
            In this second Lone Wolf and Cub movie, the disgraced former executioner, or Kogi Kaishakunin to the shogun, Ogami Itto is now living rough on the land with his three-year-old son Daigoro, travelling the countryside as a hired killer. Pushing his son in a baby cart, he stops at a bathhouse looking for a room and a bath, and is eagerly welcomed in by a young woman. However, the manager of the house sees Itto as a dirty vagabond and scolds the young woman for letting him in the house. Overhearing this, Itto goes to the baby cart and retrieves a bundle and hands it to the manager for safe keeping it is 500 gold pieces, earned from a recent job. The manager's tone quickly changes, but when he tries to wash Daigoro's feet, the boy kicks water at the old man and tromps across the floor, leaving wet footprints.Itto's activities are being watched by the Kurokawa spy clan of Shinobi-class ninja, which have fallen in with Itto's nemesis, the Shadow Yagyu. They report on his activities to Sayaka, head of Akari Yagyu clan of female assassins. But the Kurokawa are unsure that the women are up to the task of killing Itto. Sayaka laughs confidently and tells the Kurokawas' leader to send their best man into the room. She then orders the man to try and exit the room. He tries to do so by grappling onto the ceiling, but the female assassins set upon him and make short work of him, hacking off his ears, fingers, arms and legs, leaving the man a writhing heap of just a torso and head before he is finally finished off.Itto, meanwhile, is hired by a clan that specializes in making indigo dye and has a secret process. One of the clan plans to sell out the secret to the shogun. Itto must kill him. The turncoat will be escorted by the three Hidari brothers, each a master of a deadly weapon; the iron claw, the flying mace, and a pair of armored gloves.As he travels to his job, Itto encounters three groups of female assassins of the Akari clan. The first group is disguised as an acrobat troupe that turns deadly as their gymnastic moves are combined with blades and turned against Itto. He then encounters a pair of women who with blades on their straw hats that they throw at Itto as if they are Frisbees. Finally, some women washing vegetables by the river turn out to be assassins and the daikons they are washing are wielded as weapons. Itto kills them all.Then he meets Sayaka, who catches him, his son and the baby cart in a steel net. Itto cuts his way out of the net and engages in a sword duel with her. He delivers what should be a disabling blow to her ankles, but the woman fighter jumps straight up out of her kimono to reveal a fishnet body suit and then runs away, bizarrely jogging backwards.Next, the Kurokawa clan are waiting for Itto, who puts together his naginata (disguised as railing on the baby cart) and gives the baby cart a shove toward the waiting enemies. Daigoro, still in the baby cart then activates blades in the axles of the cart, which cut off the feet of several men. The battle that ensues between Itto and the Kurokawas is fierce and Itto is injured before he kills them all.Weary from the endless fighting, Itto struggles along the road and eventually finds shelter in a shack. Daigoro, seeing that his father needs his help, must do what he can. Unable to carry water in his tiny hands, Daigoro carries water from the river in the only vessel available his mouth. He spits the few drops he could carry between his father's parched lips. For food, Daigoro finds some rice cakes given as an offering to a Buddha statue and takes them for his father, leaving his vest in exchange. Itto recovers and finds that his son is missing. Daigoro has been taken by the Kurokawa and Sayaka, tied up and suspended over a water well. If Itto attacks, they will let go of the rope and Daigoro will plunge to his death. Daigoro lets his sandal drop into the well, giving Itto a gauge of how deep it is. He then makes his move as the rope unspools, stopping it just in time.Sayaka watches silently and makes no move to engage the swordsman, realizing his technique far outstrips her own and perhaps also out of a sense of honor for the devotion of the father to his child.Itto then finds himself aboard a ship, carrying the three Hidari brothers. Itto is met by several other members of the indigo-dye clan, who try to kill the Hidaris but are bloodily rebuffed. The clan then sets the ship on fire in an attempt to kill the Hidaris, but the three killers escape. Itto tosses Daigoro and the baby cart into the water, the cart proves itself by floating.Sayaka has followed Itto onto the ship and in the water, she tries to kill him, but is disarmed. Itto, with Daigoro and Sayaka, find shelter, but they are cold. Itto disrobes himself and Daigoro, then turns on Sayaka, tearing off her clothes. But he does not mean to rape her. Instead, he is seeking to get her out of her cold, wet clothes and cling to her while nude. "Three people are warmer than two," he explains. She thinks about taking his sword and killing him, but the cozy scene, with Daigoro sitting between them, playfully fondling her breast, makes her abandon the plan.The final showdown takes place on a vast area of sand dunes. The three Hidari brothers are at the head of a caravan of men carrying a palanquin with the indigo expert inside. The brother with the iron claw runs forward and thrusts his claw into the sand, which boils up with blood. There are men hiding in the sand. He digs his claw into the sand several times, each time creating a pool of blood and pulling up a hiding warrior by his head. The rest of the hidden men in the sand emerge and fight, but the Hidari brothers dispatch them all.Itto awaits, alone, at the top of a large dune. Each brother is dispatched in a high-pressure spray of blood, with the last brother dispatched in a lethal stroke along the throat, a cut that sprays blood in a fine mist, while making a sound like the "howling of the wind". The final slain Hidari brother comments such a fabled finishing stroke is referred to as "Mogaribue", and wishes he had heard the sound just once from the many people he has killed, but is instead hearing it from his own neck as his life slowly drains away.Itto approaches the palanquin with the traitorous indigo expert inside, finishing him off before gathering Daigoro and again setting off. The final scene shows them walking out of the desert and on a coastal trail, followed by Sayaka. Aware of her presence Itto stops the cart, looking straight ahead whilst holding out his dotanuki blade, as Sayaka wielding a katana is revealed behind him. Itto stands ominously still until he hears the sound of Sayaka dropping her sword; knowing that she can never defeat the master swordsman.
    

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx


            Set in Japan during an unspecific year of the Edo period, Ogami Itto, disgraced former executioner, or Kogi Kaishakunin, to the shogun, wanders the countryside, pushing a baby cart with his 3-year-old son Daigoro inside. A banner hangs off his back. "Ogami: Suiouryo technique" (Child and expertise for rent), it says. His services are asked for in a most unexpected way, when an insane woman seizes Daigoro from the cart and proceeds to try and breastfeed the boy. Daigoro at first hesitates, but after stern look from his father, he proceeds to suckle the crazy woman's breast. The woman's mother then apologizes for her daughter's behavior and tries to give Itto money, but the stoic ronin refuses, saying his son was hungry anyway.As he walks in the rain, he remembers another rainy day several months earlier when his wife, Asami, was slain by three ninjas, ostensibly in revenge for Itto's execution of a boy daimyo in the opening scene, but it was really part of a complicated plot by the shogun's Inspector Bizen and the "Shadow" shogun of the Yagyu Clan to frame Itto for treason and take over the executioner's post. Itto takes on Bizen and his men killing them all.Now a wandering assassin for hire, Itto takes a job from a local chamberlain, to kill a rival and his gang of henchmen, who pose a threat to the chamberlain's lord. The chamberlain plans to test Itto, but a quick slash behind his back with his Dotanuki sword dispatches the chamberlain's two men. The targets are in a remote mountain village that is home to hot-spring spa pools.As Itto pushes the baby cart, and Daigoro observes scenes of nature, such as a mother dog suckling one puppy, and two children singing a song and bouncing a ball, Itto thinks back again to the time just after his wife was killed. He gave Daigoro a choice between a toy ball or the sword. If the child chose the ball, Itto would put him to death send him to be with his mother (a better place in his opinion). But the curious child reaches for the sword; he has chosen to take the path of the ronin with his father, to live like demons at the crossroads to hell.Flashing forward to the present, Itto reaches the hot-spring village. He finds that the rival chamberlain and his men have hired a band of ronins who have taken over the town and are raping, looting and pillaging. Itto is forced to give up his sword and take his place as a hostage in the village.The ronins discuss killing Itto, but then decide to let him live if he will have sex with the town's remaining prostitute while they watch. The prostitute refuses to have any part in it, but then she's threatened by one of the men, a knife-throwing expert, and in order to save the woman, Itto steps forward and disrobes, saying he will do the men's bidding with the woman.In yet another flashback it shows the dramatic beheading and blood-spurting scene in which Itto defeats one of Yagyu Retsudo's best swordsman, with the aid of a mirror on Daigoro's forehead to reflect the sun into the swordsman's eyes.And then there is the big showdown in the village, where it is revealed that the baby cart harbors some secrets various edged weapons, including a spear-like naginata, which Itto uses to take out the evil chamberlain's men, chopping one off at his ankles, leaving the bloody stumps of his feet still standing on the ground.One of the men has matchlock pistols, but Itto quickly upturns the baby cart, which is revealed to be armored underneath, and when the gunman's pistols are empty, Itto quickly leaps over the baby cart and brings his blade down on the man's forehead, splitting it two.After all the enemy ronin are dead, Itto leaves the village, and the prostitute hopes to follow, but Itto makes a motion to cut the ropes on the bridge leading to town, to stop her from following, for the journey he is on is one that is for only him and Daigoro to make.
    

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance


            In this third 'Lone Wolf and Cub' movie, Ogami Itto, the disgraced former shogun's executioner, or Kogi Kaishakunin, is travelling by river on a boat with his young son Daigoro floating behind in the baby cart. A young woman at the front of the boat, clearly distraught for some reason, accidentally drops a bundle into the water, which Daigoro retrieves.Itto, meanwhile, draws his sword part way and notices in the reflection on the blade that some bamboo reeds are also trailing the boat. Itto is being followed by operatives of his mortal enemy, the Yagyu Clan; a constant threat that he can never ignore. Later, as Daigoro is relieving himself in a bamboo glade, Itto slices some bamboo stalks, causing some ninja assasins to fall from their perch.According to the voice-over narrator, this is a time in the Edo period in Japan when there are ronin, or at the very least a low-class of samurai termed "watari-kashi"; small bands of fighters who move from job to job, working from one "daimyo" (feud lord) to the next, depending on who's hiring.A group of four watari-kashi are idling along the road. Hot and bored, they spy an attractive young woman and her mother being escorted by a servant. Three of them run off to take advantage, but one of the band Kanbei, the more honorable of the four remains uninterested. The three knock the escort unconscious and proceed to rape the two women. The servant regains consciousness and is furious when he sees the triad violating his mistresses. He attempts to beat them with his bamboo pole, but is slain by Kanbei, who then also slays the two women to silence them. Kanbei then makes his three companions draw straws, saying the one unfortunate enough to draw the short straw will be killed to take the blame for the rapes and murders.Itto happens along this grim scene just as Kanbei is slaying the watari-kashi who drew the short straw. Itto kills the other two rapists when they attempt to attack him. Kanbei recognizes Itto and requests a duel. Itto accepts and they prepare, but at the last second Itto re-sheathes his sword and calls it a draw, leaving Kanbei to ponder his fate alone. "You are a true warrior," Itto says, "One I hope lives on."At an inn, it turns out that the young woman from the boat is to be sold into prostitution. Her pimp tries to have his way with her, but she bites off his tongue, spitting the bloody appendage onto the floor. The pimp dies from the injury.The girl seeks refuge in Itto's room, who steps in to protect her from the local police. But then the town's real authorities show up which are the local Yakuza, led by a young woman named Torizo. Some verbal sparring begins as Itto defends the girl against Torizo's threats. After Torizo pulls out a pistol and fires at shot at Itto's feet to indimidate him into surrendering the girl, Itto agrees to act as a substitute for the young woman and undergo "buri-buri", a form of torture that involves the subject being hogtied and hung in the air and repeatedly dunked headfirst into a tub of water. The subject is then beaten to unconsciousness by men wielding thick rattan canes and shouting "buri-buri". Itto endures the torture with his typical stoicism. This frees the young woman from having to work as a prostitute.Itto, still with a debt to pay for the death of the pimp, agrees to take on an assassination for Torizo and her father, a one-armed man that Itto is acquainted with from his past life as the shogun's executioner - acting as second during the execution of a daimyo who, fear-stricken, struggled dishonourably; Torizo's father had restrained the daimyo, sacrificing his arm to Itto's killing stroke.The target is a corrupt district deputy. Initially Itto is to face the deputy's personal bodyguards, one of whom is a sharpshooter and quick-draw artist who wields a pair of revolvers. Through cunning and guile (and the help of his young son Daigoro, who acts as a decoy), Itto defeats the armed man and takes his guns. The other is defeated by Itto in a sword duel.Itto's battle culminates in his facing the deputy's army perhaps 200 men singlehandedly. For the first time, the true power of the baby cart is revealed as it proves to harbor an entire arsenal of weapons, including spears, daggers, a bullet-proof shield, and a small battery of guns, capable of taking out many enemy soldiers like a heavy machine gun. All of the deputy's men are killed as Itto first takes out half of them with the baby cart's machine gun, and then takes out the rest with his sword and other weapons from the baby cart. The deputy is the last to fall when Itto, deprived of his sword when it falls out of his hands when he falls down an embankment, takes out one of the pistols he took earlier from the deputy bodyguard and uses it to shoot and kill the deputy. Itto then discards the gun and reclaims his sword, mumbling to himself that firearms are so uncivilized.Word of the fight has been passed to neighboring districts, and the ronin Kanbei shows up just after Itto has slain the deputy, and makes his demand again for a duel. Though battle-weary, Itto accepts the challenge. The fight is over in an instant. Itto is sliced across his back, but Kanbei is mortally wounded, impaled on Itto's Dotanuki battle sword.As Kanbei kneels to the ground, dying, he tells Itto his story and why he became a ronin a tale involving an ambush on his master's convoy. Seeing his side outnumbered, Kanbei seized an opportunity and ran ahead to attack the enemy head on. He surprised the enemy and prevailed in deflecting the hostiles, and saved the lord's life as a result, but since he left his lord's side, he was dishonored and expelled from the clan. He questions Itto whether he had done the wrong thing, and whether being a samurai means to fight and live, or to simply never leave the master's side and die. Itto replied that he would have done the same. "I am glad to hear that," Kanbei says, who then asks the former shogun's executioner to act as his "second" in the act of seppuku. This Itto does with honor.When asked by Kanbei what is the true "Way of the Warrior", Itto replies that it is neither to simply live nor die, but to live through death.As Itto walks away, pushing Daigoro and the baby cart, Torizo begins to runs after him, but is stopped by her men. They implore her not to go to him, saying he is not human, but a monster.
    

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades


            As the opening credits roll, an abbreviated version of Ogami Itto's (Tomisaburo Wakayama) past as Shogunate Decapitator and his wife's murder by ninja are seen, with Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) providing the narration.Two hooded samurai attack Ogami while he is pushing a cart with Daigoro inside. Ogami fends off the attack of the first, breaking the samurai's sword and splitting his head. The second attacker jumps over the first, with the first still clasping Ogami's blade. Ogami pulls off a handrail from the cart and a blade comes out, transforming it into a spear. Ogami then uses the spear to impale the second attacker. As the first is dying, he reminds Ogami that he is marked for death.As Ogami and Daigoro sit by a roadside fire and eat their evening meal, Ogami remembers how he offered the infant Daigoro the life-death choice: either Ogami's sword (which would mean that Daigoro would join him on his mission of vengeance against the Shogun) or Daigoro's ball (which would mean that Daigoro would be killed, so that he could be with his mother in heaven). Daigoro chooses the sword. The next day, the Shogun's officials bring Ogami the Shogun's orders: either swear eternal loyalty or commit suicide with Daigoro. Ogami decides to fight his way to freedom with Daigoro, only to have his path blocked by the Shogun and his men. The Shogun challenges Ogami to fight Kurando (the Shogun's son) in a duel; if Ogami wins, he wins his freedom. Ogami accepts, and eventually cuts off Kurando's head.Ogami and Daigoro journey on, never stopping in one place for very long as the Shogun's ninjas are always following them. As they wander, Daigoro recalls how Lord Bizen (Taketoshi Naito) and his men were given orders to kill him. Even though Bizen's men are wearing chain mail beneath their robes, Ogami's skill and blade are too powerful. Ogami lures Lord Bizen into the middle of a stream and uses an underwater sword-slash technique to kill him. Ogami sees the Shogun watching from a distance and he swears to the Shogun that he will destroy him and all of his ninjas.The Supreme Ninja (Kayo Matsuo) receives orders from the Shogun to kill Ogami and Daigoro. Lord Kurogawa (Akiji Kobayashi) doesn't believe the Supreme Ninja's women are up to the task, so she proves otherwise by ordering her ninjas to kill Junai (Kurogawa's strongest ninja).Ogami and Daigoro meet secretly with a client to discuss a business proposition. Ogami is offered the task of killing Lord Kiru (the Shogun's brother), and in return he will receive ten pieces of gold. Ogami accepts the mission and is told that Lord Kiru is being escorted by a three-brother team known as the 'Masters of Death.'During Ogami and Daigoro's journey to find Lord Kiru, they are attacked several times by The Supreme Ninja's women. Ogami kills them each time. Ogami finally faces the Supreme Ninja herself. She attacks Ogami with a weighted net that contains fishhooks, but Ogami cuts himself free and the Supreme Ninja flees by running away backward.Ogami and Daigoro keep on traveling, but they now come face-to-face with Lord Kurogawa's entire ninja force. Pushing Daigoro in his cart to safety, Ogami uses the spear blades in the cart's handrails to attack. All but two of the ninja are cut down, but Ogami is left wounded. He manages to push Daigoro to the safety of a deserted hut before collapsing from loss of blood. Daigoro goes in search of water for his father, finally bringing it back in his mouth, then takes some food offerings from a roadside shrine, leaving his jacket in honorable exchange.The Supreme Ninja meets with Lord Kurogawa to report her failure but Lord Kurogawa has another plan: to strike at Ogami through Daigoro.Later that night, Daigoro is lured outside the hut by the sound of a woman singing. Waking up to find Daigoro gone, Ogami searches for his son. He finds Daigoro is a prisoner of Lord Kurogawa and the Supreme Ninja. Daigoro is tied up and suspended over a deep well. Kurogawa demands that Ogami surrender or he will drop Daigoro down the well. Ogami refuses, so Kurogawa and his men attack. Kurogawa lets go of the rope suspending Daigoro over the well, but Ogami manages to stamp his foot down on the rope and kill Kurogawa (and his two ninjas) at the same time. Ignoring the Supreme Ninja, who has not moved throughout the fight, Ogami carefully pulls Daigoro up to safety. Instead of killing the Supreme Ninja, Ogami walks away with Daigoro.Ogami and Daigoro board a ship which is carrying the 'Masters of Death' to their rendezvous with Lord Kiru. Also on board is the Supreme Ninja. During the night, the remaining rebels start a fire on board the ship. In the ensuing inferno, the 'Masters of Death' tell Ogami that they recognize him, but that they will not attack him as long as he makes no move against them. Ogami agrees to their terms and they leave him. The companionway is blocked by flames, so he cuts through the deck planking. Ogami then puts Daigoro in his cart and throws them both overboard to safety. The Supreme Ninja attacks Ogami from underwater but he overpowers her. Getting Daigoro, himself and the Supreme Ninja to shore and to the shelter of a fisherman's hut, he strips all three of them naked and gathers them close together, telling the Supreme Ninja that they must share their body heat or die. The Supreme Ninja doesn't understand why he would save her and realizes she cannot kill Ogami or his son. The next day, Ogami and Daigoro leave her there, knowing that she will have to return to the Shogun, report her failure and commit suicide.The 'Masters of Death' escort Lord Kiru and his entourage through a desert area, where they are attacked by a rebel force concealed under the sand. The 'Masters of Death' then fight off and kill all of the rebels. Lord Kiru is taken to safety. However, they haven't gone far before they see Daigoro standing in their way. He points to Ogami, who is waiting. The 'Masters of Death' finally face off against Ogami, but one by one they are cut down and killed. Ogami then chases after Lord Kiru's procession, driving off the guards. Lord Kiru protests that he is the Shogun's brother, but Ogami tells Kiru that the "Shogun means nothing" to him. Ogami then kills Lord Kiru with his sword.As he and his father walk away from the carnage, Daigoro looks back one last time and says via voice-over, "I guess I wish it was different ... but a wish is only a wish".
    

Shogun Assassin


            
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