GOSHA Hideo's "THE HUNTED SAMURAI"

(Mushuku Zamurai)

1973 – Color - 135 min.  –  REMASTERED ACADEMY STANDARD (4:3)

Starring: AMACHI Shigeru

                NATSUYAGI Isao, MIYAMOTO Nobuko

                EBARA Shinjiro, MIYAUCHI Junko

Developed by: GOSHA Hideo

Music by: TOMITA Isao

 Directed by: TSUCHIYA Keinosuke

                 NAKAGAWA Nobuo

“Make no mistake, the penalty for desertion is death!”

Those words start one of the most extraordinary samurai era television series to ever come out of Japan. Created and developed by master filmmaker Gosha Hideo this is one of the first times that feature film quality hit the small screen. Megastar Amachi Shigeru is Gen, a former ninja with a price on his head traveling about Japan seeking the identity of the mysterious “Kagekubo” leader of his former group who issued the death warrant for desertion.

Episode 3: THE SONG OF THE WOLVES

Our fugitive ninja lived to see another day. But he is still unable to leave his past behind him…Though my life is a living hell, I must not give up. I am one and the only Hunted Samurai.”

In this episode, Gen encounters a group of men called “The Wolves,” who aim to steal government money. Bloodshed is imminent when he must face the assassins, but they are not the only ones who are plotting against him. Featuring samurai mega-star Natsuyagi Isao!

Episode 4: THE FATE OF FUGITIVE NINJAS

Greed had poisoned many. All Gen wished was to live his life like a normal person, but it seemed as though hell itself was haunting him and preventing him from doing so. “Though my life is a living hell, I must not give up. I am one and the only Hunted Samurai.” In this episode a young man kidnaps a magistrate’s family to protest high taxes.

Later, Gen discovers the magistrate’s deadly secret.

Episode 5: ECHOES OF THE PUPPET’S WHISTLE

“Though my life is a living hell, I must not give up. I am one and the only Hunted Samurai.”

In this episode, Gen meets the daughter of a man he killed on Kagekubo’s order. After protecting her from deceitful samurai, he surrenders himself, so she can avenge her father. Has Gen’s journey come to a fateful end?