese samurai photography

Integrity does not fail, and the heart does not come out.

Samurai 7

In troubled times, the most difficult thing is to persist, maintain integrity and keep your heart burning.

For most ordinary people like me who just want to live and work in peace and contentment at home, this sentence can't help but seem arrogant and big. But for Japanese samurai in the Warring States period, this persistence is a spiritual exercise that they have to face every day, and it is an unavoidable basis: persistence or abandonment, poverty or prosperity, caesarean section or life?

In the lens, there are dilapidated cities, deserted villages, children with dishes on their faces, and old people with dead hearts. On the muddy and bumpy road, there are silent and arrogant men with knives coming and going. The brilliant faces of the past are full of haggard colors and hungry and vain steps. It was an era when samurai were not needed. People only saw the knife, not the man behind it. So some people cling to the Lord and gain fame through repeated struggles and endless killings. Some people think highly of themselves and proudly protect their knives, but they don't hear strikes or groans. Some people become bandits and thieves, while others wander around.

It is in this desolation and desolation that Kurosawa came.

The Seven Samurai, written 50 years ago, has long been regarded as a classic by famous scholars from generation to generation. No matter the theme, characters, photography, stories, martial arts and scenes, they all show the demeanor of a master. The appearance of the Seven Warriors is wonderful and mysterious, which makes people see several real warriors with distinctive personalities, and vaguely hears Kurosawa's admiration and regret.