, also known as ''Spy Hunter'', is a 1965 film directed by

Masahiro Shinoda is a retired Japanese film director, originally associated with the Shochiku Studio, who came to prominence as part of the Japanese New Wave in the 1960s. Early life Shinoda attended Waseda University, where he studied theater and also partici ...

, based on a novel by Koji Nakada. The legendary ninja Sasuke Sarutobi tracks the spy Nojiri, while a mysterious figure named Sakon leads a band of men on their own quest for the wily Nojiri. Soon no one knows just who is who and what side anyone is on. Made during the height of the

cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, the film follows the lives of spies caught up in the power struggles of their times.

Plot

It is set in the period between the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

in 1600 and the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

in 1614. Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, but the peace is threatened. It follows

Sarutobi Sasuke is a ninja who appears in kōdan narrative art and fictional writings. The nickname is generally believed to have been concocted from Meiji to the Taishō period. Some argue he is based on real live personages, such as and . His family name, ...

(

Kōji Takahashi (born 10 June 1935 in Tōkamachi, Niigata), is a Japanese actor, who attended Niigata Prefectural Tōkamachi High School and later Toyo University. Career While he was at Toyo University, Takahashi became a chauffeur of Seiji Miyaguchi, an actor ...

), a spy for the

Sanada Clan The is a Japanese clan. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003).html" ;"title="DF 56 of 80">("Sanada," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 52 [PDF 56 of 80/nowiki>">DF 56 of 80">("Sa ...

. Sasuke, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, Sasuke is caught between two rival groups of spies, those working for the Tokugawa Shogunate and those supporting the Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Toyotomi Clan. Tokugawa Ieyasu's clan was in the strategically superior position after having won the Battle of Sekigahara but had engendered much hatred among

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 ...

who had become

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master's ...

after the Battle. The Tokugawa spies are led by Sakon Takatani (

Tetsurō Tamba was a Japanese actor with a career spanning five decades. He is best known in the West for his role in the 1967 James Bond film '' You Only Live Twice'' as Tiger Tanaka. Biography Tamba had a part-time job as an interpreter at Supreme Commande ...

) and Tatewaki Koriyama (

Eiji Okada was a Japanese film actor from Chōshi, Chiba. Okada served in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and was a miner and traveling salesman before becoming an actor. Internationally, his best-remembered roles include Lui ("him" in Fre ...

) and the Toyotomi by Shigeyuki Koremura (

Eitaro Ozawa , also credited as Sakae Ozawa (小沢栄), was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1988, directed by notable filmmakers such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Kaneto Shindō. Selected fi ...

) and his lieutenant Takanosuke Nojiri (

Kei Satō was a Japanese character actor and narrator. He is known for his work with Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima, and for several films with Kaneto Shindo, such as '' Onibaba'' and ''Kuroneko''. He won the best actor award from ''Kinema Junpo ...

). The story begins when Sasuke is approached by another Toyotomi spy Mitsuaki Inamura (Mutsuhiro Toura), who tells Sasuke that Tatewaki means to betray Tokugawa and join the Toyotomi. Sasuke, believing that this intrigue will start another war, tells Mitsuaki that he wants no part in it, but Mitsuaki begs Sasuke to help him since the local magistrate Genba Kuni (Minoru Hodaka) is on the lookout for him. Mitsuaki goes into the town with him and they see Genba Kuni cruelly parading a young man who is a Christian that he has captured and Mitsuaki admits to betraying the Christian in order to distract Kuni and allow him to get through his district. As they are on the road Sasuke notices a beautiful women with an older man who they had seen in town but Mitsuaki is attacked outside of town and Sasuke comes to his rescue, but later at an inn in the next town, Mitsuaki is assassinated. Sasuke finds him dead and is chased as the murderer since he comes out of the room. He escapes but soon meets the beautiful woman who entices him to come to her room, and when she turns up dead Sasuke is suspected. Sasuke decides he must find the true killer or killers and at the same time finds himself involved in the intrigue which he sought to avoid to find Tatewaki and help him to betray Tokugawa and join the Toyotomi.

Cast

*Sasuke Sarutobi - spy

Koji Takahashi Koji, Kōji, Kohji or Kouji may refer to: *Kōji (given name), a masculine Japanese given name *Kōji (Heian period) (康治), Japanese era, 1142–1144 *Kōji (Muromachi period) (弘治), Japanese era, 1555–1558 *Koji orange, a Japanese citrus ...

*Saizo Kirigakure - spy

Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultranat ...

*Shigeyuki Koremura - leader of spies

*Takanosuke Nojiri - lieutenant Kei Satō *Mitsuaki Inamura - spy Mutsuhiro Toura *Sakon Takatani - lieutenant

*Tatewaki Koriyama - lieutenant Eiiji Okada *Jinnai–Kazutaka Horikawa - clan minister

Seiji Miyaguchi was a Japanese actor who appeared in films of Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai and many others. He succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 71. Distinctions One of Kurosawa's iconic ''Seven Samurai'', Miyaguchi won the 195 ...

*Genba Kuni - magistrate Minoru Hodaka *Okiwa - dancer and spy

Misako Watanabe is a Japanese stage, film and television actress. A graduate of the Haiyuza Theatre Company, she gave her film debut in Tadashi Imai's ''Tower of Lilies'' (1953) before becoming a contract player at the Nikkatsu film studios. She appeared in alm ...

*Yashiro Kobayashi - Christian samurai Yasunori Irikawa *Omiyo - orphan in Joshinji Temple Jitsuko Yoshimura *Joshinji - Temple priest

Jun Hamamura was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 1995. Selected filmography * ''Wolf'' (1955) * '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) * '' The Hole'' (1957) * ''The Temptress and the Monk'' (1958) * ''Enjō'' (1958) * ''Odd Obs ...

References

External links

*
Samurai Spy - Vintage Ninja''Samurai Spy: The Thin Line Between Truth and Lies''
an essay by

Alain Silver Alain Silver is a US film producer, director, and screenwriter; music producer; film critic, film historian, DVD commentator, author and editor of books and essays on film topics, especially film noir, the samurai film, and horror films. Filmmak ...

at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

{{Masahiro Shinoda 1965 films Films based on romance novels Films based on Japanese novels Films directed by Masahiro Shinoda 1960s Japanese-language films Jidaigeki films Ninja films 1965 romantic drama films Samurai films 1960s Japanese films