Mibu gishi den (2003)

Director:

Yôjirô Takita

Writers:

Jiro Asada (story)
Takehiro Nakajima (writer)

Release Date:

18 January 2003 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Kanichiro Yoshimura is a Samurai and Family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the...

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Honor | Loss Of Father | Rival | Greed

Awards:

4 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Kiichi Nakai	...	Kanichiro Yoshimura
Kôichi Satô	...	Hajime Saito
Yui Natsukawa	...	Shizu / Mitsu
Takehiro Murata	...	Chiaki Ono
Miki Nakatani	...	Nui
Yûji Miyake	...	Jiroemon Ohno
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yoshinori Hiruma	...	Shinpachi Nagakura
Keisuke Horibe	...	Yasunoshin Shinohara
Atsushi Itô	...	Young Chiaki Ono
Hideaki Ito	...	Yoshinobu Tokugawa
Ryo Kase	...	Shuhei Kondo
Momo Nakayama	...	Young Mitsu Yoshimura
Eugene Nomura	...	Toshizo Hijikata
Ayumu Saitô	...	Ito
Masato Sakai	...	Soji Okita
Sansei Shiomi	...	Isamu Kondo
Sora Tôma	...	Kaichiro Yoshimura
Kôji Tsukamoto	...	Sonoyama
Dai Watanabe
Tatsuo Yamada	...	Sasuke

Also Known As:

When the Last Sword Is Drawn (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:143 min | South Korea:104 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 (heavily cut) | UK:15

Company:

TV Tokyo

Trivia:

The title "Mibu gishi den" literally means "Story of the Righteous Samurai of Mibu," and alludes to the "Ako gishi," better known in the West as the 47 Ronin.

Excellent!

This movie was recommended to me after I went to see "The Last Samurai (2003)" and was deeply captivated with that story.

This movie takes place during the confusing times when the Emperor attempted to modernize Japan and the time of the samurai warriors and their shogun masters was ending. It tells the story of the "lesser" samurai Kanichiro Yoshimura and his rival Hajime Saito. This is more of a drama than an action movie, and that is where it scored high with me. Call it a samurai movie with a twist - or, if you like, one that probably is more historically correct and pays more respect to the proud samurai warriors.

My face did get wet, I admit that. I really did have empathy (and sympathy for that matter) with poor, hard-working, misunderstood Yoshimura. 10/10!