長期以來，武士電影被視為典型的曰本電影，所呈現的指是千篇一律的意 象、情節和人物等結構元素，用以傳播犧牲、奉獻與忠誠的武士信念，維護曰本 社會安於現狀的心態。然而，若深入探究武士電影類型定義元素的演變，我們不 難發現，這些類型元素不斷面臨檢驗，而批判性的思維也時有所見，反覆檢討武 士規範所承載的社會政治議題。事實上，武士是日本歷史上的特權階級。所謂的 武士道教條是德川幕府加以系統化編纂，其目的在於鞏固政府對封建藩族以及所 屬藩士的控制。而後，歷史上真實的武士逐漸形成一個官僚體系。但是，武士的 形像與信念卻在藝術的表述中一再被美化，終致昇華到神話的層次。因此，資深 導演山田洋次嘗試執導武士電影，創作了《黃昏清兵衛》、《隱劍鬼爪》與《武士 的一分》，探討幕末時期武士真實的生活面貌；在這武士三部曲中，他以低階武 士為主角，有別於過去典型的武士形像。山田以動盪的幕末時期比喻當代日本社 會，而將武士視為掙扎於一個壓迫性體制的公務人員；這些人始終生活於困境之 中。因此，本文不僅將就武士電影史上不同的英雄形像，以及所傳遞的概念，探 討武士類型的演化，進而從歷史評論的角度詮釋山田洋次所描繪的歷史時空與非 典型的武士形像。

The samurai film has long been considered a typical Japanese genre with cookie-cutter images, plots and characters whereby the presupposed samurai ideals of sacrifice, devotion and loyalty are promulgated to uphold the status quo of the Japanese society. Nevertheless, probing into the defining elements reflected in the long history of the genre, one can see that they have been constantly reexamined and that critical thinking more often than not turned up to ruminate over the sociopolitical issues adhered to the samurai code. The samurai, in effect, were of a privileged class rooted in historical actuality. The so-called Bushido tenets were mandated by the Tokugawa bakuju to strengthen its reign over the feudal territorial clans and their retainers. The historical samurai gradually formed a bureaucratic order. The samurai image and beliefs, however, had been embellished repeatedly in artistic representations and sublimated to the level of myth. Veteran director Yamada Yoji tried his hand at the samurai genre and created samurai trilogy, Tasogare seibei, Kakushi ken oni no tsume and B^shi no ichib^^ with low-rung samurai as the protagonists in contrast to the typical heroes in the previous samurai films. Yamada likens the turbulent bakumatsu period to contemporary Japanese society and sees the samurai not as warriors but as functionaries struggling in an oppressive system, who are always pathetic in one way or another. This essay, then, will deal with not only the evolution of the samurai genre in terms of the disparate samurai images along with certain concepts of them but also Yamada5s approach to the historical realities and his conception of the atypical samurai image from a historiographical perspective.