"Each of the seven [samurai] may be individuals, but each is also an aspect of samurai identity, and together they reflect the history of the class and its coming demise. . . . [Samurai] is a class by birthright; what you are born you will remain, even as the evolving society refuses your class a place.  This is the condition faced by Kambei and the others, Kambei more so because he has lived at the moment of samurai power and must now confront its decline.  As a man he is 'tired of fighting,' a reflection of the historical weariness of the class.  He has failed in his ambition to be a warlord and his biography as well reflects the sacrifice that samurai have made: he has lost his parents and his friends in pursuit of his warrior life and warrior ambition" (Mellon 20).

"Throughout, Kurosawa contrasts the two cultures: peasants [farmers], with the advantage of their usefulness to society, assuring that they will endure into the future, and the samurai with their superior personal morality and elegance" (Mellon 22).

The mightily blowing wind that punctuates key scenes throughout Seven Samurai, "is a wind heralding the loss of samurai culture and the endurance of the peasantry" (Mellon 24).

Seven Samurai Film Notes, continued
(Descriptive Commentary on Major Film Sequences, sometimes following DVD "Chapters")
NOTE: Kurosawa's published screenplay and DVD/film version are not always the same! ~ Cora

16. DVD: INTERMISSION [Kurosawa screenplay,141]

Several samurai inspect a cut and trampled swath of dense bamboo undergrowth, suspecting that the angry missing Rikichi has done this. Heihachi is puzzled that Rikichi has reacted so explosively to a mild joke and Kikuchiyo must explain to the other samurai that something is definitely bothering Rikichi.  Heihachi agrees: Rikichi's "lips were set tight . . . like a locked door."  Kikuchiyo: "Why don't you try to open it?"  WIPE.

18. NIGHT WATCH  [Kurosawa screenplay, 144-146]
18.a Later that night: A concerned and sympathetic Heihachi discovers Rikichi and invites him to open up and discuss his troubles.  But Rikichi refuses: "I don't have anything bottled up."  Heihachi sighs and fiddles with a bit of string.  This attempt to break down class barriers between samurai and farmer fails.

18.b The same night, Rikichi's house:  Wakeful Kambei and Gorobei rise and decide to go out and inspect the planned defenses.  They decide to let "the child" Katsushiro sleep on, but when he murmurs "Shino" in his sleep--a woman's name--the two older samurai grin, remarking that the boy is becoming a man, and exit the house.  They decide to start their inspection "At our weakest point."

18.c  EASTern approach to the Village (at the BRIDGE), same night: Kambei and Gorobei find snoring Kikuchiyo sound asleep on guard duty, next to the watch fire. Kambei picks up Kikuchiyo's oversized sword and the two samurai retreat behind a nearby straw hut.  Gorobei tosses a stone into the stream and Kikuchiyo wakes with a start. In confused panic, Kikuchiyo yells out, "Who's there?" and scrambling about, discovers that his prized sword is missing.  Emerging with Gorobei from the shadows, a stern Kambei reprimands the irresponsible Kikuchiyo--"You're lucky it was only us.  If it had been bandits . . ."--and throws back the big sword with distain.  Ashamed, Kikuchiyo sinks to his kneels and cannot answer.  FADE OUT.

 [Film Viewing resume here?]

After the Harvest is in: TRANSFORMATION of the VILLAGE
into a TIGHTLY DEFENDED FORTRESS

19. BUILDING BARRICADES  [Kurosawa screenplay, 146-149]
19.a SOUTHern approach to the Village (over the FIELDS), (next?) day : Several samurai oversee village men digging trenches and village women carrying earth away in baskets; Kambei and Gorobai arrive to inspect their work.  DISSOLVE to reveal water running through a narrow channel into a large pool; camera tilts up to reveal a flooded field surrounded by barricades of bamboo spikes. DISSOLVE to running children; camera pans to follow them singing and climbing over a low wall, where farmers are building a barricade. DISSOLVE to medium shot of Yohei, Manzo, Mosuke and Rikichi hand-threshing harvested grain.  Emboldened because they are alone, a normally meek Yohei and an embittered Mosuke (whose home lies outside the barricades and had to be evacuated) mistake the calm before the storm: "No bandits seem to be coming . . . and we went to all the trouble of hiring those greedy samurai.  And now we have to feed them.  What a waste!"

19.b  DISSOLVE to a long shot of villagers, roaring with laughter on the Bridge, watching Yohei at the head  and Kikuchiyo at the tail of Yohei's horse.  Watched by Heihichi and Kyuzo, Kikuchiyo leaps onto the barebacked horse, blustering that he is a good rider and will make Yohei's tired horse "fly right up in the sky."  As all look on, Kikuchiyo gallops off on the horse, through the fields, along the riverbank, then disappearing behind a tall fence and house.  The horse trots out from the other side of the house, riderless and tossing its head.  Everyone bursts into laughter as Kikuchiyo finally emerges and limps along the path.  Throwing stones at its rump, Kikuchiyo tries but fails more than once to catch the horse.  As the watching villagers continue roaring with laughter at Kikuchiyo's humiliation, watching Kambei and Gorobei comment on the scene. Gorobei:  "They're happy . . . The threshing is all done.  The bandits haven't come.  They're beginning to think they've gone away.  Kambei:  "Yes. But when everything seems so peaceful, that's the most dangerous time of all."  A sober Kambei instructs Gorobei to command everyone back to their posts.

20. THE SCOUTS  [Kurosawa screenplay, 149-154]
20.a  Forest, same day: Medium shot, through twisting braches, pans left following Katsushiro and Shino laughing happily as they run up a slope, birds singing off camera.  Shino stops and sits down among the flowers; Katsushiro stops, joins her and lies back among the flowers. Absently fingering a flower, Shino says: "I wish I'd been born into a samurai family." Katsushiro responds with sympathy:  "A farmer's life is very hard.  I've been lucky."  Shino: "...you're a real samurai and I'm just a farmer's daughter, so . . ."  Looking at each other, very close, Katsushiro declares, "Oh, I don't mind that." Shino tells him not to think of it [i.e. of their class differences].  Then Shino declares, "I don't care what happens," stares at Katsushiro searchingly, moves her head away, but then lies back suggestively among the flowers, breathing deeply, her legs splayed apart.  As Katsushiro looks down at her, Shino's breathing changes to sobbing gasps, then near hysterical laughter. A callow youth of privileged higher class, Katsushiro is startled by Shino's rapidly changing moods, not comprehending what Shino, a farmer's daughter, risks in meeting her carefree young lover alone in the forest, and how drastically their young love affair could affect the future life of a lower-class farmer's daughter.  Shino's laughter again turns to sobs, she covers her face, and exclaims: "You . . . you're not a real samurai.  Not a real samurai."  Staring at her in amazement, Katsushiro's attention is suddenly distracted by the sound of neighing horses.  Fearfully, they both stand and climb through the undergrowth off camera, then reemerge into a clearing. Sinister drumbeats as the camera tilts down to reveal three saddled horses below in a small hollow.  Exchanging a frightened look, Katsushiro and Shino run back the way they came.

20.b Rikichi's house: Shichiroji enters and reports, to seated Kambei and Gorobei, that he has seen three men on the WEST road [Western approach to the Village, from the Hills.]  An alarmed Katsushiro runs into the room and reports seeing three horses on the back hill that he thinks belong to the BANDITS. Kyuzo enters and, having observed all the "running around," calmly states, "So, they finally came, did they?"  Rikichi runs in with Heihachi, and Kambei confirms that Bandits have come from the West. The six samurai and Rikichi stand, weighing the situation. Kambei runs out, followed by the others.

20.c  Village Square: The samurai run into the square.  A woman hustles some children away, other women nearby observe the worried samurai, and one says in a hushed voice, "The bandits are coming!"  Medium shot of several excited and frightened villagers running around their houses as the news is passed.  Kambei commands Rikichi:  "Tell them to keep quiet.  There are only three bandits.  Make them go to their houses. . . ."  Resuming his role as leader of the farmers, Rikichi says, "Yes, sir" and runs off.  In command of the situation, Kambei turns and directs the other samurai: "Those three would be scouts.  They mustn't know that there are other samurai here."  Each knowing what he must do, the six samurai run off camera.  Medium shots of Rikichi calming hysterical women and children, running to explain the situation to approaching village men, reassuring another group of villagers; the villagers scatter, gather their children and retreat to their homes. Camera picks up Rikichi turning to see Kikuchiyo leading in the errant horse, followed by Yohei and some children. Learning that some bandits have finally come, Kikuchiyo seems delighted.  Yohei hands him his big sword.

20.d At the WESTern barricade: The six samurai creep behind a straw fence of a house; at the end of the fence, Shichiroji drops to all fours and the other samurai enter the house.  Medium shot of a family inside the house: as the samurai enter, the family leap to their feet, rush to cower against a back wall, and are cautioned to keep quiet. The samurai duck below and peer out the barred window, after Shichiroji spots three bandit scouts making their way down toward the village's Western barricade, a hill rising up behind it.  Surprised to find a barricade barring their way to the Village, the three scouts run along it.  Inside the house, the samurai confer, glad that the scouts do not yet realize they have more than farmers to contend with.  Suddenly, Kikuchiyo's loud shouting is heard off camera: "Hey, where did you all get to?"  Heihachi curses "the idiot" Kikuchiyo, who is giving the game away, calls to him in a low voice, and when the boisterous Kikuchiyo reaches the house, Heihachi drags him inside.  The other samurai look on Kikuchiyo reproachfully: now the advantage of surprise is lost for the bandit scouts will know that other samurai defend the village and will try to warn the other Bandits. Petulant Kikuchiyo sulks, as the other samurai watch the 3 bandit scouts running away back up the hill.  Gorobei and Kambei quickly agree that the scouts cannot be allowed to escape and tell the other Bandits that samurai defend the Village.  Kyuzo immediately volunteers to go after and kill the bandit scouts, "for the hills are my responsibility."  Apologetic Kikuchiyo is elated when Kambei commands him to make up for his error by going with Kyuzo "to get" the scouts. When Katsushiro starts after his hero Kyuzo, Kambei allows the young man to go, "but just watch, don't fight. Understand?"  WIPE.

20.e Up in the forested Hills (Western approach to the Village): Three horses, belonging to the three Bandit scouts, stand among trees. Kyuzo, Kikuchiyo, and Katsushiro come into view at the top of a rise, then begin running down toward the horses.  Kyuzo and Kikuchiyo move off to take action; Katsushiro ends up alone to hide and watch.  Flowers grow in profusion; all is quiet for a moment; a bird sings.  Nervous and afraid, Katsushiro finally emerges from behind a tree trunk and edges in for a better view  - Point of view: film viewers will watch from behind Katsushiro watching much of the action to transpire.  Ultimately Kyuzo and Kikuchiyo will ambush the bandit scouts; Kyuzo coolly and efficiently, Kikuchiyo noisily and messily will each kill one bandit. The third bandit tries to escape but is caught and pounded to the ground by Kikuchiyo.  WIPE.

20.f Back in the Village: The surviving third Bandit scout, tightly bound, screams for mercy, as the samurai try to restrain the frenzied, vengeful Villagers, armed with picks, hoes, spears, and clubs - clearly out for blood.  Kambei shouts: "Listen! This man is a prisoner of war. . . . He gave himself up.  He's confessed.  He is begging for mercy.  We must not kill him!"  While the samurai would respect these "rules" of honorable warfare, the Villagers do not know, or feel bound by, any such samurai code.  Prominent among the villagers straining to get at the bandit is an angry Rikichi: "Let me do it, let me."  Then the Old Woman, Kyumon's grandmother, appears with a vicious-looking pronged hoe at the edge of the teeming crowd. She wants revenge for the death of her son; Rikichi rushes forward, followed by blood-thirsty villagers, who can no longer be restrained, and close in to finish off the bandit scout.  The samurai turn away dejectedly and push their way out of the scene.  WIPE.

21. THE SURPRISE ATTACK [Kurosawa screenplay, 158-167]
21.a  Later that Night, at Rikichi's house: The samurai sit in a circle, Rikichi in the background, and discuss information they have gained from the third Bandit scout before he was killed in the Village square: there are forty Bandits, their fortress sounds "easy to take." A plan is hatched to send three samurai mounted on the bandit scouts' three captured horses, to launch a surprise attack on the bandit fortress at dawn, and try to kill at least another 10 bandits, thereby reducing the number of bandits left to attack the Village and bettering the odds of defeating them.  Kyuzo and Heihachi immediately volunteer for the dangerous mission; Kambei refuses to let a disappointed Katsushiro go with them. Kikuchiyo also rises, determined to be the third samurai on this mission. Then farmer Rikichi jumps forward - his as yet unknown motivation making him equally determined to go - kneels before Kambei and urgently pleads that he be allowed to serve as the samurai's guide.  Heihachi suggests that "Sir Kikuchiyo," whom all now know to be a very poor rider, go on Yohei's old horse - a pairing which again will make for some comic moments, enroute to the bandit's fortress. WIPE. . . .

21.b The three samurai - Kyuzo, Heihachi, and Kikuchiyo - and farmer-guide Rikichi ride all night, and finally arrive at a waterfall in a gorge of a river, overlooking the Bandits' lair in a small valley below.  The four men dismount, leave the horses, and approach the Bandits' fortress via the river. Alternating camera sequences show the samurai closing in on the largest of the buildings, peering inside through cracks in the timber wall, viewing bandit men and their women lying asleep in the gloomy interior, in various degrees of nakedness.  Offscreen sound: Drumbeats becoming louder.  Note: samurai have donned headbands, symbol that they are about to do a strong and traditional task. Kikuchiyo scouts about the buildings, returns to the others, and takes charge: he instructs Rikichi to set fire to the huts, and quickly grasping Kikuchiyo's plan, Heihachi whispers, "We'll kill them as they come out."  Excitedly, Rikichi dashes off into the dark.

21.c The Beautiful Young Woman:  Inside in an isolated corner, where a single candle burns, a figure behind gauze curtains sits up slowly: close-up of a beautiful young woman.  Noh flute begins to play over; a slight breeze stirs the curtains.  Intercuts alternate among other sequences of the samurai outside and the still sleeping bandit horde inside, but the camera comes back and lingers on this young woman, staring sadly into space, swaying mournfully. Suddenly she pulls herself back, staring fearfully off screen.

21.d The Attack Begins:  Smoke billows up, the buildings catch fire, and just outside the samurai prepare for battle.  Intercuts among samurai outside and sleepers inside, but the camera again singles out the beautiful young woman and her reactions: backing away in horror, looking down, raising her eyes with a bitter little smile.  The Noh flute stops, but the drumbeats continue. The building is now burning fiercely, the sleepers awake, screams are heard inside, and women begin to rush out of the door.  The waiting samurai push the women aside, and when the male bandits begin to appear, cut them down.  Camera shots of the 3 samurai and Rikichi battling with the bandits, while women rush about hysterically, panicked horses occasionally seen bucking and plunging by in fear.  Many fall down the nearby riverbank, some attempt to escape along the river, the samurai give chase.  On the other side of the river, some half-naked bandits are viewed, armed with swords, and one or two with guns.

21.e Rikichi and the Beautiful Young Woman: Suddenly Rikichi looks round and stands. Cut to the beautiful young woman, in a flowered kimono, appearing at the entrance of the blazing house.  Noh flute in again. Rikichi leaves his cover and suddenly runs off into the open, as Heihachi, Kikuchiyo, and Kyuzo watch him in amazement.  Rikichi runs toward the young woman. Heihachi shouts after Rikichi.  When the young woman notices the wild Rikichi approaching her, she looks terrified and starts to run away, back into the furiously burning building.  Rikichi, sword in hand, is forced back from the entrance by the roaring flames.  Losing his balance, Rikichi slips down the river bank opposite.  Though Kyuzo shouts for him to come back, the crazed Rikichi scrambles back up towards the house and waves his sword about insanely.  Suddenly Heihachi also leaves his cover and rushes into the open after Rikichi, while the other 2 samurai watch in alarm.  Heihachi reaches Rikichi, still half-crawling, half-running towards the burning entrance where the young woman was last seen.  Heihachi pulls Rikichi back, trying to save him, and they both fall down the river bank into the water.  Suddenly a shot rings out.  Heihachi falls, as Rikichi looks on in horror.  Kyuzo and Kikuchiyo run to the fallen Heihachi, Rikichi and Kikuchiyo help him up, drag him behind cover of rocks, then up the river toward the waterfall, to escape the dangerous scene; intercuts of blazing buildings of the Bandits' destroyed fortress.

Death of the first samurai: Heihachi

21.f Back at the Waterfall, above the burning Bandit fortress: Kikuchiyo and Rikichi lay Heihachi on the bank of the waterfall. Kikuchiyo slaps Rikichi: "You idiot! It's your fault! Who was that woman?"  Rikichi sobs out, "My wife!"  and throws himself on the ground. Suddenly fatally wounded Heihachi lurches forward, on his face, over the bank. Kyuzo quickly bends over him and the others jump up to help, but to no avail: Heihachi is dead. Rikichi sobs. WIPE.

22. FUNERAL [Kurosawa screenplay, 167-169]
22.a Village Cemetery: At the top of a slope, a small burial mound is silhouetted against the sky: the other six samurai stand on one side of it; on the other side, Rikichi and Grandad/Gisaku stand, and villagers have grouped a bit farther down the slope.  Wind blows up dust among the gravestones. Suddenly Kikuchiyo draws Heihachi's sword from its scabbard and plunges it into the top of Heihachi's burial mound.  Grandad kneels and bows his head by the mound in mourning.  All but the 6 samurai kneel as well.  Kambei: "We were counting on him [Heihachi] to cheer us when the situation became gloomy.  And now he's gone!"  Rikichi collapses in violent sobs, and Kikuchiyo reacts with angry outbursts directed first at Rikichi, then at all the attending villagers.  Camera tracks Kikuchiyo running down the hill, through the village to Rikichi's house, grabbing Heihachi's banner, climbing up on the roof, where he sticks the banner in the thatch, then sinks down beside it.  Visibly moved, samurai and villagers on cemetery hill look at the banner, blowing in the wind, with its six circles, one triangle, and Japanese characters meaning "farmers." 
Suddenly Kikuchiyo stares forward off-screen. 

The Bandits Finally Come . . .

23. THE FIRST BATTLE [Kurosawa screenplay, 169-178]
23.a The Bandits Finally Attack. Low-angle long shot up the side of a far hill to the horizon: Movement on the distant horizon, then tiny figures of horses and riders appear silhouetted against the sky, the alien horde of attacking bandits cresting the hilltop enroute to the Village.  Kikuchiyo stands and yells the alarm, pointing, waving, grinning happily: "They've come! The bastards have finally come!"  At the sound of Kikuchiyo's voice, purposeful samurai and panicked villagers on cemetery hill spring into action.  Cross cuts record simultaneous action of the some thirty remaining bandits, advancing down to attack the Village; and of the villagers (some panicked, some purposeful) and of the six remaining samurai running to take up their defensive positions to repel the bandits' attack.  Successive medium shots of first Kyuzo leading his unit of village men, then Shichiroji leading his unit of villagers, then Kambei, with Katsushiro, leading village men to their respective defensive positions; in the background, alarmed village women rush into hiding.

23.b Shichiroji & his men at the Western barricade (log barrier obstructs approach from the Hills): Surprised Bandits on horseback are stopped by the first Village barricade, jostle each other and mill about in confusion, until the Bandit Chief, waving his sword about, shouts new orders.  Meanwhile, behind the barricade, leader Shichiroji reminds observer Katsushiro that the bandits have "three guns."  Stymied in front of the Western barricade, the Bandits divide into two groups, one group galloping off the left, the other group gallops up the hill  to the right.  As the Bandits ride off, Katsushiro runs off to join Kambei and Gorobei in the Village Square, and report that "There are twenty [bandits] to the north and thirteen to the south."  Kambei commands Gorobei to "go on to the south, but be careful of the guns."

23.c Gorobei, Katsushiro, Rikichi, and other men at Southern barricade (the flooded Fields): Thirteen Bandits who arrive at the southern approach to the Village are again surprised to find defensive barriers barring their way; they circle in confusion and look down uncertainly at the water of the flooded fields. Meanwhile, from behind the southern barricade, Gorobei, Katsushiro, and Rikichi watch.  One bandit dismounts, tests the depth of the water to find it alarmingly deep, starts staggering back up the bank when he is struck in the chest by an arrow loosed by Gorobei. The alarmed Bandit Chief watches his man fall into the water and commands his other twelve men to withdraw to the East [to the Bridge].

23.d  Village Square: Kambei squats over the Map; he has drawn two columns of circles, representing the thirty remaining bandits, down one edge of the map.  Learning from Katsushiro that Gorobei has killed a Bandit at the Southern barricade, Kambei crosses out one of the thirty circles (representing the decreasing Bandit numbers).  Kambei: "Now, go to the east border and make sure the bridge is cut off . . ."; Katsushiro adds: "And try to get the guns." 

NOTE: Kikuchiyo has taken dead Heihachi's place as samurai leader
of the Eastern defense at the Bridge

23.e  Kikuchiyo and village defenders at the Bridge [Eastern approach to the Village]: Kikuchiyo is overseeing the dismantling of the Bridge, when Katsushiro runs up to warn that twelve Bandits are coming their way.  When Katsushiro also warns him to watch out for the guns, Kikuchiyo crossly replies, "I know!" Then when Kikuchiyo tries to stop one of his village men, followed by his wife and their baby, from leaving, the man desperately explains, "I have to go and fetch my father."  The man's father is Grandad, the village patriarch, who has refused to evacuate his home [lying outside defensible Village barricades], desiring to die at the Water Mill. Cursing the old man's stubbornness, Kikuchiyo allows the son and his family to go rescue Grandad--"But hurry!"

23.f  Village Square: Gorobei, leading his men, stops to confer with Kambei.
Kambei: "Go to the northern border [the Forest]. The decisive battle will be fought there."
Gorobei: ["If you knew that," Gorobei asks Kambei] "Why didn't you build a fence there?"
Kambei: "A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war."  Gorobei smiles assent with leader Kambei's wisdom, and runs off to the northern border, followed by his men.

23.g Meanwhile in the East: Kikuchiyo's men have completely dismantled the Bridge, and thus barred the Eastern approach into the Village.  In the West, Shichiroji and his men shout a fierce battle cry, raising their spears.  Hearing their cries from afar, Kikuchiyo commands his men to outshout the others, and leads a bellowing response.  Suddenly Kikuchiyo looks up at something across the river, beckons to his men, dashes off, climbs up up the river bank, peers over the top.  Loud hoofbeats thunder of the approaching Bandits.  Kikuchiyo laughs wildly: "Here they come!"  The Bandits come into view, still on the opposite side of the river and flooded fields. Kikuchiyo strides into the open on top of the river bank and waves his arms; after a Bandit gun shot rings out, he turns tail, jumps down, crosses the river, and climbs up the other side behind the barricade.  Unable to restrain himself, Kikuchiyo invites death once again, by standing atop the barricade and waggling his backside at the bandits: another gun shot rings out, but Kikuchiyo leaps down to safety in time.

23.h  Three Outlying Houses & Grandad's Watermill Burned by the Bandits.  Long shot of the 3 outlying houses, their roofs set ablaze by the Bandits.  From the Eastern barricade, Kikuchiyo and Yohei look across at the fires, the Bandits visible beyond them outside the flooded fields.  When some of his village men try to run away, agitated Kikuchiyo orders them back to their posts.  Kambei and Katsushiro join them. Horrified, Yohei suddenly points to the Water Mill, Grandad's house, which has also been set afire by the Bandits.  Beside himself with anger and anxiety, Kikuchiyo grabs and shakes Yohei, demanding to know where old Grandad is--as well as Grandad's son, who had gone, followed by both wife and baby, to rescue Grandad. Newly arrived Kambei and Katsushiro cannot stop Kikuchiyo from bolting out into the night, climbing over the barricade, and running off down the river toward the burning Mill.   Kambei rushes after Kikuchiyo along the river bank.  Nearing the burning Mill, Kikuchiyo stops in his tracks. Crying of a child heard off screen. Struggling midstream a woman appears, carrying a child. Kikuchiyo rushes forward and asks, "Where are your menfolk?"  Kambei is not far behind.  The Water Mill blazes behind them.  The agonized woman sways precariously, hands her child to Kikuchiyo, and falls forward, revealing a spear in her back.  Kambei is amazed by the "willpower" that enabled the dying woman to get this far, and urges Kikuchiyo to go back with him.  When Kikuchiyo, baby in his arms, does not immediately follow, Kambei turns and asks him, "What's the matter?"  Kikuchiyo:  "This baby.  It's me!  The same thing happened to me!" [Kurosawa screenplay, 178]. He sobs, holding the child tightly. Low angle shot of the burning Mill, the water wheel still turning; Night has fallen.

24. NIGHT SKIRMISH [Kurosawa screenplay, 178-184]
24.a Later that same Night:
--Eastern defense [at the dismantled Bridge]: Yohei, holding his spear, stares into the darkness, looks over the barricade, then fearfully back toward the camera.  In the foreground, sitting by the fire surrounded by his men, Kikuchiyo is jumpy. The third time he jumps up, he grabs a flaming log, throws it over the barricade, and illuminates several Bandits stealthily crossing the river.  Caught by the temporary firebrand, the Bandits rush the barricade. Shouting at his men to ready themselves, Kikuchiyo cuts down a Bandit on top of the barricade, then jumps back down.  A farmer-defender calls Kikuchiyo's attention to a terrified-looking Yohei, holding onto the end of his spear.  Even as a contemptuous Kikuchiyo begins to snarl at Yohei, the camera reveals a skewered Bandit on the end of Yohei's spear. 
Cut to . . .
--Western Barricade [defense of approach from the Hills]: Bandits are repelled by Shichiroji and his men, who manage to kill two more of the attacking Bandits.
Cut to . . .
--Southern defense - the Flooded Fields: Medium shot of another group of farmers battling Bandits. Rikichi, engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the water, fights furiously.  Approaching Kambei and Katsushiro watch the battle and see an unrecognizable Rikichi killing a bandit.  When an admiring Kambei compliments the defender and asks who he is, he responds: "I am Rikichi."  WIPE.

24.b Crouching over the map, Kambei crosses off six more circles drawn at the edge of the map--i.e. six more bandits killed at the battle of the flooded field.  Kambei observes:  "They attacked from three different places [West, South, & East], yet we drove them all back."   Walking with Kyuzo and Gorobei down the avenue leading towards the forest [North]: "Next time, it will probably be here.  Maybe not tonight, but they'll come."  Peering into the darkness, Kyuzo: "It seems quiet enough." Squatting by the fire, Kambei: "I know, but that's where they are, all right.  I'll show you." [Kurasawa screenplay 181-182]

24.c Medium shot of deserted village square: Katsushiro approaches carrying a stuffed suit of samurai armor, then stops and stares off-screen. Shino is there, runs toward Katsushiro, then stops.  Katsushiro takes a few steps toward her, then with a worried frown runs past her toward the fire and waiting Kambei.  Shino stares mournfully after the departing Katsushiro.

24.d When Katsushiro reaches the fire, Kambei approves of Katsushiro's decoy and instructs him to carry it down the avenue through the trees and prop up the suit of stuffed armor behind a large tree trunk.  The decoy looks life-like in gloom.  Katsushiro winces as first one, then a second shot from the forest hit the decoy.  He quickly lowers it and carries it back to Kambei.  The Bandits have betrayed their position: Kambei has indeed shown that they are assembled out there in the forest.  Kambei: "They'll probably attack here in the morning.  We'll let them in."  Kambei laughs, addressing the village men reassuringly: "But not all at once!"  Kambei explains his plan to let one or two Bandits through, cut them off by closing the spearline, trap the isolated bandits helpless, and then "get them one by one."  [Kurasawa screenplay 182-183] 
Gorobei (Kambei's second in command) voices his worry about the Bandits' guns: "We've got to find a way to get rid of them too."  When Rikichi eagerly volunteers to go and get one, Kyuzo intervenes: "No, you won't. . . . I will," and Kyuzo runs off into the darkness. Kambei prevents Katsushiro from following his hero Kyuzo. [Kurasawa screenplay 182-183]  WIPE

25. THE SECOND BATTLE [Kurosawa screenplay, 184-194]
Dawn, the next day:
. . . . [Notes incomplete, sorry! ]
Kyuzo: "Killed two." [Kurosawa screenplay, 185]

Kurosawa, Akira.  Seven Samurai.  Trans. Donald Keene. 1970.  Seven Samurai and Other
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          Tsuchiya. Toho Co. Ltd., 1954.  DVD. David Ehrenstein, DVD Liner Notes. Janus Criterion
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