Foil

Character Role Analysis

Kikuchiyo

Kikuchiyo is definitely the fly in the ointment for the other samurai: a rolling disaster of a man determined to embrace the code of bushido even if he doesn't have the first idea how to do it. He stands as the bridge between the farmers in the village and the samurai, ready to challenge their preconceptions and force them to look at themselves in different ways. He admonishes the peasants to shape up and reminds the samurai that the farmers' motivations may not be as awful as they think. He pushes against all of them, but by pushing back, they learn to look at themselves in different ways and maybe work together to achieve a common goal.

A good foil shows the hero what he needs to see, which Kikuchiyo does almost by accident at times. Still, it's enough to buy him the reward he's always wanted: a heroic death as a real samurai, claiming his own identity even as he helps the other characters look at theirs from a fresh perspective.