The baby (allegory)
At the end of Rashomon we see the woodcutter accept the abandoned infant to take the child home to be cared for. This symbolizes the man choosing to do what’s good. This is important because the woodcutter for the entire film to this point has merely stood by, choosing not to be a participant in what he sees—“I didn’t want to get involved,” he says. By choosing to take the child in the end, he gives hope to the priest that man is good and that the world does not belong to the selfish.
The sun (symbol)
Kurosawa points his camera directly into the sun when the woodcutter enters the forest. This image represents the fact that the viewer is plunging into the imaginary terrain of memory and subjectivity, rather than cold, hard fact (and indeed, the woodcutter's first tale winds up being false). Much like the sun blinds the camera's eyes, each storyteller blinds the viewer's eyes to certain facts and forces at hand.
Rain (symbol)
Rain symbolizes the historical cataclysms and man-made disasters that have brought about the destruction of the Rashomon gate and the decline of civilization at large. The opening image of the woodcutter and the priest squinting into the rain is a visual analogy for the more spiritual and philosophical yearnings that the men have surrounding man's ability to do good and be truthful.
The Forest (motif)
The forest as a setting is a mythical motif, one that supplies a timeless and mysterious location for the fatal events of the samurai's tale. The forest provides seclusion from the outside world, with few witnesses, making the truth of the events that transpire within its bounds difficult to uncover.
Wood (symbol)
If the forest is a mythical space in which mysterious and perhaps unknowable things take place, then wood and wood-cutting become metaphors for the human endeavor to build meaning and understanding from seemingly scattered and incomprehensible happenings. The woodcutter is the primary storyteller of the film, and Akira Kurosawa's name appears over a tree trunk in the opening credits. The commoner heaves planks of firewood off the walls whenever the men discuss the story, around which the men also sit. If the crumbling of the Rashomon gate represents the dissolution of truth, then wood-gathering represents man's humble effort to rebuild it.
