Seven Samurai | Origin of Street Names

Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) is the most successful and renowned film by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.

It was filmed back in 1954, but it is still considered the most influential film in Japanese cinema history. Set during the Sengoku period (16th century) of Japanese history, characterized by the warring states and widespread plundering, the film tells the story of seven rōnin (masterless samurai) who are hired to defend a village from crop theft. It is a film about honor, sense of duty, courage, selflessness, and traditional values that are fading away.

It is little known that there is actually a street in the suburban settlement of Ključ, located at the "tri-border" of Surčin, Bečmen, and Jakovo, in Belgrade, named after the famous film by Akira Kurosawa. You can find it on the map.

Moreover, in the same settlement, there are also streets named after Don Quixote, Tristan and Isolde, and numerous other characters and personalities associated with the so-called seventh art and literature.

Whether the streets were named at the initiative of the locals, who traditionally appreciate books and films, or it was simply the will of the municipal authorities, remains a matter of speculation, but it is certainly interesting and charming.

The impact of the film on world cinema is evident from numerous remakes, the most famous being the Hollywood film The Magnificent Seven from 1960, which is a Western version of the Japanese Seven Samurai.