The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.
Acting
Mifune's controlled rage could freeze hell over.
Direction
Kobayashi frames oppression in perfect symmetry.
Cinematography
Wide shots that make feudal Japan feel like a cage.
Director
Masaki Kobayashi
Toshirō Mifune
Isaburo Sasahara
Yōko Tsukasa
Ichi Sasahara
Gō Katō
Yogoro Sasahara
Tatsuyoshi Ehara
Bunzo Sasahara
Etsuko Ichihara
Kiku
Isao Yamagata
Shobei Tsuchiya
Tatsuya Nakadai
Tatewaki Asano
Shigeru Kōyama
Geki Takahashi
Michiko Otsuka
Suga Sasahara
Tatsuo Matsumura
Lord Masakata Matsudaira
Masao Mishima
Sanzaemon Yanase
Jun Hamamura
Hyoemon Shiomi
Takamaru Sasaki
Kenmotsu Sasahara
Tetsuko Kobayashi
Otama
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kobayashi and Mifune made three films together; this was their angriest collaboration. The director reportedly wanted audiences to feel the suffocation of feudal hierarchy in their chests.
The film adapts Yasutaka Tsutsui's novel, which itself drew from real 18th-century clan disputes — the 'roundabout path' quote references actual samurai who chose death over complicity in systemic abuse.
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