Uchida's Koi ya koi yasuna koi

[Roger Macy]

In London last month we have been enjoying a season of films by tomu Uchida, several of them with sympathetic introductions by list members Alexander Jacoby and Jasper Sharp.
They were all rewarding, several outstandingly so, but the final one was a marvel to behold.
Koi ya koi nasuna koi, 1962, was translated as 'The Mad Fox' although this was a fairy tale where only the foxes (actors with fox masks) behaved rationally, albeit with an amour fou.  I thought it seemed to go back to the very early 'chain dramas' in the way it alternated realism with overtly staged sequences.  But no chain drama could remotely have been this lavish, have had such authentic music nor such interesting camera work - and thereby hangs my question.
In the court scene - I guess we would be at Nara - we start with an elevated, picture-scroll view but then the camera reverses to a fixed position of the Emperor's eye, with just slow swivelling to home in on the sparring courtiers.  We can't see the curtain screen, but we know we cannot be regarded behind it, because of the previous shot
Of course, it's hard to resist speculating on the significance of a silent emperor watching  power-brokers vying to be his mouth-piece.  So many of Uchida's films seem to contain broader metaphors about recent history, as Alex has suggested in his writing.  But can anyone think of any precedences for an Emperor's eye viewpoint in film ?

It seemed slightly familiar, but I might just be thinking of some non-Japanese scenes of dream or coma sequences  - and they are probably later.
akemashite omedetou gozaimasu,
Roger
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