The film portrays a satirical view of today's heartless money-oriented society.
A master sculptor and his apprentice are trapped in a bad snow storm after finding a special tree for carving a statue for the local temple. Finding refuge in an abandoned hut they celebrate their luck in finding the tree but soon they are visited by the Snow Witch who freezes the sculptor to death but takes pity on the apprentice. He must promise to never speak of this or she'll return and kill him.
The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.
Ronin samurai Ibuki-san enters a town and sells his skills to the warring families. He falls in love with the beautiful horse stable owner but like all heroes, cannot stay.
Based on a novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, this haunting melodrama focuses on a young bamboo worker who takes his father's prostitute as his wife.
사무라이 액션영화에서 특히 빛을 발했던 대스타 이치카와 라이조 주연의 ‘검 3부작’ 중 1편. 영화가 시작하면 한 몸종이 주인을 칼로 살해한 후 순순히 체포당해 죽음을 택한다. 그리고 20년의 시간이 흘러 한 사내가 등장해 전국을 떠돌며 여행을 다닌다. 과연 그의 정체는 무엇일까. (한국시네마테크협의회)
