Love and Honour (2006)
"Bushi no ichibun" (original title)

A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.

Director:

Yôji Yamada

Writers:

Shûhei Fujisawa (novel), Yôji Yamada,

Stars:

Takuya Kimura, Rei Dan, Mitsugorô Bandô

12 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Takuya Kimura	...	Shinnojo Mimura
Rei Dan	...	Kayo Mimura
Mitsugorô Bandô	...	Toya Shimada
Takashi Sasano	...	Tokuhei
Kaori Momoi	...	Ine Hatano
Nenji Kobayashi	...	Sakunosuke Higuchi
Ken Ogata	...	Shinnojo's fencing instructor
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Makoto Akatsuka
Toshiki Ayata	...	Kanjuro Takigawa
Z. Charles Bolton	...	Man B (voice)
Duncan Brannan	...	Hori / Senior Chief (voice)
Cole Brown	...	Sensei (voice)
Chris Burnett	...	Shinsuke (voice)
Colleen Clinkenbeard	...	Kayo Mimura (voice)
Justin Cook	...	Noge (voice)

Storyline

Shinnojo, a low level samurai, lives with his pretty, dutiful and loyal wife Kayo. He has come to find his position in a castle as a food-taster for a feudal lord to be boring and pointless, and talks about opening a kendo school open to boys of all castes where he can teach the use of the sword. Before he can act on his dream he becomes ill with a fever after tasting some sashimi made from shell fish, but an investigation reveals that the poisoning was not due to a human conspiracy, but a poor choice of food out of season. After three days he awakes but finds that the toxin from the food has blinded him. Kayo is summoned by Shinnojo's family to explain how the couple will survive. His uncle laments that he no longer knows anybody with influence in the castle, and asks Kayo if she knows of anybody. She relates how Toya Shimada, the chief duty officer in the castle and a samurai of high rank, offered to help and they tell her to act upon his offer of assistance. A message from the ...

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Plot Keywords:

samurai | being followed | jidai geki | warrior | based on novel

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp] Official site [us]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

2 November 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

El catador de venenos

Filming Locations:

Osaka, Japan

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$5,234 (USA) (2 May 2008)

Gross:

$16,326 (USA) (5 April 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Asahi Broadcasting, Bushi no Ichibun Seisaku Iinkai, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min 121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film it is mentioned repeatedly that the main character of Shinnojo Miura receives a yearly stipend of 30 koku. During the Edo period of Japan a koku was a unit of measure that had the equivalent of one year's worth of rice for a person (approx. 150 kg). For a samurai 30 koku was a small salary and Shinnojo was thus of a low level. Incidentally, the title character from another of Yoji Yamada's films 'The Twilight Samurai' also receives a 30 koku stipend after having 20 koku deducted from his 50 koku salary to pay for his recently deceased wife's funeral.

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Quotes

Shinnojo Mimura: Be resolved you will both die. In that lies victory. Life lies in resolve for death.

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Connections

Follows The Hidden Blade (2004)

User Reviews

Exploding the blind samurai myth.

I love the Zatoichi films and have seen all but the very latest rebooting of the series ("Zatoichi the Last"--which is not available yet in the US). So it's obvious that I am a fan of the movies. However, I will also be the first to admit that they are completely ridiculous. After all, a completely blind swordsman who is able to take on dozens of opponents in each film and win is completely impossible...at least on this planet! Because of this, it's great to see "Love and Honor"--a Japanese film with a blind swordsman that is actually believable!!

The film begins with Shinnojo Mimura working for his lord as a food taster. One day, the unthinkable happens and Shinnojo is poisoned. While this ends up saving his master's life, it also ends up nearly killing Shinnojo and leaving him blind! And, as sometimes occurs in the tough feudal society, Shinnojo is left without a purpose and the prospect of losing his income. Some thanks for service to his master, huh?! However, uncharacteristic of many samurai films, soon Shinnojo learns that his master has not forgotten him and will keep giving him his original salary. So how does this end up resulting in Shinnojo fighting someone even though he's blind?! Well, I don't want to ruin the story--just watch this one.

The film has many, many strengths. It is a wonderful story, has a very thrilling conclusion and a touching love story--albeit an odd one! Well performed all around and one of the better samurai films I have seen--and I have seen quite a few. Well worth your time.