Where do the storytellers shelter?

Under a ruined city gate in the rain

What does the Rashomon effect describe?

People remembering the same event differently

Rashomon Quiz: Four Conflicting Accounts of One Forest Crime

This Rashomon quiz shelters from the rain under the ruined city gate of Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film. Play 10 interactive questions on a samurai's death in a forest, the bandit Tajomaru, the wife's story, the dead man speaking through a medium, the woodcutter's version, Akutagawa's source stories, filming into the sun, the Golden Lion and the Rashomon effect.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Director
Who directed Rashomon?
Gate
Where do the storytellers shelter?
Crime
What crime is at the center of the story?
Bandit
Who plays the bandit Tajomaru?
Medium
How does the dead samurai tell his story?
Count
How many main versions of the event are told?
Source
Whose short stories inspired the film?
Sun
What daring camera choice did the film make?
Prize
Which award did Rashomon win in 1951?
Effect
What does the Rashomon effect describe?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Who directed Rashomon?
Answer: Akira Kurosawa
It was released in 1950.
Q2: Where do the storytellers shelter?
Answer: Under a ruined city gate in the rain
The gate gives the film its name.
Q3: What crime is at the center of the story?
Answer: A samurai's death in a forest
His wife is also attacked.
Q4: Who plays the bandit Tajomaru?
Answer: Toshiro Mifune
He laughs wildly.
Q5: How does the dead samurai tell his story?
Answer: Through a medium
His spirit speaks.
Q6: How many main versions of the event are told?
Answer: Four
Each teller has a reason to lie.
Q7: Whose short stories inspired the film?
Answer: Ryunosuke Akutagawa
In a Grove is one.
Q8: What daring camera choice did the film make?
Answer: Pointing the camera at the sun
Light flickers through leaves.
Q9: Which award did Rashomon win in 1951?
Answer: The Golden Lion at Venice
It opened Western eyes to Japanese film.
Q10: What does the Rashomon effect describe?
Answer: People remembering the same event differently
The term is used in law and science.

One Crime, Four Truths

Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa and released in 1950, opens with a woodcutter, a priest and a commoner sheltering from rain under the ruined Rashomon gate. They discuss a trial about a samurai found dead in a forest and his wife's assault.

Four versions are told: by the bandit Tajomaru, played by Toshiro Mifune, by the wife, by the dead samurai speaking through a medium, and finally by the woodcutter. Each contradicts the others, and each teller has reasons to shade the truth. The film draws on Ryunosuke Akutagawa's stories, including In a Grove.

Kurosawa and cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa pointed the camera at the sun through forest leaves, a daring choice. Rashomon won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1951, introducing Japanese cinema to the West. The term Rashomon effect now describes people remembering the same event in different ways.

What This Quiz Teaches

Classic film fans will enjoy these questions.

Where the story is told
Who tells each version
Where it came from
How it was filmed
What term it inspired

Did You Know?

Mirrors bounced light into the forest.
Rain was darkened with ink.
The film also won an honorary Oscar.
A baby is found at the gate.
Machiko Kyo plays the wife.