Tsubaki Sanjuro

Tsubaki Sanjuro


椿三十郎
Tsubaki Sanjūrō
Thirty-Year-Old Camellia
Director Yoshimitsu Morita
Executive Producer Haruki Kadokawa
Original Story Shugoro Yamamoto
Screenplay Ryuzo Kikushima
Hideo Oguni
Akira Kurosawa
Photography Takeshi Hamada
Art Fumio Ogawa
Sound Saruhiro Shibayama
Lighting Mitsuo Watanabe
Editor Shinji Tanaka
Music Michiru Oshima
Production Companies Haruki Kadokawa Office, Toho, Avex Entertainment, TV Asahi, Asahi Broadcasting, Nagoya TV Broadcasting, INP, Fields, TOKYO FM, Quaras
Release Date December 1, 2007
Runtime 119 minutes

椿三十郎
Tsubaki Sanjūrō
Thirty-Year-Old Camellia
Director Yoshimitsu Morita
Executive Producer Haruki Kadokawa
Original Story Shugoro Yamamoto
Screenplay Ryuzo Kikushima
Hideo Oguni
Akira Kurosawa
Photography Takeshi Hamada
Art Fumio Ogawa
Sound Saruhiro Shibayama
Lighting Mitsuo Watanabe
Editor Shinji Tanaka
Music Michiru Oshima
Production Companies Haruki Kadokawa Office, Toho, Avex Entertainment, TV Asahi, Asahi Broadcasting, Nagoya TV Broadcasting, INP, Fields, TOKYO FM, Quaras
Release Date December 1, 2007
Runtime 119 minutes

Nine young samurai, convinced that their elders are guilty of corruption, have arranged a meeting with their clan’s superintendent, Kikui, at a forest shrine. A ronin, who has been resting in the shrine, interrupts their conversation. He deduces that Kikui is the guilty party and that he has set up the samurai for an ambush. Sure enough, the shrine is surrounded by Kikui’s men. The ronin hides the samurai under the floor and tricks the ambushers into thinking they’ve gone. The ronin attracts the attention of Muroto, Kikui’s head soldier, who offers him employment should he desire it. The samurai retreat to the house of their benefactor, Mutsuta, only to find that Kikui has taken it over and Mutstuta is nowhere to be found. The ronin helps them rescue Mutsuta’s wife, who tells them Kikui’s plan: to frame Mutstuta for his own misdeeds and force him to commit hara-kiri. The samurai then make their headquarters in the home next to Kurofuji, one of Kikui’s co-conspirators. The nameless ronin decides to be called Tsubaki Sanjuro for the time being.

The young samurai struggle to learn where Mutsuta is being kept prisoner. They find a torn petition that they had given Mutsuta floating in the creek adjoining their headquarters with Kurofuji’s house, revealing that Mutsuta is being held there. Sanjuro hatches a plan: taking advantage of his current good graces with Muroto, he deceives him into thinking that the samurai have congregated at another place. Muroto dispatches Kikui’s men to apprehend them. Sanjuro collects camellia flowers to send down the creek as a signal to the young samurai, but is caught by Muroto. Muroto has identified a discrepancy in Sanjuro’s story and realizes that he has been tricked. He binds Sanjuro and goes out to retrieve the men.

Sanjuro plays off Kurofuji’s paranoia and tricks him into sending the camellia signal himself. The samurai storm the house and take back Mutsuta, ending Kikui’s conspiracy. Kikui commits hara-kiri, and the other conspirators are banished from the tribe. Mutstuta holds a celebratory meal with Sanjuro as the guest of honor, but Sanjuro fails to appear. The young samurai track him down, and witness his final duel with the disgraced Muroto. Sanjuro wins, and departs, having had his fill of violence.

Top Billed Cast

Yuji Oda
Tsubaki Sanjuro
Kenichi Matsuyama
Iori Isaka
Anne Suzuki
Chidori
Kuranosuke Sasaki
Kimura
Katsunobu Ito
Sandayu
Tsuyoshi Hayashi
Bunji Terada
Ichitaro
Kunie Yasukawa
Yoshihiro Kasuya
Shin Kawahara
Kazuhito Tomikawa
Hayato Morishima
Kimito Totani
Horinoshin Morishima
Ryohei Suzuki
Shingo Sekiguchi
Yukichi Kobayashi
Kakuzo Hatta
Takuya Nakayama
Shunpei Hirose
Eri Murakawa
Koiso
Chisato Morishita
Female Servant
Reiko Suho
Female Servant
Yuki Katsuragi
Female Servant
Asahi Yoshida
Kikui Subordinate
Yoshiharu Takeda
Kikui Subordinate
Koji Sato
Gatekeeper
Makoto Fujita
Mutsuta
Nenji Kobayashi
Kurofuji
Morio Kazama
Takebayashi
Tokuma Nishioka
Kikui
Tamao Nakamura
Mutsuta's Wife
Etsushi Toyokawa
Hanbei Muroto
Top Billed Cast

Tsubaki Sanjuro
Yuji Oda

Iori Isaka
Kenichi Matsuyama

Chidori
Anne Suzuki

Kimura
Kuranosuke Sasaki

Sandayu
Katsunobu Ito

Bunji Terada
Tsuyoshi Hayashi

Kunie Yasukawa
Ichitaro

Shin Kawahara
Yoshihiro Kasuya

Hayato Morishima
Kazuhito Tomikawa

Horinoshin Morishima
Kimito Totani

Shingo Sekiguchi
Ryohei Suzuki

Kakuzo Hatta
Yukichi Kobayashi

Shunpei Hirose
Takuya Nakayama

Koiso
Eri Murakawa

Female Servant
Chisato Morishita

Female Servant
Reiko Suho

Female Servant
Yuki Katsuragi

Kikui Subordinate
Asahi Yoshida

Kikui Subordinate
Yoshiharu Takeda

Gatekeeper
Koji Sato

Mutsuta
Makoto Fujita

Kurofuji
Nenji Kobayashi

Takebayashi
Morio Kazama

Kikui
Tokuma Nishioka

Mutsuta's Wife
Tamao Nakamura

Hanbei Muroto
Etsushi Toyokawa