
130 minutes
1/21/1978
Following the death of the second Tokugawa shogun, it is revealed that he was poisoned by retainers of his son Iemitsu in hopes of gaining him the shogunate despite the stammer and birthmark which undermine his respect. Iemitsu and his brother Tadanaga become bitter rivals for the shogunate, and the land is split into factions, eventually erupting into warfare. Iemitsu's mentor, his fencing instructor Yagyu, is fixated upon securing Iemitsu the shogunate and ends up betraying everyone, even his own family, in pursuit of the goal.

Kinnosuke Nakamura
as Yagyu Tajima

Sonny Chiba
as Jûbê Yagyû

Hiroki Matsukata
as Iemitsu Tokugawa (Older Prince)

Teruhiko Saigō
as Tadanaga Tokugawa (Younger Prince)

Reiko Ōhara
as Okuni (Singer)

Yoshio Harada
as Sanza Nagoya (Flute Player)

Isao Natsuyagi
as Shozaemon Bekki

Mikio Narita
as Ayamaro Karasumasu

Toshirō Mifune
as Yoshinao Tokugawa

Hiroyuki Sanada
as Hayate

Etsuko Shihomi
as Yagyu Akane
Kentaro Kudo
as Yagyu Matajuro

Jirô Chiba
as Yagyu Samon

Hideo Murota
as Sagenta Nogero
Mayumi Asano
as Mon

Ichirō Nakatani
as Gyobu Amano

Tetsuro Tamba
as Ogasawara Gensinsai

Etsushi Takahashi
as Matsudaira Izu

Sanae Nakahara
as Lady Kusaga

Nobuo Kaneko

Shinsuke Ashida
as Chamberlain Doi

Isuzu Yamada
as Oeyo

Seizō Fukumoto
as Yukinojo Gensinsai

Nenji Kobayashi
as Scarred Ronin

Harumi Sone
as Ronin

Sen Yano