13 Assassins (1963 film)

13 Assassins Jūsan-nin no shikaku
Directed by	Eiichi Kudo
Screenplay by	Kaneo Ikegami
Produced by	Kanji Amao Jun'ichirō Tamaki
Starring	Takayuki Akutagawa Chiezō Kataoka Kōtarō Satomi
Cinematography	Jūhei Suzuki
Edited by	Shintarō Miyamoto
Music by	Akira Ifukube
Production company	Toei Company
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release date	1963
Running time	125 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

13 Assassins (Japanese: 十三人の刺客, romaji: Jūsan-nin no shikaku) is a 1963 Japanese jidaigeki (period drama) film directed by Eiichi Kudo.

Plot

In 1844, the shogunate in Japan is in a period of transition, and one of the high ranking lords, Lord Matsudaira, has become tainted by his dissolute and reprobate misconduct. Many leaders in the governing community of the current government feel that the code of honor, bushido, of the samurai is being disgraced by Matsudaira. His reprobate, egotistical, and feckless lifestyle is disgusting to those who come into close contact with him. After receiving reports, Sir Doi is convinced that Matsudaira represents a severe threat to the entire code of honor for the samurai tradition. Sir Doi decides, because of the severity of Matsudaira's misconduct, to take a blood oath to assassinate the reprobate Lord Matsudaira. He enlists a troop of assassins to swear a similar blood oath to do away with Matsudaira in order to restore his country's well being and code of honor.

Cast

• Takayuki Akutagawa as Narrator
• Chiezō Kataoka as Shinzaemon Shimada
• Kōtarō Satomi as Shinrokurō Saimada
• Ryōhei Uchida as Hanbei Onigashira
• Tetsurō Tanba
• Satomi Oka
• Yuriko Mishima
• Sumiko Fuji (as Junko Fuji) as Kayo
• Chōichirō Kawarasaki
• Michitarō Mizushima
• Kunio Kaga
• Seishiro Sawamura
• Kusuo Abe
• Shingo Yamashiro as Koyata Koga
• Kōshirō Harada
• Shunji Kasuga
• Ushio Akashi
• Eijirō Kataoka
• Ryūji Kita
• Ryōsuke Kagawa
• Kantarō Suga as Naritsugu
• Shun'ya Wazaki
• Hiroshi Mizuno
• Michimaro Kotabe
• Tsukie Matsuura
• Noboru Aihara
• Masao Hori
• Kinnosuke Takamatsu
• Akira Shioji as Horii
• Masaharu Arikawa
• Mitsugu Fujii
• Ryōzō Tanaka
• Kandō Arashi
• Kunio Hikita
• Kyōnosuke Murai
• Masuo Kamiki
• Jun Harukawa
• Ren Takahashi
• Ryōnosuke Doi
• Masaru Fujiwara
• Isamu Dobashi
• Hiroshi Kasuga
• Kanjūrō Arashi as Saheita Kuranaga
• Kō Nishimura as Kujūrō Hirayama
• Ryūnosuke Tsukigata as Makino
• Isao Natsuyagi (uncredited)

Remake

Main article: 13 Assassins (2010 film)

The film was remade in 2010 by Takashi Miike. The remake was met with critical acclaim.

External links

• 13 Assassins at IMDb