Samurai Assassin

Samurai Assassin
File:Samurai Assassin 1965.jpg Theatrical poster for Samurai Assassin (1965)
Directed by	Kihachi Okamoto
Produced by	Toshiro Mifune Reiji Miwa Masao Suzuki Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by	Jiromasa Gunji (story) Shinobu Hashimoto
Starring	Toshirō Mifune Keiju Kobayashi Michiyo Aratama Yûnosuke Itō Eijirō Tono Tatsuyoshi Ehara Tadao Nakamaru Shiro Otsude Yoshio Inaba Akihiko Hirata Eisei Amamoto Ikio Sawamura
Music by	Masaru Sato
Cinematography	Hiroshi Murai
Edited by	Yoshitami Kuroiwa
Distributed by	Toho Company Ltd. (Japan) Toho International Company Inc. (1966, USA)
Release dates	3 January 1965 (1965-01-03) (Japan) 5 March 1965 (1965-03-05) (U.S.)
Running time	123 min.
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Samurai Assassin (侍, Samurai ) is a 1965 Japanese movie directed by Kihachi Okamoto and starring Toshiro Mifune, Koshiro Matsumoto, Yunosuke Ito, and Michiyo Aratama.

Samurai Assassin is set in 1860, immediately before the Meiji Restoration changed Japanese society forever by doing away with the castes in society and reducing the position of the samurai class.

The film tells the story of Niiro Tsurichiyo (Mifune) as the illegitimate son of a powerful nobleman, and the way of his life that made him a swordfighter but also a social outcast. He joins forces with the multiple clans against the Lord of Hikone, Sir Ii Kamonnokami Naosuke. Ii is the right hand of the shogunate and brought upon himself the wrath of the Satsuma, Mito, and Choshuu provinces after making an unpopular choice for the appointment of the 14th shogunate. Many critics arose after the controversial appointment, and Ii initiated the Ansei Purge to quiet critics of his choices. This, in turn, led to an assassination plot hatched by the three provinces in order to remove Ii from his position of power. The shoguns also weeding out Ii's spies from the plot. The film is based on a novel, which in turn was inspired by the historical Sakuradamon incident, in which the feudal lord Ii Naosuke was assassinated outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle.

Cast

• Toshiro Mifune - Tsuruchiyo Niiro
• Keiju Kobayashi - Einosuke Kurihara
• Michiyo Aratama - Okiku / Kikuhime
• Yūnosuke Itō - Kenmotsu Hoshino
• Eijirō Tōno - Masagoro Kisoya
• Tatsuyoshi Ehara - Ichigoro Hayama
• Tadao Nakamaru - Shigezo Inada
• Kaoru Yachigusa - Mitsu
• Haruko Sugimura - Tsuru
• Nami Tamura - Yae
• Shiro Otsuji - Kaname Kojima
• Yoshio Inaba - Keijiro Sumita
• Akihiko Hirata - Sohei Masui
• Hideyo Amamoto - Matazaburo Hagiwara
• Takashi Shimura - Narihisa Ichijō

See also

• Hitokiri

External links

• Samurai Assassin at IMDb