Assessing Kirosawa's Seven Samurai Movie by Using the Sunzi's Victory Temple Methodology

(updated on 1.25.16)

An associate recently saw Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and asked us to review the strategy used by film by utilizing the  Sunzi's Victory Temple assessment strategy.

I do not think any one of us could written a superior review compared to the New York Times. Click here for that film review..

“Before the contest, the successful strategists resolve in their operations room (temple) that they will be victorious, have determined that the majority of factors are in their favor. … If those who find that the majority of factors favor them, will be victorious.  … When observing from this viewpoint, victory and defeat will be apparent.” 

- Art of War 1 (Paraphrased from the Sawyer's translation) 

Is it that simple to know what factors are in play?


Assessing the Possibility of Victory "Those who excel in warfare contend for advantage with others only after determining through temple calculations that they will be successful. Attacking the rebellious and embracing the distant, toppling the lost and solidifying the extant and uniting the weak and attacking the benighted are all manifestations.  The interior and exterior becoming estranged, as in the case of the Shang and Chou armies, is what is referred to as having determined victory through temple calculations before engaging  in combat.  

According to T'ai-yi Tun-chia assessment method, anything above sixty a majority, anything below sixty is  a minority.  ... In all these  cases, victory and defeat are easily seen. "      
- Li Quan's  T'ai-pai Yin-ching

# The Factors

The "Evolving Technology" Factor 
Technology always evolves. Strategic situation changes.  Man must adjust to it. One should never be a victim of the latest technology.

All four dead samurai(s) were eradicated by gunfire not by bladeplay.

The "Reward and Punishment" Factor
It is not a good idea for a skilled and reputable contractor to work for a meal of minimum value (a bowl of rice).

The farmers and Kambei had a difficult time to recruit "alpha class" contractors (samurai) for a "rice bowl" expedition. The only samurai who had alpha-class combat (sword) skill was Kyuzo while Kambei Shimada possessed tangible strategic experience .

The "Team Unity" Factor
When the farmers and the other samurai(s) believed in the plan, they became unified on defeating the bandits.

The "Experience" Factor
Regardless of the "extensive" combat training to any of the farmers, "relevant" field experience counts.

The "Near-Perfect Planning" Factor
When operating under a rice bowl budget, all planned strategic moves must never be useless and no implemented tactical steps are deployed in vain.

Knowing the "Tactical Specifics" Factor 
Knowing the configuration of the terrain and the opposition's motives and the methods usually determines the tactical specifics of each combating strategist.

(Kambei Shimada, the leader of the Seven Samurai, spent a great deal of time understanding the configuration of the client's terrain before developing the strategy of molding the terrain to their advantage.)

The "Attack and Defense" Factor 
The best defense is a good counter offense. Regardless of the terrain, one does not constantly play the "defending by preventing" game. View each of the battles carefully and you might understand this lesson.

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

The "Survival of the Fittest" Factor 
Going from square one of a "chaotic" campaign to its final endpoint in "one piece" is always a grind.  The "Survival of the Fittest" principle prevails for those who are smart and tough.

The "Happy Client" Factor 
The victory of any strategic situation always belong to the client not to the consulting contractors. In most instances, the surviving contractors usually move on to the next project. (Look at the last scene.)

Kambei Shimada: So. Again we are defeated.
[Shichiroji looks puzzled at Kambei]
Kambei Shimada: The farmers have won. Not us.


The "Contradiction" Factor
Regardless of the numbers game and the terrain that favored the villagers, the bandits had the advantage of the technology (firearms), the battle experience and the horses.

Understanding the contradictions that were operating within a strategic situation usually enables the experienced strategist to gain a better perspective of whether a strategic advantage can be developed.

The "Professional Experience" Factor 
(A lesson from the "Kambei Shimada" character) One climbs the economic-social food chain by not being on the losing side of a competition regardless of the quantity of quality experience

Learning How to Assess a Chaotic Situation From a Classic Samurai Movie (Sanjuro)

(updated on 05.05.14, 5:55 hrs)

Kurosawa's Sanjuro is a very good movie for those who are interested in learning how to assess (or read) a situation in terms of its configuration. 

Abstract 

Toshiro Mifune plays Sanjuro, a ronin who saves a group of young samurai from being slaughtered by a high political official and then began to mentor them on possessing the right set of information before consummating any strategic decision. (The storyline is slightly more complex than what is being described here.)

Throughout the movie,  he indirectly advised them to do the following steps: 

• Assess their situation patiently with the tangible truth; 
• Sort through the information; and 
• Act on rational logic not on emotional impulse. 

This grand lesson was repeated many times.

Scenes From the Movie

• Board meeting
• Just Giving Me Some Money
• Staking Out the Enemy
• Three Cats and A Tiger
• Two Unsheathed Swords

In each of the mentioned scenes, he assisted the samurais on identifying their objective with the given information, instead of pursuing a objective without zero information by constantly reminding them to patiently study the configuration of each situation by focusing on a set of particular factors and items before concluding a decision.

Throughout the movie, Sanjuro  almost always made quality decisions- except for the choice of the Komyo Temple for his story and the picking of the flowers at the wrong time (for the purpose of signaling his group of samurai to raid the targeted house). 

At the near conclusion of this movie, this group of novice samurai finally learned the lesson of making good strategic decisions by being self-patient. 

The Dao of Decision Management 
There are a few good lessons for the budding chief decision makers: 

Self Control

Mutsuta's wife: You're too sharp. That's your trouble. You're like a drawn sword. Sharp, naked without a sheath. You cut well. But good swords are kept in their sheaths. 

Gathering Intelligence 

Sanjuro emphasized the lesson of gathering and assessing information. 

Instead of vaulting into an uncertain tactical situation, the smart strategist must ensure that he/she have the right set of information before ever concluding a tangible decision.

Diverting and Deceiving

There were also a few good examples of misdirection ("divert to deceive" tactics) in this movie. Each example begins with the chief decision makers who are operating with incomplete information..

A Compass Insight 
Whenever, one is not focused  on their current task-objective while not being mindful of their setting and beyond, the probability of errors will definitely rise.

In a chaotic setting, remember that good swords are kept in their sheaths

Minor Jotting
                            

Source 

Sugino is the man with a beard who trained Toshiro Mifune in the way of the sword for the movie Yojimbo and  Sanjuro.

# # # 

How to Assess Your Strategic Situation (via a Classic Samurai Movie)

Kurosawa's Sanjuro is a very good movie for those who are interested in learning how to assess (or read) a situation in terms of its specifics. 

Toshiro Mifune plays Sanjuro, a ronin who saves a group of young samurai from being slaughtered by a high political official and then began to mentor them on having the right set of information before any decision is consummated.     (The story is slightly more complex than what is being described here.)

Throughout the movie,  he indirectly advised them to patiently assess their situation on the tangible truth and sort through the information. Do not act on emotional impulse. This act of mentoring was repeated many times.

At the near conclusion of this movie, this group of novice samurai learned the lesson of being self-patient. 

Sanjuro almost always made good decisions- except for the choice of the Komyo Temple for his story and the picking of the flowers at the wrong time (for the purpose of signaling his group of samurai to raid the targeted house).  
Compass Rule
Whenever, one is not focused  on their objective while not being mindful of their setting and beyond, the probability of errors will definitely rise.

The Dao of Decision Management 
From this movie, the best lesson for budding chief decision makers comes from these two quotes 

Mutsuta's wife: You're too sharp. That's your trouble. You're like a drawn sword. Sharp, naked without a sheath. You cut well. But good swords are kept in their sheaths. 

Sanjûrô Tsubaki: He was exactly like me. A naked sword. He didn't stay in his sheath.

The Analysis of the Above Video
Before the first move, Sanjuro mindfully assessed that the drawing the second move (his first move)  of the match would be more effective than his opponent's capability was too slow and the execution of the opponent's second move would not work. He mindfully positioned ahead with a tactical move that was a hybrid of two intents:  1.  The execution of his first move with his left hand as soon as the opponent began his first move.  2.  The continuation of that draw by leading with his body while cutting deeply into the opponent's body while avoiding the opposing strike.  (Our martial arts associates at Cook Ding's Kitchen referred this movement as intercepting.) 

Click here to watch the entire movie and you will understand the events that lead to those quotes. 

Food For Thought

In practice, never a useless move. 
In operation, no motion is wasted.  

- The Compass Strategist

Comments from the Compass Desk

How does the decision management process of this movie reflected to our 21st century information economy?

Because of the pseudo transparency and the moderate levels of deception,  some people usually glossed over the configuration of their Big Tangible Picture and occasionally misunderstand the risk consequences of their own situation.  Another words, they do not connect the dots.

This decision management action originates from their urge for immediate gratification.  Look around you. People do this all the time.  They erred. Somehow they get away with it with some level of damage. (We know the reason behind their action.)

To prevail, the successful strategists always calmly assessed the configuration of their situation and the quality of intelligence before deciding on anything. They rarely operates on his impulsiveness.

Note on the Compass Process Model
Fwiw, our process model is so scaleable that it enables the strategist to adjust to the tangibility of the situation.   This model success is based on the implementer's capability to properly execute it. We will talk more about it in a future post.

Q: Do you know how to increase your level of assessment when the complexity of the situation grows?  Without a process model, are you willing to grind it out?

#
Side note
"Intercepting" is a mindful strategic action that requires its implementer to assess the configuration of the Big Tangible Picture (BTP) and to capitalizes on the on-coming opportunity with the right efficient moves.  Fwiw, this concept is indirectly emphasized in the Art of War, the Jiang Tai Gong's Six Secret Teachings and the Li Quan's book.