Q 01/05

Which monster movie did Seven Samurai's studio release just months later in 1954?

A) Mothra

B) Godzilla

C) Rodan

D) Gamera

Answer · why

B) Godzilla

Godzilla followed that November, and one actor links the two films: Haruo Nakajima, cut down as a bandit in Seven Samurai, climbed into the monster su...

Q 02/05

Seven Samurai's 1586 setting falls in which period of Japanese history?

A) Heian

B) Meiji

C) Kamakura

D) Sengoku

Answer · why

D) Sengoku

The Sengoku period brought over a century of civil war between rival clans: every defeat cut more samurai adrift, wandering swordsmen like the ones th...

Q 03/05

What do the farmers offer the samurai as their only payment for defending the village?

A) Horses

B) Food

C) Silver

D) Land

Answer · why

B) Food

Food is all the village can spare, so its elder sends them to look for samurai who are hungry; most of the proud swordsmen they approach still turn th...

Q 04/05

What is the samurai leader Kambei doing when the villagers first see him in town?

A) Begging for a bowl of rice

B) Praying at a shrine

C) Rescuing a boy from a thief

D) Duelling a rival

Answer · why

C) Rescuing a boy from a thief

Rescuing a boy from a thief costs Kambei his topknot, the badge of a samurai's rank: he shaves his head to pass as a priest and get close, and the wat...

Q 05/05

Which wild self-proclaimed samurai, played by Toshiro Mifune, is accepted only after failed attempts to drive him off?

A) Gorobei

B) Katsushiro

C) Kikuchiyo

D) Kambei

Answer · why

C) Kikuchiyo

Kikuchiyo was written late: Mifune was first meant to play the stern master swordsman, until the writers added a seventh samurai to their six and gave...