No land’s man: on remaking the last western in Japan and the politics of revision

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the evolution of Hokkaido as a frontier space in the Japanese western, looking in particular at Yurusarezaru mono (Lee Sang-il, 2013). Drawing closely on Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992), the work has been recognized as a faithful remake of Eastwood’s iconic last western. At the same time, Lee reframes the western to focus on displacement and calls attention in particular to the repression of political and ethnic ‘others’ in the acquisition of Hokkaido in the 1860s. This rewriting of the western is inspired in part by manga artist Tezuka Osamu’s Shumari, a work set at the same early Meiji moment which explores the Imperial origins of the frontier in Hokkaido. Lee’s reinterpretation of Hokkaido as colonial space raises questions about established perceptions of nationhood, identity, and imperial origins.