Magatsu Izanagi
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The Connection Between Itachi and Samurai | Rōnin
Preface
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Preface
The following post was intended to be my contribution to a collaborative thread between a few other members, which never ended up seeing the light of day. Despite "retiring" from thread-making, I've decided to share this (for a few different reasons). You may find it to be very "short" coming from me, and that was exactly my intention: a small, to-the-point analysis of something I thought was interesting.
Please, enjoy
Please, enjoy
This scan is the very first "complete" image we get of Itachi, which already makes it a very significant and iconic panel (it takes up the whole page). In the ones we had seen prior to this point in the manga, he had his Akatsuki hat on and his cloak completely buttoned up, or was a mere silhouette.
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You may notice that his arm is tucked into the crease of his cloak. Now, back at this point, the Akatsuki robes only had one sleeve (shown clearly on this page here
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), so it was possible to dismiss this as a "cool pose" and not take it at more than face value. But that possibility became less probable after that was retconned (the robes now had two sleeves) and when he was shown again in this pose, when he meets Sasuke at the Uchiha Hideout in Part II, another highly significant panel (once again, occupying almost the entire page) where he sits in the throne. He continues to have his arm like this for a good portion of the dialogue with Sasuke before the actual fighting begins.
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Why is he not placing both his arms on the armrests? Why did he hold that pose for a long time? Kishi deliberately went out of his way to draw him like this on multiple occasions: and with good reason.
This arm-in-sleeve pose is actually an iconic pose that represents rōnin: masterless samurai. In the same way that cowboys are portrayed in American films and media by their big hats and boots, the arm-in-sleeve pose is a staple of rōnin in Japanese samurai films and other media. It was first popularized in the 1961 film Yōjimbo, which was highly influential in Japan.
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Additionally, for some extra emphasis, the straw hats that the Akatsuki wore during Part I and early Part II are a very common accessory for rōnin, both in actual history and Japanese media. They are often seen with it as the hat is meant to be for all types of weather, emphasizing that a rōnin is a wanderer, always travelling the land in all sorts of conditions.
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Now that the significance of this pose has been established, the next question is: why? Why did Kishimoto illustrate a deliberate association between Itachi and a rōnin? The answer lies in what truly defines a rōnin...
...in the same way that a rōnin was alone, discriminated against, and meant to suffer a great deal of shame and pain, so did Itachi. He led a life where he abandoned his honor, and everyone saw him as a traitor and a criminal. And actually, the fact that Konoha's elders and lords had a hand in orchestrating/condoning the massacre, transforming Itachi into a nukenin, parallels the way the feudal lords of Japan were the one who discriminated masterless samurai as rōnin.
This can actually be considered one of the earliest hints from Kishimoto that not all was as it seemed about Itachi, because why would an evil traitor receive this kind of portrayal?
The parallels speak for themselves, but to add further credibility to this connection, Kishimoto has stated many times in interviews that he's been influenced by films and other works when writing the series. Here is one he did with the LA Times (not allowed to link to it, but it's legitimate if you want to look it up), where he talks about how certain movie scenes and effects inspired him to replicate them in his drawing (that alone shows that influence from other media significantly impacted the manga).
-Summary/Conclusion-
-Itachi was portrayed as a rōnin at key points in the manga, which served as a hint from Kishimoto about the truth behind him.
-The Akatsuki hats are signature rōnin accessories, and serve to further emphasize this connection.
Thanks for reading,
Magatsu
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