Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor is a 1970 film.

The True Story of the end of the Shogunate, the tragedy of the Shinsengumi

Shinsengumi

The were a special police force of the late shogunate period.-Historical background:After Japan opened up to the West following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, its political situation gradually became more and more chaotic...

 is one of the best loved stories of Japanese history and has been adapted many times on stage, screen, television, and anime. This film, starring Toshirô Mifune

Toshiro Mifune

Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...

 with an all-star cast, stands out as one of the definitive adaptations of this classic tale.

Plot summary

Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor

Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all are content...

The Shinsengumi

Shinsengumi

The were a special police force of the late shogunate period.-Historical background:After Japan opened up to the West following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, its political situation gradually became more and more chaotic...

, a small army of samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

, farmers and peasants, band together to do battle against the tide of history. Their leader, Isami Kondo (Mifune

Toshiro Mifune

Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...

) is a man who rises from farmer to fighter to head the fierce Shinsengumi

Shinsengumi

The were a special police force of the late shogunate period.-Historical background:After Japan opened up to the West following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, its political situation gradually became more and more chaotic...

 brigade. Using a stern hand and a heart of gold, he rallies his men in defense of the tottering Shogunate. But bloodshed and treachery lurk around every corner.

Cast

• Toshirô Mifune
  Toshiro Mifune
  Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
  
   - Isami Kondo
• Keiju Kobayashi
  Keiju Kobayashi
  was a Japanese actor. Born in Gunma Prefecture, he began acting at the Nikkatsu studio after dropping out of Nihon University and made his film debut in 1942. In a career that spanned 65 years, he appeared in over 250 films, most famously in the "Company President" comedy films made at Toho, where...
  
   - Toshizo Hijikata
• Kinya Kitaoji - Soji Okita
• Rentaro Mikuni - Kamo Serizawa
• Yôko Tsukasa - Tsune