Haunted Samurai Film Review

Aka - Shinobi Demon: Duel in the Wind (Kaze no Tengu)

Interesting to see how Samurai films as well as Yakuza films evolved toward the end of the 1960s into more graphic violence and nudity. In most ways this is standard Ninkyo eiga (Chivalrous) material with all the tropes of the honorable Samurai in place, but it has a very different mood and style than the earlier ones with Ken Takakura and Koji Tsuruta. Harsher, grayer, less noble. But this certainly falls into that sub-genre. The plot feels very familiar and I have seen versions of it in a number of films; Zatoichi comes to mind. The protagonist wanting to perform one good deed before he dies.

Rokuheita Kusanagi (Hideki Takahashi) is an enforcer for the powerful Yagyu Clan. His job is to kill deserters who have left for various reasons. There is no quitting the Yagyu. He is ordered to kill an old friend who is married to his sister. He does so reluctantly and his sister commits suicide. In his next assignment, he is about to finish off the man when the man's wife and child arrive and beg forgiveness. He relents and tells the man to go deep into hiding because Yagyu assassins are everywhere. Of course, by doing so he too becomes a target. I have to wonder if the title Haunted Samurai was mistranslated and was supposed to be Hunted Samurai because everyone is after him; even a ferocious group of female topless killers.

Eventually, he finds his way to a small farming community and decides that he will become a farmer and leave his former life behind. But it always catches up and he becomes the protector of the community against corrupt government forces. He also has an equally skilled assassin that he knows who has come to kill him, but will allow Rokuheita to save the farmers first. A nice duel during an eclipse. A few other subplots run through it making it compelling. Nothing here is very original but it is quite enjoyable with good acting and some terrific cinematography.