Kambei Shimada Quotes in Seven Samurai (1954)

Kikuchiyo: What do you think of farmers? You think they're saints? Hah! They're foxy beasts! They say, "We've got no rice, we've no wheat. We've got nothing!" But they have! They have everything! Dig under the floors! Or search the barns! You'll find plenty! Beans, salt, rice, sake! Look in the valleys, they've got hidden warehouses! They pose as saints but are full of lies! If they smell a battle, they hunt the defeated! They're nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! God damn it all!

[He hurls a handful of arrows into the wall]

Kikuchiyo: But then who made them such beasts? You did! You samurai did it! You burn their villages! Destroy their farms! Steal their food! Force them to labour! Take their women! And kill them if they resist! So what should farmers do?

[Kikuchiyo sinks to his knees, and begins to sob uncontrollably]

Kikuchiyo: Damn... damn... damn... damn...

[Kambei unfolds his arms and looks down at the palms of his hands]

Kambei Shimada: [Quietly, after a long pause] You were the son of a farmer, weren't you?

Kambei Shimada: Go to the north. The decisive battle will be fought there.

Gorobei Katayama: Why didn't you build a fence there?

Kambei Shimada: 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.

Kambei Shimada: So. Again we are defeated.

[Shichiroji looks puzzled at Kambei]

Kambei Shimada: The farmers have won. Not us.

Kambei Shimada: This is the nature of war: By protecting others, you save yourselves. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself.

Kambei Shimada: Danger always strikes when everything seems fine.

[on taking Katsushiro as a student]

Kambei Shimada: You embarrass me. You're overestimating me. Listen, I'm not a man with any special skill, but I've had plenty of experience in battles; losing battles, all of them. In short, that's all I am. Drop such an idea for your own good.

Katsushiro: No Sir, my decision has been made. I'll follow you sir.

Kambei Shimada: I forbid it. I can't afford to take a kid with me.

Kambei Shimada: Train yourself, distinguish yourself in war... But time flies. Before your dream materializes, you get gray hair. By that time your parents and friends are dead and gone.

[Kambei is considering the farmer's offer]

Kambei Shimada: It's impossible.

Katsushiro: Sir! Why not arm them with...?

Kambei Shimada: I thought of that, too.

Katsushiro: But sir.

Kambei Shimada: [pointedly] This would not be a game. A band of forty bandits! Two or three "samurai" could accomplish nothing. Defense is harder than offense. Mountains in the back of the village?

Rikichi: Yes!

Kambei Shimada: Can horses get over them?

Rikichi: Yes!

Kambei Shimada: Fields in front. The village is wide open to horsemen... until the fields are flooded. One guard for each direction takes four. Two more as a reserve. You'll need at least... seven, including me.

Kikuchiyo: [in a drunken stupor] Oh, it's you, is it? I remember your head. You had the nerve to ask me if I was a samurai. Didn't you? I never forget a face. Look, though I'm dressed in rags, I'm a real samurai, all right. Here. I'm going to show you something. Just look at this.

[He clumsily fumbles around in his robe, and presents a scroll from inside it]

Kikuchiyo: There, just you look at this. It's been handed down in my family for generations and generations. And you asked me if I were a samurai! Look at this, just look at this! That's me right there.

[Unrolls it and points randomly to a part of the scroll]

Kambei Shimada: Kikuchiyo, born on 17 February, the Second Year of Tensho.

[He suddenly bursts out laughing]

Kikuchiyo: What's so funny?

Kambei Shimada: You don't look thirteen!

Kambei Shimada: You said he'd be a treasure in hard times. The hard times have only just begun.

Kikuchiyo: Blasted samurai...

[He falls asleep on the straw and starts snoring profusely]

Katsushiro: Is he really a samurai?

Kambei Shimada: Only in his mind.

Gorobei Katayama: How did you fare?

Kambei Shimada: We let a good fish get away. An excellent swordsman.

Gorobei Katayama: [laughs] They say the fish that gets away looks bigger than it really is.

Gorobei Katayama: The threshing's done and still no bandits. Everyone's saying they might not come after all.

Kambei Shimada: A tempting thought. But when you think you're safe is precisely when you're most vulnerable.

Kambei Shimada: We will engage the decisive battle. Fight bravely, Katsushiro... because you now are a real man!

[All the peasants laugh]

[Kikuchiyo helps Kambei carry the body of the wife away, while he holds the infant]

Kambei Shimada: Let's go!

[He looks back at Kikuchiyo, who is standing in the middle of the river, stunned]

Kambei Shimada: Damn it, what it is it now?

[Kikuchiyo suddenly sinks to his knees, cradling the child]

Kikuchiyo: This baby... It's me. This is just what happened to me!

[He sobs]

Gorobei Katayama: Where shall we start our patrol?

Kambei Shimada: The spot that worries us the most, of course.

[Kambei and Gorobei arrive at a campfire near one of the roads, and find Kikuchiyo lying on the ground, his head propped up against a log and his feet resting on another log. He is supposed to be on guard, but is sound asleep. His sword is stuck upright in a pile of logs. Softly Kambei comes forward and takes the sword away. The two hide behind a straw hut. Gorobei throws a rock, which wakes Kikuchiyo with a start. Kikuchiyo scrambles to the pile where his sword had been]

Kikuchiyo: Who's there?

[He feels around for the sword, only to find it gone. He grabs a log from the pile and brandishes it]

Kikuchiyo: Who's there? Come on out!

Kambei Shimada: Kikuchiyo.

[Kikuchiyo whirls around to see Kambei and Gorobei standing behind him]

Kambei Shimada: You're lucky it was us. If it had been the bandits...

[He tosses Kikuchiyo his confiscated Nodachi]

Kambei Shimada: ... You'd be looking for your head.

[Kikuchiyo sinks down to his knees by the fire. He is so ashamed he can't speak]