
After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.
Cast

Toshirō Mifune
Musashi Miyamoto a.k.a. Takezo

Koji Tsuruta
Kojiro Sasaki

Kaoru Yachigusa
Otsu

Mariko Okada
Akemi

Michiyo Kogure
Lady Yoshino

Akihiko Hirata
Seijuro Yoshioka

Mitsuko Mito
Oko
Kurôemon Onoe
Takuan

Sachio Sakai
Matahachi Honiden

Yū Fujiki
Denshichiro Yoshioka

Machiko Kitagawa
Kogure

Eiko Miyoshi
Osugi

Eijirō Tōno
Baiken Shishido
Kenjin Iida
Jotaro
Kō Mihashi
Honami Koetsu

Yoshibumi Tajima
Yoshioka samurai
Keiko Kondo
(uncredited)

Hisako Takihana
(uncredited)

Ren Yamamoto
(uncredited)
Ryū Kuze
(uncredited)

Torahiko Hamada
(uncredited)

Yoshio Inaba
(uncredited)
Fumindo Matsuo
(uncredited)
Minoru Itō
(uncredited)

Yasuhisa Tsutsumi
(uncredited)
Ren Imaizumi
(uncredited)

Rinsaku Ogata
(uncredited)

Kenzō Tabu
(uncredited)

Kokuten Kōdō
Old Priest Nikkan (uncredited)

Daisuke Katō
Toji Gion
Crew

Hiroshi Inagaki
Director, Writer
Tokuhei Wakao
Writer

Eiji Yoshikawa
Novel
Hideshi Ohi
Editor
Jun Yasumoto
Cinematography

Jun Fukuda
Assistant Director
Kazuo Takimura
Producer
Kisaku Ito
Production Design
Chôshichirô Mikami
Sound

Ikuma Dan
Original Music Composer
Makoto Sono
Set Decoration
Tukuho Gosai
Choreographer
Yoshio Sugino
Choreographer
Hideji Hōjō
Theatre Play



















