Character Study of the Bandit from Rashomon

The Bandit: Tajomaru (Rashomon 1950)

The movie Rashomon explores human weaknesses and truth. A work of brilliance,

it presented a sordid and dismal tale of rape and murder, involving complex

characters with many different layers. One of the most intriguing characters that

played a pivotal role in the sequence of events was the notorious bandit named

Tajomaru. Tajomaru, as the story portrayed, was an infamous bandit of the time.

He feared none and was unstoppable when it came to acquiring the object of his

desire.

The movie introduces the bandit to us in the court, where he has been captured

and presented to the authorities. At that moment he seemed disconnected with

reality before finally beginning to recite his own tale. We shall now deconstruct

the Bandit, Tajomaru.

Tajomaru was well built, wore the bare essentials of clothing and had an unkempt

look to him. His appearance resembled that of an ogre (a large, cruel, monstrous

and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore and fiction). He

was the epitome of evil.

The Bandit’s representation of himself:

The bandit was the first to recount the story or rather his skewed perspective of

it. As he recounted the events of that fateful day, his eyes glistened with madness

which was echoed in, and matched only, by his own maniacal laughter. This gave

us a glimpse of his general lack of sympathy. He showed no remorse and rather

seemed unrepentant and even boastful of his deeds. He was a man whose

conscience seemed to have forsaken him long back.

The bandit, in his version, said that he had been drifting off to sleep in the forest

as the samurai passed him by with his wife on horseback. Here the power laid

with the bandit as the samurai awaited signs of aggression, the lack of which

urged the samurai to carry on treading down the road. The Bandit mentions that

it was a breeze that brought his attention on to the magnificence of the bride as it

brushed aside her kimono