Shogun Assassin was edited and compiled from the first two films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series, using 12 minutes of the first film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (Kozure Ōkami: Kowokashi udekashi tsukamatsuru or Wolf with Child in Tow: Child and Expertise for Rent), and most of Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (Kozure Ōkami: Sanzu no kawa no ubaguruma or Wolf with Child in Tow: Perambulator of the River of Sanzu). Both were originally released in 1972. There were six films in all in the series. These, in turn, were based on the long-running 1970s manga series Lone Wolf and Cub created by the writer Kazuo Koike and the artist Goseki Kojima.
As the opening credits roll, an abbreviated version of Ogami Ittō's (Tomisaburô Wakayama) past as Shogunate Decapitator and his wife's murder by ninja are seen, with Daigorō (Akihiro Tomikawa) providing the narration.
Two hooded samurai attack Ogami while he is pushing a cart with Daigorō inside. Ogami fends off the attack of the first, breaking the samurai's sword and splitting his head. The second attacker jumps over the first, with the first still clasping Ogami's blade. Ogami pulls off a handrail from the cart and a blade shoots out, transforming it into a spear that impales the second attacker. As the first is dying, he reminds Ogami that he is marked for death.
As Ogami and Daigorō sit by a roadside fire and eat their evening meal, Ogami remembers how he offered the infant Daigorō the life–death choice: either Ogami's sword (which would mean that Daigorō would join him on his mission of vengeance against the Shogun) or Daigorō's ball (which would mean that Daigorō would be killed so that he could be with his mother in heaven). Daigorō chooses the sword. The next day, the Shogun's officials bring Ogami the Shogun's orders: either swear eternal loyalty or commit seppuku with Daigorō. Ogami chooses to fight his way to freedom with Daigorō, only to have his path blocked by the leader of the Yagyu clan, in charge of the Shogun's spies and assassins. The leader challenges Ogami to fight his son Kurando in a duel; if Ogami wins, he wins his freedom. Ogami accepts. Despite Kurando's having the strategic advantage of having the sun behind him and Daigorō riding on Ogami's back, at the last moment, Ogami ducks his head to reveal a mirror bound on Daigorō's forehead, which reflects the sun into Kurando's eyes, blinding him long enough for Ogami to slice off Kurando's head.
Ogami and Daigorō journey on, never stopping in one place for very long as the Shogun's ninjas are always following them. As they wander, Daigorō recalls how the Shogun's other son Lord Bizen (Taketoshi Naitô) and his men were given orders to kill him. Even though Bizen's men are wearing armor beneath their robes, Ogami's skill and blade are too powerful. Ogami lures Lord Bizen into the middle of a stream, concealing his sword underwater within his left hand while pretending it is clutched in his right, prompting Bizen to strike at his right hand, while Ogami counters with his concealed blade, killing him. Ogami sees the Yagyu daimyo watching from a distance and he will destroy him and all of his ninjas.
The self-titled "Supreme Ninja", a female (Kayo Matsuo), receives orders from the Shogun to kill Ogami and Daigorō. Lord Kurogawa (Akiji Kobayashi) does not believe the "Supreme Ninja's" women are up to the task, so she has her ninjas kill Kurogawa's strongest ninja, Junai...although it was actually an unfair match, as he was forced to fight several at the same time.
Ogami and Daigorō meet secretly with a client to discuss an assassination request. Ogami is asked to kill Lord Kiru (the Shogun's brother), and in return he will receive a thousand pieces of gold. Ogami accepts the mission and is told that Lord Kiru is being escorted by a three-brother team known as the 'Masters of Death.'
During Ogami and Daigorō's journey, they are attacked several times by The "Supreme Ninja's" women, but Ogami kills them each time. Ogami finally faces the "Supreme Ninja" herself. She attacks Ogami with a weighted net that contains fishhooks, but Ogami cuts himself free and the "Supreme Ninja" flees by running away backwards.
Ogami and Daigorō keep on traveling, but they now come face-to-face with Lord Kurogawa's entire ninja force. Pushing Daigorō in his cart to safety, Ogami uses the spear blades in the cart's handrails to attack. All but two of the ninja are cut down, but Ogami is left wounded. He manages to push Daigorō to the safety of a deserted hut before collapsing from loss of blood. Daigorō goes in search of water for his father, finally bringing it back in his mouth, then takes some food offerings from a roadside shrine, leaving his jacket in honorable exchange.
The "Supreme Ninja" meets with Lord Kurogawa to report her failure, but Lord Kurogawa has another plan: to strike at Ogami through Daigorō.
Later that night, Daigorō is lured outside the hut by the sound of a woman singing. Waking up to find Daigorō gone, Ogami searches for his son. He finds Daigorō is a prisoner of Lord Kurogawa and the "Supreme Ninja". Daigorō is tied up and suspended over a deep well; Kurogawa demands that Ogami surrender or he will drop Daigorō down the well. Ogami refuses, so Kurogawa and his men attack. Kurogawa lets go of the rope suspending Daigorō over the well, but Ogami manages to stamp his foot down on the rope, stopping the drop, and kill Kurogawa (and his two ninjas) at the same time. Ignoring the "Supreme Ninja", who has not moved throughout the fight, Ogami carefully pulls Daigorō, who has survived, up to safety. Instead of killing the "Supreme Ninja", Ogami walks away with Daigorō.
Ogami and Daigorō board a ship which is carrying the 'Masters of Death' to their rendezvous with Lord Kiru. Also on board is the unobtrusive "Supreme Ninja". Rebels attack the 'Masters of Death', but are easily dispatched. During the night, the sole remaining rebel starts a fire onboard the ship. In the ensuing inferno, the 'Masters of Death' tell Ogami that they recognize him, but that they will not attack him...as long as he makes no move against them and Lord Kiru, and then leave him. The companionway is blocked by flames, so he cuts through the deck planking. Ogami then puts Daigorō in his cart and throws both overboard to safety, before pole-vaulting himself into the sea. The "Supreme Ninja" attacks Ogami from underwater but he overpowers her. Getting Daigorō, himself, and the "Supreme Ninja" to shore and then to the shelter of a fisherman's hut, he strips all three of them naked and gathers them close together, telling the "Supreme Ninja" that they must share their body heat or die. The "Supreme Ninja" does not understand why he would save her and then realizes she cannot kill Ogami or his son. The next day, Ogami and Daigorō leave her there, knowing that she will have to return to the Shogun, report her failure and commit suicide.
The 'Masters of Death' escort Lord Kiru and his entourage through a desert of sand dunes, where they are attacked by a rebel force concealed under the sand. The 'Masters of Death' kill all of the rebels, and Lord Kiru is taken to safety. However, they have not gone far before they see Daigorō standing in their path. He points in the distance towards Ogami, who is waiting for them to come to him, and so move away from his son who could be a liability. The 'Masters of Death' finally face off against Ogami, but one by one they are cut down. Ogami then chases after Lord Kiru's procession, killing or driving off the guards. Lord Kiru protests that he is the Shogun's brother, but Ogami tells Kiru that the "Shogun means nothing" to him. Ogami then cuts Lord Kiru down.
As he and his father walk away from the carnage, Daigorō looks back one last time and says via voice-over, "I guess I wish it was different ... but a wish is only a wish". The final shot is a freeze-frame close-up of Daigorō's face looking back.
Shogun Assassin is a combination of two Japanese films, predominantly that of Baby-cart at the River Styx (1972) and 12 minutes of Sword of Vengeance.[2] In Japan the movie is known as 子連れ狼,, Kozure Okami.
The project was directed by Robert Houston and his partner David Weisman, a protégé of Andy Warhol and director of Ciao! Manhattan (1972). A fan of the original Kozure Ōkami films, Weisman had obtained the rights for $50,000 from the American office of Toho Studios.
Shogun Assassin was released theatrically in the United States 11 November 1980 by Roger Corman's New World Pictures to the grindhouse movie circuit in the United States,[1] and then later as a video cassette from MCA/Universal Home Video. When released in the United Kingdom by the Vipco video tape label in 1983, Shogun Assassin's extreme violence almost caused it to be banned in the UK by the Home Office. Vipco played this for publicity in the cover art of their 2000 release on DVD, which was stamped "Banned since 1983!" The poster and title treatment was created by artist Jim Evans. Jim’s son Gibran Evans voiced the narrative as Daigorō. In 2006 it was restored and re-released on DVD in the United States by AnimEigo,[1] and again in 2016 by Criterion for Blu-Ray.
Reception
From contemporary reviews, Vincent Canby of The New York Times, wrote Shogun Assassin "is as furiously mixed up as What's Up, Tiger Lily?" and that outside "the little-boy's narration, the movie's not much fun once you've gotten the picture, which is that of a tubby, outcast samurai wandering the length and breadth of Japan, pushing an antique baby carriage that contains his tiny, remarkably observant son."[5] John Pym (Monthly Film Bulletin) found that "the impetus of the original director's intention seems somehow to have been turned round by having the story related from the point of view of the uncomprehending Daigorō", whose narration he compared to that of Linda Manz's Days of Heaven).[2] "What has evidently animated this American version is the packaging of ample bloodshed with the minimum of explanation. Thus, we never really learn why the samurai's wife is murdered; and such scenes as the one in which the headsman compels his son to make a fateful choice between a sword and a pretty raffia ball go for nothing."[2] The review concluded that "the swordplay is of a high, non-exploitative order, and what narrative elements remain-the fire of the ship, for example-are handled with admirable vigour".[2]
From retrospective reviews, Stuart Galbraith IV of DVD Talk said, "A radical reworking of not one but two Japanese movies combined into a single action-filled extravaganza, Shogun Assassin floored audiences with its dream-like, poetic action and pressure-cooker bloodletting."[6]Tim Lucas (Sight & Sound) described Houston's version as an "ingenious and deeply imagined reinterpretation also turns out to be a conspicuous example of a beloved grindhouse experience that was in fact rewritten, [rescored] (by Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders) and disembowelled in the cutting room"[7]
In popular culture
Dialogue excerpts from the film have been sampled in hip-hop music, with samples from the film being prominently featured in several songs from the 1995 album Liquid Swords by GZA. Dialogue from the film was also sampled in the song "Agent Orange" by rapper Cage, from his debut album Movies for the Blind (2002).[8] In the 2004 film Kill Bill: Volume 2, Beatrix Kiddo and her four year old daughter watch the film as a bedtime story.
Lone Wolf and Cub is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, and a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.
Goseki Kojima was a Japanese manga artist. He is known for his collaborations with manga writer Kazuo Koike, the most famous of them being Lone Wolf and Cub.
Shōgun is a 1980 American historical drama television miniseries based on James Clavell's 1975 novel of the same name. The series was produced by Paramount Television and first broadcast in the United States on NBC over five nights between September 15 and September 19, 1980. It was written by Eric Bercovici and directed by Jerry London, and stars Richard Chamberlain, Toshiro Mifune, and Yoko Shimada, with a large supporting cast. Clavell served as executive producer. To date, it is the only American television production to be filmed on-location entirely in Japan, with additional soundstage filming also occurring in Japan at the Toho studio.
Ronin is an American comic book limited series published by DC Comics between 1983 and 1984. The series was written and drawn by Frank Miller with artwork painted by Lynn Varley. It takes place in a dystopic near-future New York City in which a ronin is reincarnated. The six-issue work shows some of the strongest influences of manga and bande dessinée on Miller's style, both in the artwork and narrative style.
Tomisaburō Wakayama, born Masaru Okumura, was a Japanese actor best known for playing Ogami Ittō, the scowling, 19th-century ronin warrior in the six Lone Wolf and Cub samurai films.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance is a 1972 Japanese chambara film directed by Kenji Misumi. The film tells the story of Ogami Ittō, a wandering assassin for hire who is accompanied by his young son, Daigoro. It is the first in a series of six films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx is the second in a series of six Japanese martial arts films based on the long-running Lone Wolf and Cub manga series about Ogami Ittō, a wandering assassin for hire who is accompanied by his young son, Daigoro.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades, is the third in a series of six Japanese martial arts films based on the long-running Lone Wolf and Cub manga series about Ogami Ittō, a wandering assassin for hire who is accompanied by his young son, Daigoro.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril is the fourth in a series of six Japanese martial arts films based on the long-running Lone Wolf and Cub manga series about Ogami Ittō, directed by Buichi Saitō.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons is the fifth in a series of six Japanese martial arts films based on the long-running Lone Wolf and Cub manga series about Ogami Ittō, a wandering assassin for hire who is accompanied by his young son, Daigoro.
Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell is the final entry in a series of six Japanese martial arts films based on the long-running Lone Wolf and Cub manga series about Ogami Ittō, a wandering assassin for hire who is accompanied by his young son, Daigoro. Although this is the last film in the series, it does not end the story or include the conclusion of the series as written in the manga.
Yorozuya Kinnosuke (萬屋錦之介) was a Japanese kabuki actor. Born Kin'ichi Ogawa, son of kabuki actor Nakamura Tokizō III, he entered kabuki and became the first in the kabuki tradition to take the name Nakamura Kinnosuke. He took on his guild name (yagō) Yorozuya as his surname in 1971.
Matsudaira Nobutsuna was a Japanese daimyō of the early Edo period, who ruled the Kawagoe Domain. First serving Tokugawa Iemitsu as a page, Nobutsuna was renowned for his sagacity. He was named a rōjū in 1633. Nobutsuna led the shogunal forces to their final victory over the rebellion at Shimabara. His court title was Izu no Kami, which was the origin of his nickname, "Izu the Wise".
The Edo period of the history of Japan is the setting of many works of popular culture. These include novels, stage plays, films, television shows, animated works, manga, and video games. Major events of the period, such as the Siege of Osaka, Shimabara Rebellion, and the decline and fall of the Tokugawa shogunate figure prominently in many works. Historical and fictional people and groups of the period, including Miyamoto Musashi, Izumo no Okuni, Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi, the fictional Isshin Tasuke, Yui Shōsetsu, Matsuo Bashō, Tokugawa Mitsukuni, Ōoka Tadasuke, Tōyama Kagemoto, the Forty-seven Ronin, Sakamoto Ryōma, Katsu Kaishū, and the Shinsengumi, as well as the fifteen Tokugawa shoguns were active for much or all of their public lives and are dramatized in works of popular culture. The cultural developments of the times, including kabuki, bunraku, and ukiyo-e, and practices like sankin kōtai and pilgrimages to the Ise Shrine, feature in many works set in Edo Japan.
Fumio Watanabe was a Japanese actor most known for his work with Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima. He was born in Tokyo and graduated from the University of Tokyo before joining the Shōchiku studio in 1956.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict is a 1993 Japanese film directed by Akira Inoue. It is based on Kazuo Koike's manga series Lone Wolf and Cub. Masakazu Tamura played Ogami by Koike Kazuo's strong request. Koike produced the film on the theme of parent-child love, not action as with past Lone Wolf and Cub films and television drama series.
Asao Koike was a Japanese actor. He is most famous for playing yakuza roles. He is also known as voice actor. In 1950, he joined the Bungakuza Theatre Company. In 1963, he left the Bungakuza Theatre Company and established the Kumo Theatre Company. He appeared in more than 120 films.
New Lone Wolf and Cub is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Hideki Mori. It is a sequel to Koike's manga series Lone Wolf and Cub. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Post from November 2003 to December 2006, with its chapters collected in 11 tankōbon volumes. It was licensed in North America by Dark Horse Comics. A sequel series, titled Soshite Kozure Ōkami: Shikaku no Ko, was published in Koike Shoin's Jin (2007–2008) and eBookJapan's digital manga magazine Katana (2009–2010), with its chapters collected in five volumes.
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