Bushido

The humble ronin Kakunoshin is shrouded in mystery among his neighbours. It is not uncommon for his daughter Kinu to be confronted by the landowner with months of arrears in her father's payments and to have to make up new stories every time in order to keep her modest place of residence. The former samurai and his daughter often have to make do with the bare necessities, and his work as an engraver doesn't offer much more. Kinu nevertheless trusts her father blindly in all his decisions; he epitomises a decent and upright fellow citizen who also pursues a great passion: he is a true master at the board game Go. With his expertise, he surprises onlookers time and time again, which is why questions about his mysterious past are piling up. When he is confronted with a false accusation, old wounds are reopened and he is forced to remember his forgotten sword-fighting skills.

With The Blood of Wolves, director Kazuya SHIRAISHI succeeded in 2018 in setting a clear exclamation mark in the cop vs. yakuza genre. His entertaining portrait of cult director Koji Wakamatsu, Dare To Stop Us, was shown at Japannual in 2019. The sequel can be found in this year's programme. Shiraishi himself started out as Wakamatsu's assistant director. His samurai lead actor Tsuyoshi KUSANAGI, still known to many as the pop star of the boy band SMAP, was already seen in a completely different role in 2021 in the Japannual Audience Award winner Midnight Swan, but also a year later in the new Audience Award winner Sabakan. His acting career began with Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Séance, 2000). He is supported by Kaya KIOHARA as his daughter. She is currently shining on Netflix in 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days. Together with her Bushido co-star Taishi NAKAGAWA, her voice could also be heard in the anime Josee, The Tiger And The Fish (Japannual 2021).