This movie essentially begins with the greatest swordsman in all of Japan "Ogami Itto" (Tomisaburo Wakayama) walking through the countryside with his young son "Daigaro" (Akihiro Tomikawa) being pushed in his baby cart. As they continue their journey, Ogami Itto is challenged to a duel by a samurai from a certain clan who then, with his dying breath, pays him 100 gold pieces for an assassination he wants committed and tells him that he will come upon 4 other samurai who will likewise challenge him and then give him more information. Sure enough, he meets and slays all 4 of his opponents and each of them give him more details about his next assignment. In addition to that, they each pay him 100 gold pieces to meet his usual price of 500 gold pieces for an assassination--with his target being a well-protected priest who has knowledge of that clan's insane daimyo trying to fool everyone into believing that a young female child is his male successor. And he must not be allowed to pass this information on to the shogunate because it would mean the end of everything for that clan. If that wasn't difficult enough, having now been paid his usual asking price, Ogami Itto is further asked by a female samurai named "Shiranui" (Michiyo Yasuda) that, in order to prevent the clan from being taken over by the shogunate, to not only kill the daimyo, but also his concubine and their young 5-year-old daughter as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I didn't quite care as much for this particular film as I did the other 4 in the series as it lacked the depth and intensity of its predecessors. That being said, while it certainly wasn't a bad film by any means, I honestly expected something better and I have rated it accordingly. Average.
