The Dagger of Kamui
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| The Dagger of Kamui | |
|---|---|
| カムイの剣 (Kamui no Ken) |
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| Genre | Action, Historical, Ninja |
| Movie | |
| Directed by | Rintaro |
| Studio | |
| Released | |
| Runtime | |
The Dagger of Kamui (カムイの剣 Kamui no Ken?) (1985) is a movie based on the novel series by author Tetsu Yano.
The film is animated by Japan's Madhouse Production, Ltd and Toei Animation Co. Ltd. and directed by Rintaro. It is written by Mamoru Mazaki with character designs by Moriyoshi Murano. Takuo Noda directed the animation, and the music was composed by Ryuudoh Uzaki and Eitetsu Hayashi. It has been released on VHS and DVD by Animeigo.
[edit] Plot
The movie follows the life of Jiro, a young foundling boy raised by a kindly inn-keeper and her daughter in the town of Sai on the Shimokita Peninsula during the last years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, several years before the start of Japan's Meiji Restoration.
One evening, a lone shinobi (or ninja) appears out of the darkness and kills Jiro's adoptive mother and sister while the boy was away. When he returns home, he finds their dead bodies, a strange dagger and a whole host of angry villagers who blame him for killing his family. Jiro escapes into the night with the dagger and meets with a buddhist monk called Tenkai who works for the Shogunate as an Oniwaban (or Guardian). Knowing full well what happened and filling Jiro's head with lies about the incident, Tenkai takes the boy face-to-face with the man who supposedly killed his family — a man who recognizes the boy as his son, though Jiro has no recollection of the man. Tenkai's subordinates, a powerful group of Shinobi had the man, Tarouza, surrounded, missing an arm and severely wounded when Tenkai tells Jiro to settle the score and deliver the killing blow. Afterwards, his entire village is set ablaze and the villagers slaughtered to cover up the incident. Tenkai then takes Jiro in and has his subordinate Shingo train him in the ways of Ninja so that one day, he may learn of his father. Tenkai quickly dispatches Shingo to follow Jiro and make sure he stays to the same path as Tarouza, Jiro's late father.
As Jiro travels in search of answers to the mystery of his family line, he comes across a group of men beating up an old Ainu man. The old man's son, Uraka implores Jiro's help and he quickly dispatches the punks. Unable to save the old man, Jiro and Uraka escape to Uraka's home village of Shinopirika-Kotan. The village elder recognizes the dagger as the Dagger of Kamui and that it was originally the family treasure of the village chief but, was given to a Japanese ninja who married an Ainu woman. The Elder tells Jiro that they had a son who was sent away down the river. The woman no longer lives in the village and has moved up river. Jiro, still in his quest for answers comes to find that this woman is his true mother and while talking with her, he comes to learn that his father had indeed been a shinobi under the command of Tenkai. Tenkai manipulated Tarouza into trying to find a treasure large enough to bolster the Shogunate in its failing years, enough so that they could keep themselves in power. Tarouza was unwilling to cooperate and fled to Shinopirika-Kotan where he met Jiro's mother, Oyaruru, daughter of the village chief. They had a son together, Jiro, and when Tenkai and his men caught up with them, Jiro was sent away down river to protect him from Tenkai and Tarouza was thought killed while Oyaruru looked on. During their evening meal, without ever noticing, both Jiro and Oyaruru take in a paralysis potion through the food and Oyaruru is killed with the Dagger of Kamui, implicating Jiro in her murder. Imprisoned according to village law, Uraka returns to help Jiro who finally understands that Tenkai has been manipulating him and the time for revenge is at hand. Revelation after revelation is revealed until the final climax: a bloody showdown between Tenkai and Jiro. The movie is very accurate in its depictions of pre-Meiji Japan, Russia, and the United States and deals directly with historical events such as the Boshin War, and historical figures such as Saigou Takamori and Mark Twain.
