Veteran director Yoji Yamada's second samurai film is, like THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI (2003), adapted from short stories by Shuuhei Fujisawa, whose densely researched historical fiction focuses not on the court intrigues and military strategies of feudal Japan's powerful shoguns and clan leaders, but on the everyday lives of merchants, farmers and low-ranking samurai. Also like TWILIGHT SAMURAI, it's set at the end of the end of the Edo Period (1603-1867), as Western influences are changing Japan's traditional culture, and revolves around the household of the Unasaka clan. 1858: Ambitious samurai Yaichiro Hazama (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) moves to Edo (later Tokyo) to work for the...
Released:
2004
Rated:
R
Length:
132 mins