is a 2006 film set in Japan of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

. It is the final film in

Yoji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy (''The Twilight Samurai'', ''The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography He was born in Osaka, but due to his father's job ...

's acclaimed Samurai Trilogy, following '' Twilight Samurai'' (2002) and '' The Hidden Blade'' (2004).

Plot

Shinnojo, a low level

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 ...

, lives with his pretty and loyal wife Kayo. Bored with his position as a food-taster for a feudal lord, he talks about opening a kendo school open to boys of all castes. Before he can act, he becomes ill after tasting some

whelk Whelk (also known as scungilli) is a common name applied to various kinds of sea snail. Although a number of whelks are relatively large and are in the family Buccinidae (the true whelks), the word ''whelk'' is also applied to some other marin ...

sashimi is a Japanese delicacy consisting of fresh raw fish or meat sliced into thin pieces and often eaten with soy sauce. Origin The word ''sashimi'' means "pierced body", i.e. " 刺身" = ''sashimi'', where 刺し = ''sashi'' (pierced, stu ...

. An investigation reveals that the poisoning was not a human conspiracy, but a poor choice of food out of season. After three days, he awakes but finds that the toxin has blinded him. His uncle is asked by Shinnojo's family how the couple will survive. He laments that he no longer knows anybody with influence, and asks Kayo if she knows of anybody. She relates how Toya Shimada, the chief duty officer in the castle and a samurai of high rank, offered to help and they tell her to act upon his offer of assistance. A message from the castle brings the good news that Shinnojo's stipend of rice will remain the same, and for life but his aunt tells him that Kayo was seen with another man. He has Tokuhei, his faithful servant, follow her. Kayo notices that she is being followed, and although Tokuhei offers to cover for her, she reveals to Shinnojo that Shimada offered to help but at a price, shown when he forced himself upon her. He then solicited additional trysts by threatening to tell Shinnojo about the first. An enraged Shinnojo divorces her and orders her out of his house. When it is revealed to him that Shimada had nothing to do with maintaining his stipend, but that it came out of gratitude from the lord of the clan himself, Shinnojo seeks to renew his skill with the sword as a blind man to avenge the dishonor of Kayo. Through Tokuhei, he sends a message to Shimada to set up a duel, with the additional message to not underestimate him. The two samurai meet at the stables near the river to decide their destinies. In the subsequent fight Shinnojo cuts off Shimada's arm. He leaves Shimada to live a horribly disfigured life, telling Tokuhei that he has now avenged Kayo's dishonor. The next day Shinnojo is informed that the injured Shimada refused to tell anyone what had happened or who injured him in the duel. That night Shimada committed seppuku and killed himself, as a samurai cannot live with only one arm. He dies without anyone knowing of his sin against the Mimura family, his violation of Kayo, or his own dishonorable injury by a blinded man. Tokuhei tells Shinnojo he has found a girl to work in the kitchen and cook for him. After one taste of the girl's food, Shinnojo recognizes his wife's cooking, and calls Kayo to come into the house. Shinnojo and Kayo reconcile, with an understanding that they will begin their life together anew.

Cast

Takuya Kimura is a Japanese actor, singer, and radio personality. He is regarded as a Japanese icon after achieving success as an actor. He was also a popular member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy bands in Asia. A 1996 television drama series, ''Long ...

- Mimura Shinnojo * Rei Dan - Mimura Kayo *

Takashi Sasano is a Japanese actor. Career Sasano has appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films '' Bright Future'' (2003) and '' Before We Vanish'' (2017). He also appeared in Amir Naderi's 2011 film ''Cut''. Filmography Film * '' Tora-san's Island Encounter'' ( ...

- Tokuhei *

Nenji Kobayashi is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 23rd Japan Academy Prize for ''Poppoya''. Kobayashi signed with Toei in 1961 and started his acting career with small roles. Filmography Film * '' Soshiki Bōryoku'' (1967 ...

- Higuchi Sakunosuke *

Ken Ogata , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor. Life Ogata was born in Tokyo, Japan. Ogata is well known for his roles in Peter Greenaway's '' The Pillow Book'', Paul Schrader's '' Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters'' and Shohei Imam ...

- Kibe Magohachiro *

Kaori Momoi is a Japanese actress. Life and career Momoi was born in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of 12, she traveled to London to study dance at the Royal Ballet Academy. After 3 years, she returned to Tokyo. She graduated from Japan's Bungakuza School of D ...

- Hatano Ine *

Bandō Mitsugorō X Bandō Mitsugorō X ( ja, 十代目坂東三津五郎) (January 23, 1956 – February 2, 2015) was a Japanese television presenter and kabuki actor. He was the grandson of Bandō Mitsugorō VIII and son of Bandō Mitsugorō IX. Filmography Fi ...

- Shimada Toya

Reception

Critical reception

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gave the film an approval rating of 80% based on 20 reviews from western critics, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The third in director in Yoji Yamada's samurai trilogy is enjoyable, intricately made and well acted."

Awards and nominations

;2005 Awards of the Japanese Academy * Best Supporting Actor -

* Best Cinematography - Mutsuo Naganuma * Best Lighting - Takeshi Nakasu * Nomination - Best Film * Nomination - Best Actor -

(Declined his nomination) * Nomination - Best Actress - Rei Dan * Nomination - Best Supporting Actress -

* Nomination - Best Director -

Yōji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy (''The Twilight Samurai'', ''The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography He was born in Osaka, but due to his father's job ...

* Nomination - Best Screenplay -

, Emiko Hiramatsu, and Ichirō Yamamoto * Nomination - Best Editing - Iwao Ishii * Nomination - Best Art Direction - Mitsuo Degawa * Nomination - Best Music Score - Isao Tomita * Nomination - Best Sound - Kazumi Kishida ;2007

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan. The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japanes ...

* Best New Actress - Rei Dan ;2007

Cinemanila International Film Festival The Cinemanila International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Manila, Philippines. It was founded by Filipino filmmaker Amable "Tikoy" Aguiluz in 1999. The focus of the festival is on the cinema of the Philippines as well as Southea ...

* Nomination - International Competition -

;2007

Kinema Junpo Awards , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

* Best Supporting Actor -

also for ''The Hardest Night!!'' * Best New Actress - Rei Dan ;2007

Mainichi Film Award The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

s * Best Supporting Actor -

also for ''The Hardest Night!!'' * Best New Talent - Rei Dan ;2007 Nikkan Sports Film Awards * Yujiro Ishihara Award -

* Best Supporting Actor -

;2007

Shanghai International Film Festival The Shanghai International Film Festival (, French: ''Festival international du film de Shanghai''), abbreviated SIFF, is one of the largest film festivals in East Asia. "China's biggest film festival" according to the Hollywood Reporter. Nex ...

* Best Music Score - Isao Tomita

Film festivals

*Official Selection Moscow International Film Festival *Opening Film Panorama Special Berlin International Film Festival *Official Selection Hawaii International Film Festival

Home media

The film was released on DVD by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

in 2008. The release contains both an English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track and its original Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track (with English subtitles). In 2010, the film was released on Blu-ray (Region A) by

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not ...

exclusively for the Japanese market, containing only a Japanese

DTS-HD Master Audio DTS-HD Master Audio (DTS-HD MA; known as DTS++ before 2004) is a multi-channel, lossless audio codec developed by DTS as an extension of the lossy DTS Coherent Acoustics codec (DTS CA; usually itself referred to as just DTS). Rather than being ...

5.1 audio track and Japanese subtitles.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Love And Honor 2006 films 2000s Japanese films 2000s Japanese-language films Films about blind people Films scored by Isao Tomita Films set in castles Films with screenplays by Yôji Yamada Funimation Jidaigeki films Samurai films Shochiku films