Before leaving prison, Oida uncomfortably enters into an agreement with his cell mate: in exchange for a half-share of 30,000,000 yen, he is to assassinate three strangers given to him on a list. However, upon meeting his first potential victim, Oida has second thoughts. Yet, even as he tries to back out, the body count starts climbing. Oida must now try to alert the people on his list of their impending danger, and find out why they are being targeted in the first place.
The ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.
Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.
(segment "Miminashi Hôichi no hanashi") (uncredited)
Produção japonesa contada em quatro histórias. Em "Black Hair", samurai divórcia-se da mulher que ama para se casar com outra pelo dinheiro; em "The Woman in the Snow", lenhador encontra mulher congelada e o espírito dela aparece para revelar detalhes de sua vida, pedindo a ele que jamais conte a ninguém - mas dez anos depois ele esquece a promessa; em "Hoichi the Earless", o jovem e cego Hoichi vive num monastério e passa a cantar para fantasmas do império; e "In a Cup of Tea" fala de um escritor que vê uma misteriosa face refletida numa xícara de chá.
