The era when Samurai and Ninja existed in Japan. Rikka Isurugi was born and raised in a Ninja clan secluded from society. She soon meets Miya, a girl with a mysterious power, who is found lost in the mountains. As Rikka is concerned that someone is pursuing Miya, she also asks the head the of Isurugi Ninja Clan for permission to avenger her father's death. Soon Rikka faces danger with the attack of the Negoro group but…
GOZEN is a jidageki (period piece) dramas. The word “gozen” refers to a feudal game held in the presence of a Daimyo, described as a match “one must not lose”.
Set in Kyoto in the last days of the Edo Period, the bloody conflict continues between local feudal domains, which aim to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Shogun's police and city patrol. Tajuro Kiyokawa, once the master of the sword but now a depraved samurai who left his domain putting aside his past ambition, barely makes ends meet. Toyo, a woman who runs a tavern next door, feels affection for Tajuro who guards her place against nasty customers, but he never realizes Toyo's feelings.
This is a “Movie in a Movie” like no other ever before. Kyoei, a historical film studio in Kyoto (Modeled on Toei), is asked by NHK to make a new samurai era program using the most advanced technology. While the elderly filmmakers at Kyoei are struggling with the high-tech equipment, their skills at creating choreographed sword battles are undiminished. The NHK project will dramatize the Ikedaya incident, which was a raid launched by the Shinsengumi against Imperial loyalists gathered at an inn called Ikedaya in Kyoto during the twilight years of the Tokugawa shogunate. A series of problems occur and the climax they reach after overcoming difficulties is an unprecedented attempt at a 360° one-cut scene involving the world’s most advanced high-speed camera and wire action for a scene where Kondo Isami will fall down the stairs at Ikedaya. Can they succeed in filming the single greatest swordfight scene in samurai movie history?!?
Living away from his family, a physical therapist sees his father entering the hospital he works at and watches him getting weaker, as his other patients’ conditions worsen.
Seizo Fukumoto was a Japanese actor, specialized in samurai movies. He often played the role of 'kirareyaku', the person who loses the sword fight and dies spectacularly: he is said to have acted out 50,000 on-screen deaths.