“Giri-ninjo” is an important and interesting key to understanding a lot of Japanese literature and cinema, especially stories about samurai and yakuza.

“Giri” means “obligation”- the obligation you have to take care of your parents in their old age, to avenge the death of your feudal lord or to go to prison to protect your yakuza boss. It's a very Confucian concept.

“Ninjo” means your personal sense of human compassion and empathy, your human feelings.

A good traditional yakuza (in theory) has “giri-ninjo,” and strives to uphold the yakuza code while simultaneously acting with compassion and humanity. Of course, giri and ninjo are in direct contradiction to each other. What if your feudal lord orders you to kill a village headman because his village couldn't meet the excessive new taxes? What if your yakuza boss wants you to murder an innocent young woman because she saw something she shouldn't have seen?

Now you're in the classic trap of Japanese storytelling- an inescapable clash of giri and ninjo. The next time you watch a Japanese movie, keep your eye out for this pattern. When the protagonist ends up in a giri-ninjo trap, it can only end one way- a katana-slinging bloodbath!

Giri-ninjo is supposed to be tragic, because there really is no way out of it. This element of tragedy gives samurai movies (and even yakuza movies) that extra level of pathos that most martial arts movies and most gangster movies don't have. It's what makes them special.