The prettiest peasant in Japan learns samurai honor is a death sentence.
Gonza was a handsome young laborer, a footman and spear-carrier, working hard for his meager wage. All Gonza wanted was to marry his young sweetheart, but despite their mutual poverty, her status as the daughter of a samurai blocked their path to happiness. A chance opportunity to achieve samurai status would come one day, but Gonza will regret trusting the so-called honorable samurai who extended this fateful offer, and the terrible price he'd pay, fighting for his life in one of the most blood-spattered samurai battles ever filmed.
Cinematography
Gonza's face framed like a tragic painting throughout.
Direction
Itō builds class tension to an unbearable breaking point.
Acting
Ōkawa's physicality—grace doomed by his own comeliness.
Director
Daisuke Itō
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
JP
