Plot
On his travels on "the Demon Path in Hell", Ogami Itto is confronted by a series of five messengers who represent a clan wanting his services. Each assassin in turn administers a specific test of his abilities, and when bested gives Ogami partial payment for the job and, as per his usual stipulation, discloses some of the "secrets and reasons" for the killing. By the time Ogami has defeated all the messengers, he has been informed of a conspiracy to disguise a '' daimyō''s illegitimate female offspring as a prince and heir to the clan, while the official offspring, a son, is kept imprisoned and concealed. A letter detailing the plot is being delivered by a high priest, who in reality is a "grass" or secret ninja agent, to the ''shōgun'', which would mean the dissolution of the clan, leaving retainers, samurai, and vassals without support—a disastrous end. Ogami is to intercept the priest carrying the letter, kill him and retrieve the letter; the priest will be traveling under the protection of his arch-enemy, Yagyū Retsudō, further complicating the mission. On a stopover at a town festival, Itto's three-year-old son, Ogami Daigoro, is separated from his father and has his own personal adventure when he gets mixed up with a notorious female pickpocket, named Oyo, being chased by constables. She gives him a stolen wallet to hold for her and asks him to promise not to tell anyone. Daigoro is arrested as her accomplice, but refuses to talk. The law officers publicly flog him in front of the townspeople, but Daigoro keeps his promise even after the pickpocket reveals herself and confesses. Finally the constables release him, impressed by his stoic courage and honor. En route to intercept the priest, Ogami is contracted by a young woman, named Shiranui, to kill the retired lord, his concubine and the young daughter. Ogami, then in a skilled move, swims underwater to a boat containing the high priest and steals the letter. After securing the letter, he confronts the ''daimyo'' and after a brutal battle with the ''daimyo'' Seven Bodyguards, kills him, his concubine and the young girl, fulfilling his contracts. In the final scene, as Ogami takes Daigoro with him on a boat to sail away, Shiranui appears and before committing harakiri, that the official story will be that the retired lord committed ''Cast
* Tomisaburo Wakayama asRelease
''Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons'' was released theatrically in Japan on 11 August 1973 where it was distributed by Toho. The film was released on home video by Samurai Cinema, a division of AnimEigo with English subtitles on 20 July 1997.Footnotes
Sources
*External links
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lone Wolf And Cub: Baby Cart In The Land Of Demons 1973 films Films directed by Kenji Misumi Japanese martial arts films Japanese sequel films Live-action films based on manga 5 Toho films 1973 martial arts films Films set in the Edo period 1970s Japanese films