Shinobi no mono (1962)

In the 1570s, many martial arts masters and experts in the occult, including Goemon Ishikawa, were organized under two leaders, Sandayu Momochi and Nagato Fujibayashi, who lived in two separate forts. General Nobunaga Oda had nearly united the country, but those who practiced the occult and believed their art had originated in Buddhism opposed him. Sandayu Momochi and Nagato Fujibayashi ordered their men to kill the general, but the would-be assassins were caught by Oda’s men and killed. Goemon Ishikawa was not sent on the assassination mission. Sandayu made him his personal attendant, and Goemon helped his young wife, Inone, who fell in love with him. When Hata, a maid who was also in love with Goemon, caught him and Inone by surprise, Goemon tried to flee the fort. At the same time, Inone followed him, fell into a well, and died. Sandayu caught Goemon and ordered him to go to Kyoto and kill Oda. Goemon followed Oda to Sakai. There he met a prostitute named Maki and decided to marry her. After Hata, a maid from the Momochi fort, rescued him from the police, she told him that a poisoned arrow had been found in Inone’s body and that Sandayu had killed his father for his formula for making gunpowder. When Goemon told Sandayu that he intended to renounce the occult, Sandayu tried to kill him, but Goemon escaped and settled into a quiet life with Maki. But Momochi found him and threatened to take Maki’s life unless Goemon carried out his order to kill Oda, who was then in Azuchi. To that end, he gave Goemon a powerful poison. In Azuchi, Goemon made a small hole in the ceiling of Oda’s bedroom and dropped a silk thread carrying poison into the general’s mouth. But Oda did not die, and soon set out for Iga, determined to destroy the occultists. Goemon hurried back to Iga, where he saw that both forts had been burned down. When he found Sandayu’s body, he learned that Sandayu was also Nagato Fujibayashi. Now that his master, who was also Nagato Fujibayashi, was dead, Goemon could finally enjoy a peaceful life with Maki.