Harakiri

After the centralization of political power in Japan in the 17th century, the samurai have been displaced. They wander the countryside asking estate owners' permission to commit hara-kiri, hoping the wealthy landowners will take pity and give them work. Nakadai, an aging samurai, wanders into an estate and makes his request. He is told by the estate's chief retainer, Mikuni, of a young samurai, Ishihama, who had arrived earlier asking the same thing. To keep the samurai code pure, Ishihama was forced to commit hara-kiri with a bamboo sword (he had sold his real sword to provide for his family). Undaunted, Nakadai asks each of the estate's three principal swordsmen ...