1. Amanda Okazaki
Senior Seminar (Period 7)
March 7, 2012
Rashomon Essay
The story told in the film Rashomon, a 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is both
simple and yet at the same time complex, depending on the way the audience‟s
knowledge serves to make conclusions. The way one perceives the information told
throughout the different versions of the story serves as their own personal reality of
the truth. When first watched, many different conclusions can be made upon the first
examination, which create controversy of what the „real‟ resolution or truth is. This
Japanese film revealsa primitive setting, which addresses the main plot and four
different accounts of how the death of a samurai takes place. The Woodcutter, The
Bandit, The Wife, and The Samurai all reveal their accounts of what took place,
which are notably different from each other, and yet they all tell some forms of the
„truth‟. The differences in the stories produce uncertainty and complications, which
allow the audience to analyze and to make up their own opinions to what they believe
to be the truth. In the end, the film does not indicate which recount of the story is true,
so the audience is left to ponder, as each account is depicted and equally realistic.
In regards toward two men who have reviewed Rashomon; Roger Ebert a film
critic and Errol Morris a filmmaker, they show to opposing views on the concepts of
truth and reality in this film. Errol Morris believes there is a single version of the
truth, and that all others are illusory or fabricated. For his interpretation to be applied
correctly to the film, it would mean that everyone perceives the same reality and
shares the same information, at the same degree of depth. He is claiming to have
knowledge that there is a single truth, which agrees with Plato‟s theories. Truth and
reality are both independent of the observations of people, and are therefore absolute
and objective. On the other side of the spectrum of truth and reality, where Ebert
stands, is based more so on human interpretations. Perception bias concept is
impossible for humans to recall events that happened without a combination of their
own interpretation. Human beings tend to think that they reflect truth when they in
fact they more or less introduce their own version of reality into their life. He also
feels that emotion is an essential factor that influences human‟s interpretation of

2. reality and how they perceive truth. People have different perspectives, and
interpretation toward the reality, which suggests that the truth is subjective, and there
is no singular universal truth.
Ebert‟s views in relation to Rashomonare that each character is telling the truth
of how the Samurai was murdered. In his film review Ebert states that, “People should
suspect the reality even what they think they have seen.”Even though all the characters
may be exaggerating, it is still the truth of how they perceived the event of the
murder. The most convincing way of knowing which is used is perception, Ebert‟s
analysis is most applicable as the four separate accounts are equally convincing when
the audience first is exposed to them. Without additional information, the observer is
forced into making a decision without a clear story because it is assumed that as they
are in court they have been sworn to the truth. Distinguishing what seems to be true
and the actual truth can be solved by testimony, however in the case of Rashomon we
can not always take the face value of what the witnesses are saying as they are not all
credible as each of the events is not completely confirmed by another recollection of
the story.
The context and expectations the audience has of who the killer was will also
shape our own perceptions. Each character in the film has a different background, the
way they are perceived is part of the context we view them in. Judgments are made
without us being consciously aware, and these affect the expectations and the way the
characters speak of the murder in their own way, how their selective perception plays
a role in the unconscious mind enhances the perception of the event as the story of the
murder is retold. The perception bias concept is impossible for humans to recall
events that happened without a combination of their own interpretation. Personal
perception bias can shape and change the way we individually see an event, which is
way the recollection of an event may not be the same as someone else‟s, it depends on
what your attention was focused towards, this will adorn your own memory of what
happened. Human beings tend to think that they reflect truth when they actually
introduce their own version of reality.Our expectation plays an important role in
shaping our perception; because we know the bandit has a history of crime, we
assume that he is the one most likely to be responsible to be the killer. The culture and
lifestyle of the wife seems fragile and naïve, she believes she has killed her husband
because her danger was in his body when she retold her story. The woodcutter being

3. witness only is narrating the story of what he believed he saw. The samurai tells the
story through his possessed wife‟s body, watching his wife‟s actions, he feels his and
her reputation is gone so he kills himself out of dishonor by his wife.
The mental map we all have inside us is shaped by our beliefs; these are
another factor in what influence our perception and the truth. Our beliefs affect the
way and what we see. Being a personal form of our reality that includes our ideas of
what we know to be true and what is false, what is reasonable and what is not. Being
internal, only we can personally know what we consider to be right and what we think
is wrong. Belief is held to the individual and represents ourselves, it helps us become
aware of where we stand in a situation, in the case of Rashomon it allows the
audience to understand the characters in more depth.
Emotion is avitalinfluence that affects human‟s interpretation of reality and
how they perceive truth. People have different perspectives, interpretation towards the
reality, which suggests that truth is subjective, and there is no singular universal truth.
“Four testimonies that do not match. It is human nature to listen to witnesses and
decide who is telling the truth.” This technique is used very day, we use common
sense and our ability to interoperate to form opinions and perception, which inevitably
leads us to form knowledge. Emotion is also an essential factor in shaping perception,
the stronger the emotional bond between you and the subject creates more selectivity,
you will tend to focus more so on what you find to be reality. “Human beings are
unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about
themselves without embellishing.” Being stubborn is a trait all humans hold, we like
to think we know better than each other, which leads to misinterpreted information or
experiences and ideas which have been filtered.
Our perception can be defined and enhanced by our senses; it is what keeps us
connected to everything around our mind, the outside world and us, all linked as one.
Ebert‟s views on perception are that people have different perspectives, and
interpretation toward the reality, which suggests that the truth is subjective, and there
is no singular universal truth.Human interpretations are internal and the truth is how
we see it to be, it accommodates to all our perceptions capabilities. In Rashomon,
Kurosawa gives an interesting role to the audience, as he gives us the task of trying to
determine whom the actual murderer is thus revealing the truth. Unable to deduct who

4. it is through the given information, there audience is made to recognize that there is
no actual objective truth and results in the acceptance of all the characters having their
stories considered truth.
Words Cited
Lagemaat van de, Richard. Theory of Knowledge for the IB diploma.Cambridge
University Press 2005. Textbook.
Ebert, Roger. Chicago Suns-Times.Rashomon
(1950).<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020526
/REVIEWS08/205260301/1023>.Web.