In the midst of the depression, two ronin rack their brains to come up with a dishonest scheme. Taking a man from the countryside, they fashion him into Ise Isenokami, the finest swordsman under the sun. Pretending to be his followers, they visit various sword fighting dojo. Out of fear upon...
The Japanese equivalent of penny dreadfuls glorifying Jesse James, A Diary of Chuji’s Travels gives a unique gloss to the tale of Chuji Kunisada, the legendary bakuto (or gambler, the precursors to modern-day yakuza). One of the two remaining segments of Ito’s original four-hour trilogy, it...
A traveling gambler becomes duty-bound to the wife and child of the yakuza he had slain and desires to leave the criminal life for good. However, with no other skills but his sword, he is forced to hire himself out in the midst of a gang war.