Raizô Ichikawa

The hero avenges a band of samurai whose master was unceremoniously assassinated for seeking justice and better conditions for the citizens. The city shall burn for the elite’s greed.Read More »

Princess Kiku, Shogun’s daughter, wants revenge on Nemuri Kyoshiro for embarrassing her.Read More »

When the lord of a powerful clan has a son, the son is always groomed to take his father’s place. However, as the child gets older, the clan lord realizes that he is not the father of the child, and decides to have him murdered. Saved by a servant, the son is put into hiding and believed to be dead. So, when his father dies, the son decides to claim what is rightfully his, namely, the leadership of the clan. The clan, however, has different ideas, so the young man decides to let his sword reason with his would be usurpers.Read More »

While traveling through the countryside Kyoshiro is forced to defend himself against an angry samurai trying to kill an apparently innocent woman. He is soon to find out that the woman is far from innocent and he unwittingly becomes ensnared in a convoluted plot kill off a band of smugglers that have been siphoning off loot from the shogun’s treasury and giving it to one of the local (and very corrupt) officials. True to form, Kyoshiro sides with the underdogs and uses his blade to make things right. The sword battles in this film are very good and Kyoshiro dispenses his dark humor with the same flair as he wields his blade. As with the other films in this series, the camerawork and widescreen format are a treat and the acting and overall production values make this one a joy to watch. Oh yes, Kyoshiro takes special care of the “innocent” woman from the start of the film.Read More »

This film of the sleepy-eyed ronin series has the quite reluctant hero refuse to come to the assistance of a Japanese Christian in an age of both proselytizing and persecution, but later come around and render the services of his sword following a series of events, with the involvement of a malevolent princess, that lay to bare hypocrisy in many forms.Read More »

The shogun’s illegitimate son decapitates a peasant which draws in nomadic Nemuri Kyoshiro into more sword-fighting adventures when he’s blamed for the beheading.Read More »

In this one, Nemuri meets a local Finance Commissioner who runs afoul of the Shogun’s high-living daughter when he cuts off her allowance. Nemuri is impressed by the old man’s integrity and saves his life, thus making himself a target of assassins. It’s an interesting tale relating the delicate dilemmas faced by public officials in old Japan trying to maintain public order yet not offend powerful interests. However, it gets quite convoluted as it involves a growing cast of characters, including at least five men who want to kill Nemuri, all for varying reasons, including one who just wants to test his swordplay skill against Nemuri’s “Full Moon Cut” technique.Read More »

After Kyoshiro disposes of a half-dozen ambushers (and thus demonstrating his skill), their master, Lord Maeda, sends his ward Chisa to seduce him and set him agasinst his enemy, Chen Sun. Chen is trying to protect a document that, if revealed, will cause the downfall of Maeda’s Clan, an event Chen would relish. Deception is piled upon treachery, and to solve the mystery, Kyoshiro must find a man who is already dead, and get him to reveal the secret of The Chinese Jade. And then, of course, everyone will want him dead!Read More »

Synopsis:
One historical yakuza boss was Jirocho of Shimizu (1820-1893), born of the merchant class. One of the earliest versions of his life to make it to the screen was in the silent era, & which still survives, was the Shimizu no Jirocho Trilogy (1927) directed by Tsuji Kichiro, & starring Kawabe Goro as Jirocho.Read More »