

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.

Toshirō Mifune
Musashi Miyamoto a.k.a. Takezo

Koji Tsuruta
Kojiro Sasaki

Kaoru Yachigusa
Otsu

Mariko Okada
Akemi

Michiyo Kogure
Lady Yoshino

Akihiko Hirata
Seijuro Yoshioka

Mitsuko Mito
Oko
Kurôemon Onoe
Takuan

Sachio Sakai
Matahachi Honiden

Yū Fujiki
Denshichiro Yoshioka