is a 1999 Japanese

ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

-themed

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...

film directed by

Masahiro Shinoda was a Japanese film director, whose career spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio fro ...

. It was co-written by Shinoda and Katsuo Naruse, and stars Kiichi Nakai It is the second adaptation of

Ryōtarō Shiba , also known as , was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the r ...

's 1959 novel '' Fukurō no Shiro'', the first being the 1963 film '' Castle of Owls''.

Cast

* Kiichi Nakai as Jūzō Tsuzura * Takaya Kamikawa as Gohei Kazama *

Mayu Tsuruta Mayu Tsuruta (鶴田真由, born April 25, 1970, in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan) is an actress. In 1996 she was nominated by the Award of the Japanese Academy for Best Supporting Actress in the film Kike wadatsumi no koe Last Friends. Following the ...

as Kohagi * Riona Hazuki as Kisaru * Shōhei Hino as Kuroami *

Akiji Kobayashi , sometimes credited as Shōji Kobayashi, was a Japanese actor. He attended Nihon University College of Art, but withdrew before completing his degree and joined the Haiyuza Theatre Company in 1949. He made his film debut with ''Satsujin Yogisha' ...

Akira Nakao was a Japanese actor, television personality, and artist from Kisarazu, Chiba. He was represented by the Furutachi Project agency. Biography Nakao attended Chiba Prefectural Kisarazu High School from 1958, and entered Musashino Art University ...

Mako Iwamatsu was a Japanese-American actor, credited mononymously in almost all of his acting roles as simply Mako (マコ), pronounced "MAH-ko". His career in film, on television, and on stage spanned five decades and 165 productions. He was an Academy Aw ...

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

* Jinpachi Nezu as

Hattori Hanzō or ''Second Hanzō'', nicknamed , was a famous samurai of the Sengoku era, who served the Tokugawa clan as a general, credited with saving the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu and then helping him to become the ruler of united Japan. He is often a ...

* Kinnosuke Hannayagi as

Ishida Mitsunari was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...

* Shima Iwashita *

Masahiko Tsugawa , born Masahiko Katō (加藤雅彦 ''Katō Masahiko''; January 2, 1940 – August 4, 2018) was a Japanese actor and director. Career Tsugawa was born January 2, 1940, in Kyoto, Japan. After acting as a child, he made his major debut at 16 in t ...

Atsuo Nakamura is a Japanese actor and politician. He has appeared in more than 50 films since 1964. His younger brother Katsuyuki Nakamura is a writer. Career Nakamura first joined the Haiyuza theatre troupe in 1962, and became famous for his starring role i ...

Production

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

was a production partner on the film, and the use of

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

and

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...

was widely touted in the film's marketing.

Awards and accolades

Nikkan Sports Film Award The , also called the Nikkan Sports Yujiro Ishihara Film Prizes, are annual film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Nikkan Sports'' newspaper since 1988. The categories of ''Fans' Choice Award for Best Film'' and ''Fans' Choice Award for Best Act ...

s: Ishihara Yujiro Award (1999). *

Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (), or BiFan, formerly known as Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival or PiFan, is an international film festival held annually in July in Bucheon, South Korea. Inaugurated in 1997, the fe ...

: Best Director -

(2000). * Japanese Academy Awards: Best Art Direction - Yoshinobu Nishioka (2000). The film also received nine Japanese Academy Award nominations.

References

External links

* *
Comparison between original film (''Castle of Owls'') and the remake
1999 films 1990s adventure drama films 1999 romantic drama films 1990s Japanese-language films Jidaigeki films Ninja films Toho films Remakes of Japanese films Cultural depictions of Hattori Hanzō Cultural depictions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Ieyasu Films based on Japanese novels 1990s Japanese films Films scored by Joji Yuasa {{1990s-adventure-film-stub