Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty. An honorable end to such fate under the samurai code is ritual suicide, or hara-kiri.

CAST: Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentaro Mikuni, Shima Iwashita, Akira Ishihama, Yoshio Inaba, Masao Mishima

DIRECTOR: Masaki Kobayashi

RUN TIME: 133 min