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Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| name = Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance

| image = Sword-of-vengeance-1972-poster.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name =

| director = Kenji Misumi

| producer =

| writer =

| screenplay = Kazuo Koike

| story =

| based_on =

| starring =

| narrator =

| music = Eiken Sakurai

| cinematography = Chishi Maikura

| editing = Toshio Taniguchi

| production_companies = Katsu

| distributor = Toho

| released =

| runtime = 87 minutes

| country = Japan

| language = Japanese

| budget =

| gross =

}}

is a 1972 Japanese 'chambara' film directed by Kenji Misumi. The film tells the story of Ogami Itt, a wandering assassin for hire who is accompanied by his young son, Daigoro. It is the first in a series of six films in the 'Lone Wolf and Cub' series.

Plot



Set in Japan during an unspecified year of the Edo period, Ogami Itt, the disgraced former 'Kogi Kaishakunin' (executioner) to the 'shgun', wanders the countryside, pushing a baby cart with his 3-year-old son Daigoro inside. A 'sashimono' banner hangs off his back: "'Ogami: Suiouryo technique. Sword For Hire. Son For Hire.'" His services are asked for in a most unexpected way, when an insane woman seizes Daigoro from the cart and tries to breastfeed the boy. Daigoro at first hesitates, but after a stern look from his father, he proceeds to suckle the woman's breast. The woman's mother then apologizes for her daughter's behavior and tries to give Itt money, but the stoic 'rnin' refuses, saying his son was hungry anyway.

As he walks in the rain, he remembers another rainy day two years earlier when his wife, Asami, was slain by three former samurai, ostensibly in revenge for Itt's execution of their young 'daimy', but Itt soon deduces that it is really a complex plot by the "Shadow" Yagy clan, which controls the 'shgun's spies and assassins, to frame Itt for treason and take over the executioner's post. He winds up cutting down a senior member of the Yagy and his men when they show up to finish him as well.

Now a wandering assassin-for-hire, Itt takes a job from the chamberlain of a rural clan to kill the members of a conspiracy to assassinate the chamberlain's lord and replace him with their own preferred successor. The chamberlain plans to test Itt, but a quick slash behind his back with his Dtanuki sword dispatches the chamberlain's two men. The targets are in a remote mountain village that is home to hot-spring spa pools.

As Itt pushes the baby cart, and Daigoro observes scenes of nature, such as a dog suckling her puppy, and two children singing a song and bouncing a ball, Itt thinks back again to the time just after his wife was killed. He gave Daigoro a choice between a toy ball or the sword. If the child chose the ball, Itt would put him to death so he could join his mother which he secretly hopes for. Instead, the curious child reaches for the sword he has chosen to take the path of the 'rnin' with his father, which Itt describes as living like demons at the crossroads to hell.

Eventually, Itt reaches the hot-spring village. He finds that the conspirators have hired a band of ronin who have taken over the town and are raping, looting, and pillaging. As his targets have not yet arrived, Itt is forced to give up his sword and join several other travelers who have been taken hostage. The ronin leaders discuss killing Itt and try to provoke him, but then decide to let him live if he will have sex with a fellow hostage, a prostitute, while they watch. The prostitute refuses to have any part in it, but when her life is threatened, Itt steps forward and disrobes, saying he will do the men's bidding with the woman.

The episode takes one more trip back to the past: Refusing to accept death, Itt forces the leader of the "Shadow" Yagy, Retsudo, to allow him to duel the clan's best swordsman with a promise that he and Daigoro will be permitted to become ronin if he wins. Itt beheads the swordsman by strapping a mirror to Daigoro's forehead, allowing him to blind his opponent with sunlight.

When Itt finally reveals his true identity to the ronin after they meet with the conspirators, he pulls out various edged weapons hidden in the baby cart, including a naginata and a throwing dagger, and quickly slaughters the ronin in a gruesome, ruthless manner. A conspirator tries to shoot him with twin matchlock pistols, but Itt quickly upturns the baby cart, which is revealed to be armored underneath, and when the gunman's pistols are empty, Itt quickly leaps over the baby cart and brings his blade down on the man's forehead, splitting it in two. He then stops the final conspirator from fleeing and slices his chest open with his sword.

Itt leaves the village. The prostitute, having developed feelings for him and his son, tries to follow, but Itt makes a motion to cut the ropes on the bridge leading to town to stop her from following. He then quietly pushes the cart as he and Daigoro set off to find their next job.

Cast



*Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Itt

*Akihiro Tomikawa as Ogami Daigoro

*Tomoko Mayama as Osen, the prostitute

*Fumio Watanabe as Yagyu Bizen-no-kami

*Keiko Fujita as Ogami Asami

*Reiko Kasahara as Madwoman

*Shigeru Tsuyuguchi as Yagy Kurando

*Ynosuke It as Yagy Retsudo

Release



'Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance' was released theatrically in Japan on 15 January 1972 where it was distributed by Toho. The film was released in the United States by Toho International with English subtitles and an 83-minute running time in August 1973.

See also



*List of Japanese films of 1972

References



Footnotes



Sources



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