is a 2003

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Ryuhei Kitamura (born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Biography Early life Kitamura was born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. He dropped out of high school at age 17 and relocated to Sydney, Australia, where he attended a sch ...

. It was Kitamura's contribution to the

Duel Project Duel Project was a challenge issued to Ryuhei Kitamura and Yukihiko Tsutsumi by producer Shinya Kawai during a night of drinking. The challenge was for the two directors to see who could make the best feature film with two principal actors/actresse ...

, a challenge issued by producer Shinya Kawai to him and fellow director

Yukihiko Tsutsumi is a Japanese television and film director. He began directing commercials and music promotion videos as an employee of Nihon Television. After spending time abroad, he returned and started his own production company, ''Office Crescendo'', from w ...

to film a feature-length movie with only two actors, battling in one setting, in only the time frame of one week.

Plot

Two seriously wounded

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

find refuge from a storm at an isolated temple, the home of a swordsman and a mysterious young woman. One samurai awakes to find that not only has his comrade died, but that his wounds have miraculously healed. He discovers that he has been given the power of

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...

by the swordsman, a man once known as the legendary

Miyamoto Musashi , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...

, who now lives an endless existence as Aragami, a "god of battle".

Production

The film was shot between May 29, 2002 and June 7, 2002.

References

External links

* *
''Aragami'' (2003) on YouTube
2003 films 2000s action thriller films Japanese action thriller films 2000s Japanese-language films Supernatural thriller films Jidaigeki films Samurai films Films directed by Ryuhei Kitamura Cultural depictions of Miyamoto Musashi 2000s Japanese films {{action-thriller-film-stub

Plot

Production

See also

References

External links