Characters in Ran

This article is about characters in the Akira Kurosawa film Ran.

Cast of characters
Hidetora Ichimonji

(Tatsuya Nakadai) Head of the Ichimonji clan and the protagonist of Ran. According to Hidetora, he was born in the Third Castle at a time when the land was bathed in constant warfare. At age seventeen he somehow inherited control of his domain and began his wars of conquest. For fifty years he fought to unify the plains area, murdering the families of Lady Kaeda, Lady Sue, and Tsurumaru (whose eyes he had gouged out to prevent him from becoming a threat in the future). Around his mid-sixties he finally unified his province and began fighting Ayabe and Fujimaki. At the start of the film, the three warlords have just come together to sign a peace treaty when Hidetora decides to abdicate his position. It proves to be a fatal mistake. Lady Kaeda gradually persuades Taro to banish Hidetora from his castle, and Jiro attempts to put him under arrest. Finally, Hidetora flees to the Third Castle, where Jiro and Taro besiege him. Killing all his retainers, Hidetora is left to die in the burning building. At this point Hidetora went insane and fled the castle. He was found by Tango and Kyomi, who tried to hide him from Jiro. Eventually Hidetora was tracked down by Saburo and was being escorted to safety when Saburo was assassinated. Overcome with grief, Hidetora died while weeping over Saburo's body.

Taro Takatora
Akira Terao

Hidetora's eldest son to whom Hidetora entrusted the First Castle and owndership of all his land, represented by the color yellow. He calmly agrees to Hidetora's decision to unequally split the land to his three sons (most of which would go to himself, Taro). During his reign, all his choices were influenced by his wife, Lady Kaede. He was murdered by Kurogane, one of Jiro's advisors who shot Taro in the back while he watched the Third Castle burn and then lied about it to get Jiro into the position of Great Lord.

Jiro Masatora
Jinpachi Nezu

Hidetora's second son, represented by the color red. He advised Hidetora to rethink his decision to leave most of his lands to Taro, but was not impertinent. After accepting Taro's death without the blink of an eye, he assumed the title of Great Lord and divorced his wife Lady Sué to marry Taro's widow Lady Kaede. Lady Kaede proceeded to corrupt Jiro in the same way she corrupted Taro: she ordered Lady Sué to be beheaded and taunted him about being too scared to launch war against his brother Saburo. Jiro presumably dies in the battle against Lord Ayabe and Lord Fujimaki. (Even if he didn't, the ensuing final battle left the Ichimonji power permanently vanguished anyway.)

Saburo Naotora
Daisuke Ryu

Hidetora's youngest son, represented by the color blue. He forcefully disagreed with Hidetora's decision to leave most of the land to Taro, arguing that if Hidetora built his empire on bloodshed and treachery then there was no way he could expect his three sons to be loyal to him and to one another. After this outburst, he was promptly exiled, and his castle, Third Castle, was abandoned by his army. Saburo is absent from much of the movie until the final scenes when he comes back from exile to peacefully rescue his father. However, Jiro, influenced by Lady Kaede, orders him to be assassinated. Unfortunately, the murder occurs just after Hidetora and Saburo reconcile.

Lady Kaede
Mieko Harada

First the wife of Taro, then of Jiro, she was the daughter of a lord that was diposed by Hidetora. In fact, her hereditary castle is the same one used by Taro. She is a combination of Lady Macbeth, Iago from Othello, and a femme fatale, and carries out a plan of revenge against the Ichimonji clan by destroying it from within. Her plan is successful in the end, but she doesn't live to enjoy it, as she was killed by Kurogane when her intentions became clear at the very end of the film.

Lady Sué
Yoshiko Miyazaki

Sué is the antithesis of Kaede. Like Kaede, she was also the daughter of a former rival clan leader. She was wife of Jiro, but subsequently Hidetora wiped out her family's clan, killing everyone in her family except her and her younger brother Tsurumaru who was only a child at that time (see Tsurumaru below). However, unlike the vengeful Kaede, Sué turned her self into Buddhism. At the start of the film time, she was already separated from Jiro (though not divorced), and virtually living alone as a Buddhist, with only her old nanny with her. Hidetora seemed to show a certain pity on her. After Kaede became wife of Jiro later in the film, Sué was in peril for her life. The first assassin, Kurogane, took pity on her as well, and made her runaway. However, at the very end of the film, subsequent assassins sent by Kaede finally took her life.

Shuri Kurogane
Hisashi Igawa

Jiro's personal servant, albeit seen as a treacherous villain (whom advice Jiro to kill his brother Taro, and also banish his own father Hidetora). There is some honor within him, for example when he was reluctant to kill Lady Sué and also he is against Lady Kaede manipulative schemings.

He is assumed to have been killed together with Jiro during the final battle in the first castle at the end of the film.

Name kurogane (black iron) means steel in Japanese.

Kyoami

Compared to Shakespear's King Lear, Kyoami is the fool.

Hidetora's personal Jester and entertainer, he followed his lord Hidetora to the bitter end of the movie. Albeit he planned to abandon his lord numerous time during their hiding, however he couldn't leave his lord due to loyalty. He witnessed the death of Saburo and Hidetora.

"God! Are you so bored that you enjoy seeing us human suffer?! Why can't you let this poor man live happily with his son! What kind of God are you crushing us like ants?!" - Kyoami

Tango Hirayama
Masayuki Yui

An able and brave general whom used to serve lord Hidetora and also loyal to Saburo. Hidetora had him banished together with Saburo after Tango defended him, he went to Fujimaki Clan together with Saburo. During the final of the film he personally commanded an army and won a major victory against Jiro's army while Saburo was rescuing Hidetora, however he also witnessed Saburo and Hidetoras death.

"Stop blaspheme! Don't you think the God been weeping for us?! The Gods has already wept for us since the beginning of humanity! Instead of love we choose death and destruction! We even celebrate murder!" - Tango (after witnessing Saburo and Hidetoras death).

Kageyu Ikoma
Kazuo Kato

Shumenosuke Ogura
Norio Matsui

Mondo Naganuma
Toshiya Ito

Samon Shirane
Kenji Kodama

Takashi Watanabe

Tsurumaru
Mansai Nomura

Lady Sue's blind younger brother who lived as a hermit in the countryside. His eyes were put out by Hidetora in the past, and he plays a flute.

Koyata Hatakeyama

Takeshi Katô

Seiji Ayabe
Jun Tazaki

A rival warlord to Hidetora. He appears in the opening hunt sequence, and offers to marry his daughter to Saburo, but retracts this offer after the incident which leaves Saburo banished. Though his personage does not appear for the rest of the film, towards the end his agency is made present (through his army, which bears his banner) when he uses a decoy tactic which lures Jiro into foolishly overextending his forces. It is implied that he takes control of the first castle and destroys what is left of the Ichimonji forces under Jiro and his generals.

Nobuhiro Fujimaki
Hitoshi Ueki

Like Ayabe, Fujimaki is a rival warlord to Hidetora who appears during the hunt sequence. He also offers to marry his daughter to Saburo. However, unlike Ayabe's, his offer is revealed to stand during a humorous scene directly following Saburo's banishment. Fujimaki was impressed by Saburo's courage and honesty, and offers to shelter him is his own domain. Later, he appears in support of Saburo's campaign to rescue Hidetora.

Ran
Ran

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