is a 2005 Japanese horror film, starring Ichikawa Somegorō VII, Rie Miyazawa and Kanako Higuchi. Directed by

Yōjirō Takita Yōjirō Takita (滝田洋二郎 ''Takita Yōjirō'', born December 4, 1955) is a Japanese filmmaker. Takita received an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for his 2008 drama '' Departures''. It marked the first time a Japanese film won the aw ...

, it is a film adaptation of a 1987 Kazuki Nakashima play set in the 16th century. It has been released on

DVD-Video DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVDs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in most of the world in the 2000s. As of 2024, it competes with the high-definition Blu-ray Disc, while both rece ...

as in the United Kingdom by Yume Pictures in 2006 and in the United States by

AnimEigo AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to licens ...

in 2007.

Story

A beautiful ''

oni An ( ) is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like th ...

'' named Bizan (Kanako Higuchi) appears on Earth. She wants to bring demon queen Ashura back to life, so the demons can take over the world beginning in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

(modern day Tokyo). Opposing her is the Oni Makado, an army of demon slayers that was created by the Japanese government. Izumo (Somegorō Ichikawa) once fought with the Makado, but resigned to become a

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

actor after he thought he accidentally killed a young girl. After 5 years, Izumo encounters Tsubaki (Rie Miyazawa), who is a member of an all-female acrobatic troupe who rob the citizens of Edo during the night. Falling deeply in love, Izumo notices a red, ugly scar on Tsubaki's shoulder, which is the mark of Ashura. Meanwhile, Jaku, one of Izumo's ex-comrades (

Atsuro Watabe is a Japanese actor. Career Born in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Watabe debuted as an actor on television in 1991 with the drama ''Seishun no mon''. He won awards of excellence in the best actor and new face categories at the 19th Japan Academy Prize i ...

), falls for Bizan, leading the Oni Makado over to the dark side. Jaku desires the power of Ashura and captures Tsubaki, but Izumo rescues her. The passion between Izumo and Tsubaki eventually causes the spirit of Ashura to awaken within the latter. After introspection, both Izumo and Tsubaki recall the event they were unable to remember from 5 years ago. This explains why their supposedly chance meetings always invoked a feeling of familiarity. With great disdain for the transgressions in her human life, Tsubaki leaves for the demon world to fulfill her destiny as their queen. In forlorn pursuit, Izumo arrives at Ashura's inverted sky castle of the demon world and slays Jaku, and then Bizan. Eventually Izumo finds Ashura and fights to the death.

Cast

Music

The music for the movie was composed and scored by

Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer of soundtracks for anime series, Video game, video games, Japanese television drama, television dramas and movies. She has written scores for ''Cowboy Bebop'', ''Terror in Resonance'', ''Gho ...

. The theme song for the English-dubbed version is " My Funny Valentine", which is performed by Sting and features piano playing by

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Release

The two-disc set contains special features on the second disc. Two

featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...

s are included: "The Making of ''Ashura''" and "The Visual Effects of ''Ashura''." The first featurette, running 25 minutes, is a production documentary with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew. The special features documentary is 15 minutes long. Also included are a photo gallery, which is viewed without a remote, trailers for other releases from the same distributor and production notes for ''Ashura''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashurajo No Hitomi 2005 films 2005 horror films Films directed by Yōjirō Takita Films set in the 16th century Japanese horror films Jidaigeki films Shochiku films Tokusatsu films 2000s Japanese films Demons in film Films scored by Yoko Kanno