Following the White Fox: An Analysis of Tattooed Life
Ben D’Alessio

Suzuki Seijun combines his talents of cinematography and symbolism with his anarchic style of film-making to create a Yakuza epic: Tattooed Life (Irezumi Ichidai). Released in 1965 as Suzuki’s thirty-sixth film[1], it follows a pair of brothers on their journey to freedom, which they can only find in Manchuria. Although the film is only 87 minutes (which is short even for American films), Suzuki creates a microcosm of deception and love, meticulously creating every scene. Shot in color, Suzuki uses numerous colors to represent different characters. Red is recurrent throughout the film, representing danger for the protagonists. While Suzuki does not confine himself to any genre, Tattooed Life contains elements that can be found in film noir’s and Yakuza movies. In my analysis of the film, I will present multiple reasons for why Suzuki has a cult following and continues to produce avant-garde films that have audience’s begging for more aesthetically stimulating scenes.
The opening credits of the film are layered over shot after shot of ink-covered skin. Beautiful mural-like tattoos cover the bodies of Yakuza or gangsters; the film is aptly named Tattooed Life for this reason. In Yakuza culture, the tattooing of the skin or Irezumi[2] (insert ink) is extremely important. Yakuza tattoos are incredibly colorful and intricate, usually featuring some aspect of nature. Throughout the member’s life, tattoos are consistently applied until only the neck, face, hands, and feet are left un-inked. The application is done by hand rather than electronically or with a gun, which makes it an excruciatingly painful process. Yakuza members show their loyalty through their ink, and are proud of it. However, like any organized crime syndicate, betrayal is always right around the corner, which is where Tattooed Life begins.
The film takes place during the “Showa Era”, which has been categorized as the time period in which Emperor Hirohito ruled Japan. This period lasts from 1926-1989 (although for much of his reign he served as a figurehead only).[3] The film declares that the year is the “first of the Showa Era”, meaning it takes place in 1926. On the outskirts of Tokyo, our protagonist Tetsu, is in the process of fulfilling his orders to assassinate a Yakuza boss of a rival family. He is successful in his attempt, on his return to the Owada family (the family who hired him to carry out the hit), he is double-crossed and is almost killed. Tetsu’s younger brother Kenji, who happens to be in the area, intervenes and in the process kills Tetsu’s attacker. Kenji who is a talented artist with aspirations of going abroad to art-school does not share the same lifestyle as his older brother. Kenji is so shaken up by the murder that he exclaims to Tetsu that they must go to the police. Only after Tetsu shares the horrors of prison with Kenji, does Kenji change his mind. The two decide that their only option is to flee to Manchuria (also known as Northeast China). The brothers travel to a port town (no name given) located on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Escaping to Manchuria has become a commonality for bandits and murderers during this time, so Tetsu knows that they must be careful.
They meet a man named Yamano Senkichi in a bar, who promises them safe passage to Manchuria for 300 yen. Tetsu agrees to the deal, however the following morning, when the brothers arrive at the harbor to get on the boat they were promised, it never shows up. Tetsu seeks out the man who conned them, but he escapes via train, making out with their money. In order to make some money, Tetsu and Kenji join a tunnel construction crew which works for the Yamashita family, but only after Tetsu and the foreman engage in a fistfight. The fight ends in Tetsu earning the respect of the foreman and the crew. Once on the construction site, it is only a matter of time before the two brothers take a liking to a couple of the Yamashita women.
Midori, the young daughter of the Yamashita family, has a schoolgirl-like crush on the reserved and stern Tetsu. Kenji on the other hand, falls madly in love with Mrs. Yamashita, constantly begging to sculpt and draw pictures of her while being naked, which she allows. Midori even asks Tetsu why he never bathes with the other men, and that she wants to see him naked. Tetsu, who has not revealed his Yakuza past, cannot show any part of his body above his forearm in order to continue hiding his identity. Kenji, who has not been careful with his artwork, is found out by Mr. Yamashita. The pasts of the brothers begin to catch up with them as a recurring detective/cop with shiny red shoes has been snooping around the port, asking questions about the brother’s whereabouts. The tunnel that has been worked on throughout the film collapses, and given the shady nature of the brothers, they are immediately labeled the culprits. This puts even more heat on Tetsu to act. Tetsu realizes that if they do not leave for Manchuria soon, they will surely be caught. Kenji is incredibly resistant to leave Mrs. Yamashita, who he has fallen deeply in love with. Kenji will only leave if he can see Mrs. Yamashita one more time. On his visit, the conman from earlier in the film recognizes Kenji and chase him down. After he is captured he confesses to killing the Owada boss, and is then beaten, only to die in the arms of his brother. Tetsu, in a rage takes on the entire Owada and Kanbe families, in a spectacle of sword fighting. During this scene Tetsu finally reveals his namesake (the white fox), which is the tattoo encompassing his entire back. Tetsu, who fights valiantly, cannot defeat the entire enemy, and is eventually captured. In the final scene Tetsu buries Kenji on the beach as Midori watches. She tells him she will wait for him, and then he is lead off by a police officer into the horizon.
The story that Suzuki presents is shown with symbolism and a myriad of camera angles. Red and white play important parts in the film. Red, a universal color for violence, does not change its typical role for Tattooed Life. There is a close up on shiny red shoes five times throughout the film; the final time being two men wearing them. Right away the audience realizes that the man (and later men) wearing the shiny red shoes are detectives. The red symbolizes death constantly on the heels of the brothers. When Kenji is captured and beaten, a sea of red takes over any non-black parts of the screen; the same graphic is used when Tetsu engages in his final sword fight. Tetsu wears a white kimono, only taking it off to reveal a giant white fox tattooed on his back. Yakuza are known for living a life that will lead them to wear either red or white. White being the clothing they are buried in and red, being the color of the garb each member will wear in their inevitable time spent in prison. Color is not the only symbolism Suzuki uses to depict symbolism; water is a recurring image shown in different forms throughout the film.
Japan, being an island nation, has relied on the ocean and seas to proliferate life. Seijun does not give water any specific role in the film, instead water plays as a role of ambivalence. In Tattooed Life the Sea of Japan keeps Tetsu and Kenji from reaching freedom. When Tetsu fights the foreman to earn his stay at the tunnel site, they grapple and eventually fall into a pond, where Tetsu, being more athletic clearly has the advantage over the pudgy foreman, and wins the fight. In a scene when the detectives are chasing Kenji, he submerges himself in water to hide, buying himself more time to see Mrs. Yamashita. The final shot of the film, after Tetsu is being taken away by a police man, is that of crashing ocean waves; an image that shows the barrier between freedom and imprisonment. Throughout the film, Suzuki has the camera focus on a spinning waterwheel for a few seconds in between scenes. He does this for two reasons. The first reason is that water is ambivalent for the brothers and for Japan. Water helps Tetsu and Kenji in different ways throughout the film, but in the end, it is the reason that they cannot reach their destination. For Japan water is a source of food, transportation, and protection from foreign invasion, however it also is the source of great destruction in Tsunamis. The second reason that Suzuki places the shots of the waterwheel different times throughout the film is to bring the audience back to a medium from Suzuki’s often difficult plots to follow. Suzuki uses a variety of camera angles and scene styles to develop incredible mis-en-scene for the viewers.
Suzuki Seijun made forty films while working for the film company Nikkatsu from 1956-1967.[4] He was fired for making films that did not appeal to the general audience of Japan. Suzuki claims that he has “always made films for entertainment”[5], however he hated the assembly line style of movie making taking place at Nikkatsu, therefore his films usually appealed to a younger audience. Suzuki’s shots during Tattooed Life are often times unconventional. A few times the camera will be following a particular character, and then the camera will “become bored” with that character, and move onto another; this style was used frequently in Tanpopo by Itami Juzo. Suzuki also uses a shot that reminds me of the theater. For instance, the camera will be focused on a character or a group, then that group will “leave” the scene or “stage”, and another character or group will “enter” the scene. This was used to a perfection in Tattooed Life to show the constant hunt for the brothers by the detectives. The most “Suzuki-like” shots were all put together in the final 10-15 minutes of the movie: The Showdown.
Yakuza films generally had a showdown between the protagonist and the “bad guys” as the climax. During this fight scene swords (katanas) were often times the weapon of choice.[6] Tattooed Life does follow typical Yakuza criteria for the final showdown, however Suzuki would not make it so simple. The scene begins with Tetsu running into the house to fight either the “Owada or Kanbe family, it doesn’t matter”. He battles numerous Yakuza, and the camera is often times giving a bird’s eye view of the battle. The next camera angle can only be described as something that looks like a realistic “Super Mario Brothers” angle. Starting from the left side of the screen, Tetsu runs across the terrain battling henchmen, with the camera following him, keeping him in the center to center/left of the screen. As the rain begins to pour, Tetsu battles his way into the Yamashita house, fighting through the rice-paper walls, displaying magnificent swordplay. The most intense shot of the scene (which can be viewed on the jacket cover) is similar to a “Dutch-tilt”[7] shot from beneath the see-through floor of the home. Here the viewers can see battle-ready Tetsu, about to go head to head with a rival Yakuza member. In this battle Tetsu is stricken by a spear across his back, cutting his kimono in half, thus displaying a beautiful tattoo of a white fox. He does not have the strength to continue fighting and is captured.
Tattooed Life allows viewers to see the dark, non-lavish life of a Yakuza member. The audience cannot help but feel for Tetsu, a man who only wants a better life for his younger brother; who because of Tetsu’s lifestyle, must sacrifice his own dreams. Tetsu lives in constant regret for putting his brother through such troubles, and only wants to redeem himself. The film mixes love with obsession and pure violence with honor, at times distorting one from the other. Suzuki’s symbolism and cinematography add to an already enthralling storyline. The 1960’s were the “Golden Age of Yakuza films”[8] and Suzuki Seijun was the master of creating these films during this era. Suzuki’s Tattooed Life is a Yakuza film with the anarchic, surrealist aspects which make Suzuki such an influential director. His non-conformist style of cinematography allows his films to stay fresh and keeps audiences on the edge of their seat.
Works Cited

Miyao, Daisuke. Dark Visions of Japanese Film Noir. 2007.
Richie, Donald. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. 2005.
Schilling, Mark. The Yakuza Movie Book. 2003.
Sikov, Ed. Film Studies: An Introduction. 2010.
www.imdb.com/TattooedLife
www.wikipedia.com
[1] IMDB.com “Suzuki Seijun”
[2] Wikipedia “Irezumi”
[3] Wikipedia “Showa Era”
[4] Richie, 180.
[5] Miyao, 194.
[6] Schilling, 23.
[7] Sikov, 13.
[8] Schilling. 23.